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ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1857,  by 
HENRY    S.    RANDALL, 

In  the  Cork's  Office  ot  -the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  SECOND  VOLUME. 


[A  complete  Analytical  Index  will  be  found  at  the  End  of  the  Third  Volume.] 


CHAPTER     I. 

1791. 

Signature  of  the  Bank  Bill — Jefferson's  Reports  to  Congress — The  President's  Southern 
Tour — Jefferson's  Letter  to  J.  B.  Smith,  and  the  Resulting  Controversy  with  Mr. 
Adams — Jefferson's  Letter  to  Washington  on  the  Subject — To  Colonel  Monroe — To 
Mr.  Adams— Mr.  Adams's  Reply — C.  F.  Adams's  Allegations  of  Inconsistency  con 
sidered  (Note) — Jefferson's  and  Madison's  Excursion  North — Instructions  to  Mr. 
Short — Political  Correspondence — Yazoo  Claims — Effects  of  United  States  Bank  Specu 
lations — Jefferson  visits  Home — Eighteen  Letters  to  his  Daughters — His  return,  and 
the  Meeting  of  Congress — Reports  to  Congress — Report  to  the  President  on  English 
and  French  Commerce — His  Views  on  Constitution  of  Virginia — Practice  of  keeping 
his  "Ana"  commenced — The  Charges  against  this  Production  considered — Reasons 
for  writing  it — Did  it  involve  a  Breach  of  Confidence  ? — Fairness  of  Posthumous  Publi 
cations  of  this  kind — Reasons  for  revising  and  leaving  it  for  publication — Judge  Mar 
shall  and  his  Life  of  Washington — Its  bearing  on  the  Republican  Party,  and  on  Jeffer 
son — The  Ana  intended  as  a  Defence  against  it — The  Right  to  employ  the  Testimony 
adduced — Avoidance  of  irrelevant  Personalities — Compared  with  similar  Productions 
in  this  Particular— The  Duty  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Biographer, 1 

CHAPTER    II. 
1792. 

New  Diplomatic  Arrangements — Grounds  of  the  Opposition  to  Morris's  Appointment — 
Explanations  between  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State — -The  President  apprised 
of  permanent  Divisions  in  his  Cabinet — Apprised  of  Jefferson's  intended  Retirement — 
Jefferson's  Draft  of  Instructions  to  our  Ministers  in  Spain — Cabinet  Consultation  on  the 
Apportionment  Bill — Circumstances  of  the  Veto — Madison  consulted — Proposed  Extra 
dition  Treaty  with  Spain— Instructions  to  Mr.  Morris— Negotiations  between  Jefferson 
and  the  English  Minister — Jefferson  delivers  Hammond  his  Specifications  of  the  Eng 
lish  Breaches  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace— Hamilton's  alleged  Interference  in  the  Negotia- 


IV  CONTENTS. 

tions— Hammond's  Answer  to  Jefferson's  Specifications — Jefferson's  Rejoinder — His 
Official  Partialities  between  France  and  England  examined— His  Letter  urging  Wash 
ington  to  accept  a  Reelection — Washington's  Answer — Paul  Jones's  appointment  to 
Office,  and  Death— His  Relations  with  Jefferson— Political  Letters — Further  Division  be 
tween  Parties — Hamilton's  anonymous  Attacks  on  Jefferson — Founders  cf  the  National 
Gazette — Jefferson  visits  Home — Family  Correspondence— Washington's  Letter  to 
Jefferson  on  Dissensions  in  the  Cabinet — His  Letter  to  Hamilton — Jefferson's  Reply — 
Hamilton's  Reply — Comparison  of  the  Tone  of  the  Letters — Professions  and  practice  of 
the  two  compared — Jefferson's  Interview  with  the  President  at  Mount  Vernon — 
President  urges  his  continuance  in  Office— Hamilton's  charge  that  such  continuance 
was  indelicate — Their  respective  "  Opposition  "  to  the  President  Examined — Jeffer 
son's  Notice  in  Correspondence  of  Hamilton's  Attacks  on  him — Washington's  Letter  to 
Jefferson— Washington's  Idea  of  Parties — President's  Proclamation  to  Resisters  of 
Excise  Law — Marshall's  Statements — Jefferson  complains  of  English  Impressments — 
Complains  to  Spain  of  Governor  Carondelet — Cabinet  Meeting  on  Viar  and  Jaudenes' 
Complaints — Hamilton  Counsels  an  English  Alliance — The  President  rejects  the  Pro 
position,  ..........  45 

CHAPTER    III. 

1792—1793. 

Second  Presidential  Election — Republican  Triumph  in  the  Congressional  Elections — Closing 
Session  of  the  preceding  Congress — It  refuses  to  hear  Heads  of  Departments  on  the  Floor 
— References  to  Heads  of  Departments  sustained — Political  Letters — French  Relations 
— The  President's  Views  on  them — Loan  to  United  States  Bank  defeated — "  The  Catho 
lic  principle  of  Republicanism  " — Partisan  partialities  towards  France  and  England- 
— Jefferson's  strong  Letter  to  Short — Republican  Opposition  to  Jefferson's  Retirement 
— His  disagreeable  Position — Letter  to  his  Daughter  on  the  Subject — Defers  his  Retire 
ment — Refuses  to  form  a  Coalition  with  Hamilton — Additional  Assumption  defeated  by 
the  President — W.  S.  Smith's  Communications  from  the  French  Government— The 
^resident  urges  Jefferson  to  accept  the  French  Mission,  when  he  retires  from  the  Ca 
binet — De  Ternant's  application  for  Prepayment  granted — Prepayment  of  entire  French 
Debt  refused — Proceedings  in  Congress — Inquiry  into  the  Conduct  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury — Hamilton's  Replies  to  the  House — Resolutions  of  Censure  defeated — 
Their  Propriety  considered — War  between  France  and  England — How  regarded  in  the 
United  States — Cabinet  Proceedings  in  reference  to  Reception  of  French  Minister, 
and  to  the  Bindingness  of  French  Treaties — President's  Proclamation — Jefferson's 
View  of  Randolph's  Draft — President  decides  to  receive  French  Minister,  and  that 
the  French  Treaties  are  binding — Jefferson  refuses  to  remove  Freneau  from  Office — His 
language  and  Motives  considered — His  Idea  of  a  Casus  Belli  with  the  European  Powers — 
Morris  instructed  to  respect  the  De  Facto  Government  of  France — Jefferson's  Ideas  on 
Public  Officers  embarking  in  Speculations — Citizen  Genet,  the  new  French  Minister— 
His  Arrival  in  the  United  States — English  Vessels  captured — The  Popular  Feeling — Ca 
binet  Deliberations  on  Neutrality  Laws — Instructions  to  Pinckney — Jefferson's  Descrip 
tion  of  the  Views  of  the  Cabinet — Hamilton's  proposed  Circular  to  the  Collectors — Jef 
ferson's  Reply  to  Complaints  of  Hammond— Complains  to  Hamilton  of  his  Intrusions 
on  his  Department — Cabinet  divide  on  Propriety  of  restoring  Prizes  to  England— Po 
sitions  of  the  Several  Members— President  concurs  with  the  Secretary  of  State — 
Genet's  Arrival  and  Reception  in  Philadelphia— His  Reception  by  the  President — 
His  Waiver  of  the  American  Guaranty  of  the  French  West  Indies — Its  Effect  on  the 
Public  Mind— Relations  with  Spain — Its  hostile  Deportment  towards  United  States — 
Instructions  to  American  Commissioners  in  Spain — Cabinet  Meetings  in  regard  to 
Southern  Indians — Decisive  Dispatches  to  Spain— Forwarded  without  a  Cabinet  Con 
sultation—War  considered  imminent— Federal  Hostility  to  the  French  Republic  con 
sidered— General  Washington's  Attitude  on  this  Subject — His  perfect  Understanding 


CONTENTS.  T 

with  the  Secretary  of  State— Leaves  the  latter  to  decide  whether  an  immediate  Call 
shall  be  made  on  England  to  surrender  the  Northern  Posts — Jefferson's  Call  on  Ham 
mond—The  contemplated  Consequences  of  this  Step— The  Anglo-Spanish  Alliance— 
The  President's  greater  Confidence  in  Jefferson  than  in  the  other  Members  of  his 
Cabinet,  in  regard  to  Foreign  Affairs,  manifested,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  101 


CHAPTER    IV. 
1793. 

Correspondence  with  Genet — Concessions  of  France — Genet's  Complaints  and  Jefferson's 
Replies — Genet  assumes  an  Angry  and  Criminatory  Tone — His  Proposal  to  stop  Pay 
ments  on  the  St.  Domingo  Drafts — Discussions  in  relation  to  the  Treaty  of  1778,  etc 

The  President  goes  to  Mount  Vernon — Genet  Arms  and  Commissions  the  Little  Demo 
crat  at  Philadelphia — Mifflin  reports  her  about  to  sail — Sends  Dallas  to  Genet — Jeffer 
son  visits  Genet,  and  Particulars  of  their  Interview — Genet  intimates  the  Vessel  will  not 
sail  before  the  President's  Return — Cabinet  Meeting,  July  8t,h — President's  Return 
expected  in  two  or  three  Days — Hamilton  and  Knox  propose  to  fire  upon  the  Vessel  if  she 
attempts  to  pass  Mud  Island — Jefferson  dissents — Extracts  from  the  two  Papers — Was 
Jefferson's  scorching  Reply  merited — Difficulties  of  his  Position — His  Private  Opinion 
of  Genet — Little  Democrat  drops  down  to  Chester — President  reached  Philadelphia  on 
the  llth — His  warm  Note  to  Jefferson,  and  Jefferson's  Answer — Cabinet  Meeting  on 
the  12th — Jefferson's  previous  Action  sustained — Judge  Marshall's  Manner  of  stating 
the  Facts — Jefferson's  Decided  Letter  to  Spanish  Commissioners — No  Retreat  in  the 
President's  Policy — Jefferson  tenders  his  Resignation,  to  take  effect  1st  of  September 
— Cabinet  Discussions  on  demanding  Recall  of  Genet — On  an  Appeal  to  the  People — 
On  Rules  of  Neutrality — On  convening  Congress — Particulars  of  a  Personal  Interview 
between  Washington  and  Jefferson — Washington  solicits  a  Delay  of  his  Resignation — 
Jefferson's  Feelings  on  the  Occasion — Jeflbrson's  Consent,  and  the  President's  Reply — 
Jefferson's  Draft  of  Letter  demanding  Genet's  Recall — Washington  and  Jefferson  voted 
down  on  a  Clause — A  Private  Draft  of  Hamilton's  not  brought  forward — Character  of 
Jefferson's  Production — A  Feature  in  the  Ana — Genet's  Visit  to  New  York — The  Certi 
ficate-makers — Genet's  Appeal  to  the  Public— A  Hint  of  the  degree  of  Control  Jeffer 
son  exercised  over  Freneau's  Paper — Yellow  Fever  appears  in  Philadelphia — Outrage 
of  Du  Plaine — British  Orders  in  Council — French  Retaliatory  Decrees — Georgia  pre 
paring  to  chastise  the  Creeks — Cabinet  Action  on  the  four  preceding  Subjects — Jeffer 
son's  Excuse  for  Subscribing  to  the  Resolution  respecting  England — His  Dispatches  in 
regard  to  Du  Plaine,  and  to  Gov.  Telfair — Progress  of  the  Yellow  Fever — Jefferson's 
Draft  of  Instructions  to  Morris — England  satisfied  with  Conduct  of  our  Government  in 
regard  to  Neutrality  Laws — Persists,  however,  in  her  Aggressions — Hamilton  111  with 
Yellow  Fever — Jefferson  sends  Genet  Copy  of  Demand  for  his  Recall — Arranges  his 
Business,  and  cariies  his  Daughter  Home — Family  Correspondence  brought  down — 
President  deliberates  on  convening  Congress  elsewhere — He  consults  the  Cabinet  and 
Mr.  Madison — Pendleton's  Letter  to  Washington  agrost  Hamilton  and  his  Measures — 
President's  noticeable  Reply — Genet's  Reply  to  Jefferson  on  receiving  a  Copy  of  the 
Demand  for  his  own  Recall — Judge  Marshall's  Selections  from  this  Reply — Jefferson 
does  not  answer  Genet — Letter  to  Ceracchi — Visit  of  the  latter  to  United  States,  and 
Statues  and  Busts  executed  by  him — Cabinet  Discussion  on  sending  Genet  out  of  the 
Country — On  the  Construction  to  be  given  to  Congress  of  the  so-called  Proclamation 
of  Neutrality — Hamilton's  and  Randolph's  Drafts  of  Explanation  rejected — Jefferson's 
Views  substantially  concurred  in — Heads  of  President's  Speech  discussed — Randolph's 
Draft — .Jefferson  drafts  Messages  in  regard  to  France  and  England — Discussion  as  to 
what  shall  be  Publicly  and  what  Privately  transmitted  to  Congress — Jefferson's  Views 
prevail  at  all  points— The  only  place  where  Jefferson  speaks  of  Drafting  Papers  for 
the  President — Reasons  why  we  cannot  know  how  far  he  made  such  Drafts — The 
Dishonor  of  preserving  them  as  Proofs  of  Authorship— Opening  of  Congress— Ascend- 


VI  CONTENTS. 

ency  of  the  Republicans— Jefferson's  Report  on  Privileges  and  Restrictions  on  our 
Foreign  Commerce— The  great  Effect  of  this  Paper— His  last  Letter  to  Genet— Wash 
ington  again  solicits  him  to  defer  his  Resignation — Jefferson  sends  his  Resignation — 
President's  Reply — Jefferson's  Return  Home — His  Public  Standing  when  he  retired — 
Webster's  and  Marshall's  Testimony— Grounds  of  his  Popularity— The  Theory  that  he 
chose  this  time  to  retire,  on  account  of  his  Popularity— Ana  Records— Family  Corres 
pondence  brought  down, 150 


CHAPTER    V. 

1794—1795. 

Jefferson's  Return  to  Private  Life — His  Health,  etc. — His  Family — Maria  Jefferson — 
Martha  (Jefferson)  Randolph — Thomas  Mann  Randolph — Jefferson's  Ideal  of  Retire 
ment — A  Flash  of  the  old  Spirit — Threatened  War  with  England — Proceedings  in  Con 
gress — Jay  sent  Minister  to  England  —  Chasm  in  Jefferson's  Correspondence — His 
avowed  desire  for  Permanent  Retirement — Was  he  sincere  in  these  Avowals? — Mania 
for  Office  not  yet  introduced — The  first  Offices  "  went  a  begging  " — Jefferson's  Private 
Pursuits — His  Land-roll  in  171)4 — Farm  Census — Exhausted  Soils  and  Beggarly  Account 
of  Empty  Bins — Farm  Operations  of  1794 — Pennsylvania  Insurrection — The  Govern 
ment  Measures,  how  regarded  by  the  two  Parties — Republican  View  of  Hamilton's 
Conduct — Washington  invites  Jefferson  to  return  to  the  Cabinet — Did  Washington 
willingly  abandon  a  Balance  of  Parties  in  his  Cabinet? — Bradford's  Political  Attitude — 
Politics  of  Others  who  were  offered  Seats  in  the  Cabinet — Madison's  Course  considered 
— Had  the  Republicans  a  Good  Excuse  for  Non- Acceptance? — Reasons  rendered  by 
John  Adams — His  own  Peculiar  Situation  at  the  Time — Hamilton's  Influence— A  Dif 
ferent  Theory  offered— The  President's  Objects  in  instituting  Jay's  Mission— The 
Selection  of  Jay  unfortunate— Bad  Republican  Tactics — The  President  forced  from  his 
Neutrality — Jefferson's  Views — Session  of  Congress  1794-5 — Sharp  Contest  on  Denun 
ciation  of  Democratic  Societies — Jefferson's  Strictures — His  Refusal  to  be  a  Presidential 
Candidate — Hamilton's  Resignation — Jefferson  to  D'lvernois — Madison's  Letter  to  Jef 
ferson  on  his  refusal  to  be  a  Presidential  Candidate — Jefferson  repeats  his  Refusal — 
Jay's  Treaty  received  and  approved  by  Senate — Jay's,  Hamilton's  and  Washington's 
Recorded  Disapprobation  of  it — Renewal  of  Orders  in  Council  pending  its  Ratification — 
Impressments — British  attempt  to  seize  French  Ambassador  in  United  States — Wash 
ington's  Expressions  of  Indignation  at  these  Outrages — Hamilton  declares  Ratification 
now  disreputable — John  Adams's  View  of  English  Feelings  towards  America — Different 
Mettle  of  the  Cabinet — Wolcott's  Remarkable  Reasons  for  Ratification— Washington's 
Proceedings  in  the  Affair — The  Treaty  ratified — Had  Fauchet's  intercepted  Dispatches 
any  Influence? — Public  Explosion  on  the  Publication  of  the  Treaty — Meetings  on  the 
Subject  and  the  Actors  in  them — Jefferson's  Strictures  on  Jay — His  further  Views — 
"Camillus's"  Defence  of  the  Treaty — Bradford's  Death  and  Successor — Virginia  Elec 
tion  and  Legislative  Action — Meeting  of  Fourth  Congress — Contest  in  regard  to  the 
Address  of  the  House — Rutledge's  Rejection — Jefferson's  Comments  on  Randolph's 
Vindication — Relations  with  France — Conduct  of  Adet  in  the  United  States — Monroe's 
Reception  in  France— Exchange  of  Flags  and  other  Proceedings — Monroe's  Assurances 
in  respect  to  Jay's  Mission — Monroe  censured  by  his  Government — Justifies  himself  on 
his  Instructions — Washington's  Reply — Misunderstandings  between  Monroe  and  Jay— 
Adet's  Remonstrances  against  Treaty  of  London— His  Complaints  considered — Adet's 
Delivery  of  French  Colors,  and  President's  Reply — Proceedings  of  both  Houses  of  Con 
gress—Washington's  Sincerity  in  his  Address  to  Adet— He  did  not  concur  in  the 
Feelings  of  the  Federalists — The  Republicans  drive  him  from  his  Political  Neutrality — 
The  Consequences— The  Reaction  first  sets  against  Monroe— Washington's  and  Adams's 
Censures  on  him — A  curious  Example  of  Political  "Sea-change" — A  larger  Champion 
than  Monroe  in  the  field, .  .  222 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

CHAPTER    VI. 

1796. 

Treaty  of  London  returned  .ratified — President  proclaims  it  as  in  full  force,  without 
awaiting  any  Action  of  the  House  of  Representatives — Dissatisfaction  of  the  Republican 
Members — Livingston's  Resolution  calling  for  the  Papers,  and  its  Amendments — 
President  refuses  to  send  them — Kitchell's  Resolutions — Supported  by  Madison — They 
pass  by  a  strong  Vote — Jefferson's  Views — Resolution  for  carrying  the  Treaty  into 
effect — Federal  Threats — The  Debate — Reaction  out  of  Congress,  and  the  Causes  of  it-- 
Dearborn's  Preamble — Preamble  rejected  and  Resolution  passed  by  very  close  votes — 
Jefferson's  Letter  to  Mazzei — An  Account  of  Mazzei — Letter  to  Monroe — Efforts  to 
personally  alienate  Washington  and  Jefferson — General  Lee's  Agency  in  this — Expedi 
ency  and  Effects  of  Treaty  of  London  considered — Domestic  Affairs  at  Monticello — 
Duke  of  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt's  Visit  to  Monticello— His  Journal  of  his  Visit — Com- 
jnents  and  Explanations — Jefferson's  Plow  of  least  resistance — Rittenhouse's  Opinion 
of  it  on  Mathematical  Principles— Sir  John  Sinclair  asks  a  Model  and  Description — 
Prizes  bestowed  on  it  in  France — Was  Jefferson  the  First  Discoverer  of  the  Mathe 
matical  Principle  ? — His  usual  Practical  Ingenuity — His  House-building — Fall  Elections 
— Occupations  and  Expenses  of  a  Presidential  Candidate  in  1797 — Jefferson  professes  to 
be  gratified  at  his  DefeaWWhat  right  had  he  to  feel  thus?— The  Method  of  Voting 
— The  Number  of  Votes  for  the  various  Candidates — Adams  President  and  Jeffer 
son  Vice-President — Jefferson's  Letters  to  Madison  and  Adams  given  from  Memory  in 
his  Works — History  of  the  Recovery  of  the  Originals — The  Originals  given — Explana 
tion  of  Jefferson's  Willingness  to  have  Adams  succeed — Adams's  Political  Attitude  at 
the  Moment — His  own  Testimony  on  the  Subject — He  made  the  First  Practical  Over 
ture  to  the  Republicans — Madison's  Testimony — Testimony  of  the  Hamiltonians — The 
Conclusion — Fortunate  that  the  Union  failed — Jefferson  discovers  his  Error — A  Pro 
phetic  Political  Idea, 285 

CHAPTEE    VII. 

1797. 

Presidential  Vote  declared— Expectations  that  Jefferson  would  refuse  the  Vice- Presidency 
— Steps  he  took  thereon— His  Views  on  proper  Method  of  notifying  the  Elected 
Candidates — His  Efforts  to  Escape  a  Ceremonious  Reception — His  Reception — Inter 
view  with  the  President  and  Mr.  Adams's  Overtures— Sworn  into  Office — His  Speech — 
Scene  of  the  Inauguration— President's  Speech — Sequel  to  preceding  Interviews  with 
President — Jefferson  returns  Home — Letter  to  Mrs.  Randolph — Action  of  French  Gov 
ernment  on  receiving  the  Treaty  of  London — Action  of  American  Government — Hamil 
ton  appearing  to  great  Advantage — Mr.  Adams's  real  Feelings  in  respect  to  our 
Foreign  Relations  when  he  entered  the  Presidency — Character  of  the  Members  of  his 
Cabinet — Their  unfortunate  Influence  on  him — Early  Indications  of  this — Pinckney 
ordered  out  of  France — President  convenes  Congress — His  violent  Message — Answers 
of  the  Houses — Congress  enters  upon  War  Measures — Cooled  by  News  of  French 
Victories — Jefferson's  View  of  the  Call  of  an  Extra  Session,  and  of  the  President's 
Speech — Last  Political  Link  between  him  and  Adams  snapped — Another  Theory, 
based  on  Misrepresentation — Origin  of  Jefferson's  Parliamentary  Manual — Letters  to 
his  Daughters — The  Mazzei  Letter  published  in  the  United  States— Its  Inaccuracies  and 
Interpolations — Comments  of  Federal  Press — Jefferson  to  Madison  on  the  Subject — 
Washington's  manner  of  receiving  the  Letter — Marshall's  Statements — Pickering's 
absurd  Assertions  and  Conjectures — Jefferson's  Denial — Sparks's  supposed  Suspicions 
that  Correspondence  had  been  abstracted  from  Letter-books  of  Washington — His  Letter 
to  Author  on  the  Subject — History  of  the  Langhorne  Letter — The  "  Falsehoods  of  a 
Malignant  Neighbor" — Jefferson's  Personal  Feelings  towards  Washington— A  Remark 
of  Lafayette — Testimony  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Family — Jefferson  President  of  American 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

Philosophical  Society  —  Charge  of  Judge  Iredell  at  United  States  Court  at  Richmond- 
Grand  Jury  present  Letters  of  Members  of  Congress  —  Jefferson's  deep  Feeling  on  the 
Subject—  His  Home  Life  during  the  Summer  of  1797,  ......  332 

CHAPTER    VIII. 


Congress  meet  —  Strength  of  Parties  —  Lull  in  Affairs—  Adams's  amusing  Commentary  on 
his  Inaugural  Speech  —  First  Dispatches  from  France  —  President  rampant  —  Fast-day  — 
Congress  on  Fire  —  Spriggs's  Resolutions—  Two  Letters  from  Jefferson  to  Eppes  —  The 
XYZ  Dispatches  —  The  Result  of  our  Extraordinary  Embassy  to  France  —  Popular 
Excitement  —  Republicans  suddenly  reduced  to  a  feeble  Minority  —  War  Measures 
rapidly  pass  Congress  —  Character  of  Gallatiu,  the  Republican  Leader  of  the  House  — 
Addresses  and  Answers  —  Jefferson  against  War,  but  declares  if  it  takes  place,  "  we 
must  defend  ourselves"  —  Hamilton  complains  of  Unfortunateness  of  English  Depra- 
dations  at  such  a  time  —  He  urges  on  War  Measures  against  France  —  Proposes  a 
Political  Tour  to  Washington  under  "pretence  of  Health"  —  Marshall's  Return  from 
France  —  President's  Message  —  War  Spirit  bursts  out  anew  —  Legislation  against 
"Interior  Foes"  —  Time  for  Naturalization  extended  —  The  first  Alien  Law  —  Army 
raised  —  French  Treaties  annulled  —  Other  War  Measures  —  Second  Alien  Law  —  The 
Sedition  Law—  Lloyd's  Bill—  Hamilton's  Views  on  these  Bills—  The  Black  Cockade— 
Who  were  the  Foreigners  against  whom  the  Alien  Laws  were  directed  ?  —  The  number 
of  French,  English  and  Irish  Alien  Residents  —  The  Circumstances  which  drove  the 
latter  to  our  Country  —  Attempt  of  the  American  Minister  in  England  to  prevent  their 
Emigration  —  Society  of  "United  Irishmen"  in  Philadelphia  —  Rights  of  Naturalized 
Citizens  and  Alien  Residents  —  Political  and  Moral  Character  of  the  Irish  Refugees  —  Mr. 
Jefferson's  Letters  to  his  Daughters  —  His  Domestic  Affairs,  etc.  —  His  Anticipation  of  an 
Attempt  against  him  personally  —  His  imputed  Connection  with  Logan's  Mission  the 
pretext  —  His  Letter  to  Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan  —  Invite's  him  to  Virginia,  and 
promises  him  Protection  against  the  Alien  Laws  —  President  Adams's  Inconsistent 
Course  in  regard  to  those  Laws  —  Doubts  their  Constitutionality,  yet  authorizes  their 
enforcement  —  Pickering  looking  up  Subjects  —  The  Number  of  dangerous  French  and 
Irish  Aliens  discovered  —  The  Sedition  Law  more  effective  —  Lyon,  a  Member  of  Con 
gress,  fined  and  imprisoned  —  Petitioners  for  his  Release  found  Guilty  of  Sedition, 
fined  and  imprisoned  —  Holt,  Publisher  of  New  London  Bee,  Thomas  Cooper,  and 
James  T.  Callendar,  fined  and  imprisoned  —  Baldwin  fined  for  "wishing"  —  Judge 
Peck  arrested  —  Number  of  the  Victims  —  The  Aim  of  the  Law  as  disclosed  by  the 
Decisions  under  it  —  The  President  appoints  Officers  of  the  New  Army  —  Intrigue  of 
Cabinet  to  place  Hamilton  over  Knox  and  Pinckney  —  Pickering  reveals  one  of  the 
President's  proposed  Nominations  to  secure  its  Rejection  —  Turpitude  of  the  Transac 
tion—Proceedings  of  French  Government  after  sending  away  Marshall  and  Pinckney  — 
Talleyrand's  Pacific  Overtures  —  As  he  advances  Gerry  recedes  —  Their  Correspondence  — 
Gerry's  Departure  —  Directory  pass  Decrees  more  favorable  to  the  United  States  — 
Logan's  Reception  —  Assurances  sent  to  Mr.  Adams  by  him  —  Lafayette's  Assurances  of 
Pacific  Intentions  of  France  —  American  Consuls  and  Private  Residents  in  France  send 
home  similar  Assurances  —  Talleyrand  communicates  such  Assurances  to  American 
Minister  at  the  Hague,  ............  378 


CHAPTER     IX. 

1798—1799. 

Impolicy  of   the  French  Measures — Views  of  the  American  Parties — The  President 
receives  the  French  Overtures  to  Pacification— His  Opinions  oT  them — Questions  to  his 


CONTENTS.  IX 

Cabinet— Their  Action  thereon— The  President's  Conviction  that  France  did  not 
meditate  War— Hamilton  apprised  of  all  the  Facts— He  urges  on  War  Preparations 

however — Why  this  Change  in  his  Views  since  1797?— Don  Francisco  de  Miranda 

His  Proposals  to  England  and  the  United  States  to  revolutionize  Mexico  and  South 
America— British  Cabinet  accede  to  his  Plans— Hamilton  consulted  through  King- 
Miranda's  Letter  to  Hamilton  of  April  6th,  1798 — Hamilton  engages  in  the  Scheme, 
and  asks  the  Command  of  the  Land  Forces— His  Letters  to  King  and  Miranda— He 
engaged  in  this  before  hearing  Kesult  of  the  new  French  Mission  he  had  urged— He 
knew  the  Miranda  Scheme  involved  a  War  with  France — British  Cabinet  accede  to 
Hamilton's  Proposals — King's  Letters  to  Pickering — The  British  part  of  the  Expedition 
ready — Miranda's  Letter  to  the  President— Offensive  War  against  France  meditated — 
Necessary  as  an  Excuse  to  attack  Spain — Views  of  the  Republicans  in  the  Summer  of 
1798 — Their  Apprehensions  in  regard  to  the  Array — Their  Suspicions  of  Hamilton— Jef 
ferson  to  Taylor,  of  Caroline,  on  dissolving  the  Union — His  Letter  to  Mason — The  Nicho 
lases  at  Monticello — The  Kentucky  Resolutions  as  drafted  by  Jefferson — Mr.  Madison's 
View  of  their  Import — Modified,  and  passed  by  Kentucky  Legislature — Reasons  for 
supposing  Jefferson  assented  to  or  made  the  Modifications — Letter  to  Taylor,  of 
Caroline — Passage  of  the  Virginia  Resolutions — Third  Session  of  Fifth  Congress — The 
President's  Speech — An  Error  of  Jefferson — The  Senate  "hint  Logan  "  to  Mr.  Adams— 
His  unfortunate  Reply — Hamilton's  Programme  for  Congress — It  contemplated  a  sub 
version  of  the  existing  Government — Hamilton  hints  the  Miranda  Scheme  to  his  Instru 
ments  in  Congress — Proposes  Preparations  to  carry  out  that  Scheme — Letters  to  Gunn 
and  Otis  on  the  Subject — Origin  of  the  ''Logan  Law" — Harper's  Misstatements  and 
Logan's  Corrections — Passage  and  Character  of  this  Law — Jefferson  to  Gerry — Objects 
of  the  Letter — Jefferson  to  Pendleton — Pendleton's  Patriarchal  Address — The  Union 
of  the  Patriotic  Extremes  of  the  Revolution — What  it  proved  and  what  it  foreshadowed 
— Great  War  Preparations  in  Congress — Debts  to  be  incurred  in  proportion— Jefferson 
urges  the  Republicans  to  avoid  every  Act  and  Threat  against  the  Peace  of  the  Union- 
Bills  to  continue  Non  Intercourse  with  France,  and  to  augment  the  Navy,  passed — Jef 
ferson  raises  Money  to  print  Political  Documents — Letters  to  Monroe  and  Stewart- 
Capture  of  the  Retaliation — British  impress  Seamen  from  the  United  States  Sloop  of 
War  Baltimore — Jefferson  complains  of  the  President's  withholding  the  French  Over 
tures — President  nominates  Murray  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  France — The  Federal 
leaders  "Gravelled" — Sedgwick  and  Pickering  to  Hamilton  on  the  Subject — Senate 
drive  President  to  substitute  a  Commission — Ellsworth,  Henry  and  Murray  nominated 
and  approved — Jefferson  to  Kosciusko — To  Madison — A  scandalous  Scene  in  the  House 
of  Representatives — Means  sought  to  be  employed  by  the  Federal  and  Republican 
Chiefs  to  prepare  for  the  decisive  Contest — Jefferson's  Letters  to  his  Daughters,  .  429 

CHAPTER    X. 

1799—1800. 

The  President's  Inconsistency  in  respect  to  France — His  Embarrassments — His  misjudged 
Course  towards  General  Washington— He  casts  away  Washington's  Aid— Washington's 
Letter  and  his  Reply — Virginia  Elections — Washington  takes  part — Urges  Patrick  Henry 
to  be  a  Candidate— He  consents— The  Sequel— Henry's  Death— His  Character  and 
Fame — Result  of  the  Elections — Cabinet  settle  Heads  of  Instructions  for  our  French 
Envoys— The  President  returns  to  Quincy— Directs  Preparation  of  the  French  Instruc 
tions—Delayed  six  months— Frivolous  Excuses  of  the  Cabinet— Talleyrand's  Sarcasm- 
Instructions  prepared,  and  Cabinet  then  propose  to  suspend  the  Mission — The  Presi 
dent  repairs  to  the  Seat  of  Government— Finds  a  Convocation  of  Hamiltonians— His 
Struggle  with  his  Cabinets-Hamilton's  last  Card— The  Envoys  dispatched— Complaint-a 
of  the  Cabinet— Grounds  of  the  Objections  of  the  Hamiltonians— The  President's 
occasional  Struggles  in  his  Duress— Touches  of  the  "  Dwarf  "—Pickering  scents 
Sedition  in.  Cock's  Feathers— Urges  President  to  banish  Priestley— Mr.  Adams  vacil 


CONTENTS. 

lating-  -His  miserable  Excuse  to  save  Priestley— Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania—State 
Prisoners— Convictions  for  Treason— President  pardons  contrary  to  Advice  of  hia 
whole  Cabinet — Enormities  charged  on  the  Troops — Editors  whipped — Pennsylvania 
State  Elections — The  Candidates  and  the  Result— Jefferson's  Letters  to  Mrs.  Eppes — 
His  Domestic  Affairs  in  Summer  of  1799— Political  Letters— Virginia  and  Kentucky 
Resolutions  of  1799 — Congress  meet — President's  Third  Annual  Speech — Wolcott 
describes  to  Ames  the  Situation  of  Parties  in  Congress — His  "Engine  of  Government" 
— Ames's  Reply  and  his  "Engine  of  Government " — Wolcott  in  Private  Correspondence 
with  Mr.  Pitt — Hamilton  to  Washington  and  to  King — Spirit  and  Designs  of  the  Fede 
ralists  at  this  Period — Hamiltonians  preparing  to  bring  forward  Washington  for  the 
Presidency — His  Death — Public  Demonstrations  thereon — Demonstrations  in  France 
and  England — Cabot's  Hint  to  Ames  to  weave  Politics  into  Eulogy  of  Washington — 
That  Hint  generally  followed  up — His  Views  and  Principles  were  unlike  those  of 
Ames — His  Principles  and  Designs  equally  at  variance  with  Hamilton's — His  Party 
Connection  incidental — He  was  systematically  deceived — A  fresh  and  striking  Instance 
of  this — He  belonged  to  no  Party — His  Fame  is  National— Jefferson's  Political  Corres 
pondence  during  the  Session— Letters  to  Priestley — "  Our  Bonaparte  " — Congress  Pro 
ceedings  sketched  to  Madison — Party  Arithmetic — Political  Letters — The  Election  Law 
in  Congress — The  state  of  things  in  Pennsylvania  it  was  intended  for — John  Randolph 
denounces  "Ragamuffins"  and  "Mercenaries" — Jostled  in  the  Theatre — His  Communi 
cation  to  the  President — Action  in  the  House — Bills  passed — The  Robbius  affair — 
"  Truxton's  Aggression  "—"  Overhauling  Editor  of  Aurora  "— Macon's  Resolution  to 
Repeal  the  Law  in  regard  to  Seditious  Libels — His  Reliance  on  Federal  Pledges — The 
Pledges  kept  to  the  Letter  but  broken  to  the  Spirit — The  Presidential  Caucuses — 
Adjournment— Jefferson's  Letters  to  his  Daughters— Character  of  the  late  Session- 
Hamilton's  Quietness— His  Plans  and  his  Despondency— Reasons  of  that  Despon 
dency,  483 


CHAPTER    XT. 

1800—1801. 

ttemoval  of  Seat  of  Government  to  Washington— Wolcott's,  Morris's  and  Mrs.  Adams's 
Descriptions  of  the  New  Capital— Presidential  Canvass  in  1800— Hamilton's  Plan  to 
defeat  Mr.  Adams— Result  of  New  York  Election— Adams  removes  McIIenry  and 
Pickering— Wolcott's  Retention,  and  the  Vacancies  filled— Effect  of  the  Change— The 
Legislative  Election  in  New  York  decides  the  choice  of  Electors  in  that  State— Hamilton 
solicits  Governor  Jay  to  practically  set  aside  that  Decision— Jay's  marked  Condemna 
tion  of  the  Proposal— That  Proposal  a  part  of  a  larger  Scheme  to  prevent  a  fair 
Election— Some  of  Hamilton's  Assertions  to  Jay  considered— The  adoption  of  his  Plans 
would  have  led  to  Civil  War— Did  he  contemplate  that  Result?— His  Tour  through  New 
England— Calls  on  Wolcott  for  Materials  for  a  Secret  Attack  on  the  President— Wolcott 
promises  his  Aid— The  ex-Secretaries  join  in  this— Other  Confederates— Posture  of 
these  men  as  described  by  themselves— Hamilton's  Attack  printed  for  private  circula 
tion—Obtained  by  Burr  and  published— Some  of  Hamilton's  remarkable  Statements 
in  it  examined— The  Effect  of  the  Paper— Comments  of  Carroll  and  Cabot— Comments 
of  Republican  Press— Hamilton  meditates  a  Reply— Wisely  desists— Jefferson  in  the 
Summer  of  1800— His  Journeyings— Family  Census— Farm  Matters— Election  Expenses 
—His  Correspondence— Attack  on  him  by  New  England  and  New  York  Clergy— Rev. 
Dr.  John  M.  Mason's  Pamphlet— Causes  to  which  Jefferson  imputed  these  Attacks- 
It  of  Legislative  Election  in  Pennsylvania— Result  in  Maryland— Second  Session  of 
Sixth  Congress— President's  Speech— Wolcott's  Retirement— Jefferson  to  R.  R.  Living 
ston  and  to  Burr— How  far  Burr  contributed  to  the  Republican  Success  in  New  York— 
Burr  suspected  of  Intriguing  in  New  York  for  the  Presidency— Accused  of  it  on  strong 
Evidence  in  New  Jersey— His  Instruments  approach  a  Member  of  Congress-JeCer- 


CONTENTS.  XI 

son  to  Political  and  Scientific  Correspondents — House  of  Representatives  agree  on 
Rules  of  Election— The  Electoral  Votes  counted  in  the  Senate— M.  L.  Davis's  Fabrica 
tions  concerning  the  Georgia  Returns— The  Result  a  Tie  between  Jefferson  and  Burr— 
The  prior  Arrangements  of  the  Federalists  for  such  a  Contingency— Hamilton  to  Bay 
ard  and  Wolcott— Proposes  to  start  Burr  "for  the  Plate,"  but  objects  to  the  Federal 
ists  supporting  him— Pronounces  him  the  Catiline  of  America,  etc.— Further  Corres 
pondence  on  this  Subject— Positions  of  Cabot,  Otis  and  Sedgwick— Morris's  important 
Disclosures— Marshall's  and  Bayard's  Positions— Sedgwick  changes  Ground— Hamil 
ton's  final  Appeal— Adams  to  Gerry— The  Opinions  of  Jefferson  disclosed  by  preceding 

Correspondence — Hamilton's   unfortunate   Position  to  produce   any  Effect Federal 

Caucus  decide  to  support  Burr— The  Conduct  of  the  Party  considered— Jefferson  to  his 
Daughter— Incidents  of  House  of  Representatives  meeting  to  Ballot  for  President 
Result  of  the  Ballot— Political  Complexion  of  the  Vote— The  continued  Ballotings— 
Randolph's  and  Dana's  Bulletins— Jefferson  to  Dr.  Barton,  Monroe,  Mrs.  Eppes,  etc.— 
Entries  in  the  Ana— The  Struggle  terminated— Jefferson's  Obligations  to  Federalists 

considered — The  entire  Advantage  of  the  Republicans  if  Force  was  resorted  to The 

Arbitration  of  Arms  expected  by  both  parties  in  case  of  Usurpation  or  Anarchy- 
Burr's  reprehensible  Conduct  during  the  Struggle  in  the  House— His  probable  resort 
to  all  safe  Means  to  procure  an  Election, 541 


OHAPTEE    XII. 
1801. 

Inside  View  of  Federal  Camp  during  closing  Election  Scenes— Bayard  to  Hamilton— 
Proof  that  the  Federalists  contemplated  desperate  Measures — Jefferson's  Statements  in 
Ana  in  regard  to  Bayard — Clayton's  Interrogatories  to  Smith  and  Livingston  in  the 
Senate  on  the  Subject — Their  Replies  and  Remarks  of  Hayne  and  others — The  fair  Con 
clusion  derivable  from  the  Facts — Burr's  Libel  Suit  against  Cheetham — Bayard's 
Affidavit— The  Wager  Suit  between  Gillespie  and  Smith— Bayard's  and  Smith's  Affi 
davits — Burr's  Agency  in  obtaining  these  while  visiting  and  holding  out  Menaces  to  Jef 
ferson — He  attempts  surreptitiously  to  alter  Smith's  Affidavit — Jefferson's  Comments 
on  Bayard's  Affidavit  in  Ana — General  Smith's  Letter  explanatory  of  his  Affidavit — Its 
valuable  Explanations  in  other  particulars — Later  Disquisitions  and  Madison's  Reply — 
The  real  Attitude  of  Jefferson  and  his  Opponents  towards  each  other  at  the  close  of  the 
Election  in  1801 — Bayard's  later  Letters  and  Speeches  illustrative  of  this — Closing  Acts 
of  Adams's  Administration — French  Treaty  ratified  with  an  Exception — The  Judiciary 
Bill — Wolcott  appointed  one  of  the  Judges — His  and  the  President's  Correspondence — 
Wolcott's  Conduct  characterized — Marshall's  anomalous  Official  Position — Expiration 
of  Sedition  Law — Its  Decease  contemporaneous  with  that  of  the  National  Federal 
Party — How  the  News  of  Jefferson's  Election  was  publicly  Received — His  Feelings 
towards  the  Body  of  the  Federalists — His  Farewell  to  the  Senate  and  its  answering 
Address— His  Reputation  as  a  Presiding  Officer— Inaugural  Ceremonies— His  Inaugural 
Address — Its  Character  as  a  Literary  and  Political  Production — President's  Letter  to 
John  Dickinson— Explanatory  Letter  to  Governor  Monroe — The  Cabinet  Appointments 

— Mr.  Madison Sketch  of  Colonel  Dearborn— Sketch  of  Mr.  Lincoln — Character  of 

Gallatin — Samuel  and  Robert    Smith — Mr.  Granger — Dawson  dispatched  to  France 

with  Treaty President's  Letter  to  Thomas  Paine— Permits  him  to  Return  to  United 

States  in  a  Public  Vessel — Comments  of  the  Federal  Press  and  Clergy  thereon — Justice 
of  their  Strictures  considered— Paine's  Visit  to  Monticello-Jefferson  to  Priestley— His 
Letter  to  Robinson— He  was  not  understood  in  New  England,  and  did  not  understand 
the  New  England  Character— Least  of  all  did  he  understand  its  Clergy— Character  of 
the  Virginia  Clergy — Different  Circumstances  of  New  England  Clergy — Religious 
Character  of  New  England  Emigrations— The  Religious  Principle  paramount  in  the 
Organization — The  Government  essentially  Hierocratic — The  Clergy  extended 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

their  Supervision  to  all  Moral  Subjects — The  System  towards  the  close  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century— Character  of  the  Clergy  at  that  period— Sources  of  their  Hostility  to  Jeffer 
son—The  Mistake  of  both  sides, 606 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

1801—1802. 

Changes  called  for  in  the  Scale  of  our  Narrative — The  first  important  Question  to  be 
determined  by  the  Administration — Appointments  and  Removals — Jefferson  to  Dr.  Rush 
on  the  Subject— His  Moderation  not  relished  by  all  of  his  own  Party — His  Policy  con 
sidered — Its  Success — Federal  Murmurs — The  Removal  of  Goodrich — Memorial  of  New 
Haven  Merchants  thereon  and  President's  Reply — Spirit  of  Connecticut  Federalism 
exemplified — Correspondence  between  General  Knox  and  the  President — President 
lays  down  a  Rule  in  regard  to  appointing  his  Relatives  to  Office — His  Letter  to  Samuel 
Adams — To  Gerry— He  visits  Home — Domestic  affairs — Letters  to  Mrs.  Eppes — He 
returns  to  Washington — Commodore  Dale  sent  with  a  Fleet  to  the  Mediterranean — 
Insults  of  the  Barbary  Powers — President's  Letter  to  Foreign-born  Citizens — Forms 
and  Maxims  of  Administration  established — Anecdote.pf  Abolition  of  Levees^-Letters  to 
Mrs.  Eppes — President  passes  the  Unhealthy  Season  at  home— His  inofficial  Letter  to 
Livingston  on  the  Subjects  of  his  Mission — Letter  to  Short  on  the  Impropriety  of  long 
Diplomatic  Tenures — Rules  of  Official  Intercourse  between  President  and  Cabinet 
established — Letter  to  Monroe  in  respect  to  colonizing  Insurgent  Blacks  of  Virginia — 
Letters  to  Mrs.  Eppes — Result  of  State  Elections  of  1801 — Meeting  of  Congress — Dis 
tinguished  Members — Organization — President  discontinues  Executive  Speeches — The 
Days  of  State  Ceremonials  passed — President's  first  Annual  Message — Its  Mode  of 
making  Recommendations  to  Congress — its  Contents  attacked  by  the  Federalists — The 
published  Strictures  of  Hamilton — His  Positions  and  Manner  of  treating  the  President — 
His  Eulogium  on  the  Constitution  which  he  accuses  Jefferson  of  attacking — His  private 
Denunciation  of  the  Constitution  within  two  months  of  same  date— First  Struggle  of 
Parties  in  Congress  on  admitting  Reporters — Breckenridge  moves  the  Repeal  of 
Judiciary  Act  of  preceding  Session — The  Constitutional  Power  to  repeal — President's 
Attitude  on  the  Question — Opposition  of  the  Federalists — Passage  of  the  Bill — A  second 
Judiciary  Bill— The  Census,  and  the  Apportionment  Hill— Military  Peace  Establishment 
— Diminution  of  Civil  Officers  and  Reduction  of  Salaries — Internal  Taxes  abolished — 
The  Naturalization  Laws  restored  to  their  former  Footing — Redemption  of  the  Public 
Debt— Law  to  regulate  Indian  Trade  and  Intercourse-  Ohe  general  Change  in  the 
Spirit  of  the  Government— The  Nolo  Episcopan  of  the  President  carried  out— Ran 
dolph's  Tribute  on  this  subject — Sightless  Cyclops  in  the  ascendant,  and  Wise  Ulysses 
grumbling  among  elderlv  Ladies  and  writing  History, 653 


LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON-, 


CHAPTER    I. 
1791. 

Signature  of  the  Bank  Bill — Jefferson's  Reports  to  Congress — The  President's  Southern 
Tour— Jefferson's  Letter  to  J.  B.  Smith,  and  the  Resulting  Controversy  with  Mr. 
Adams — Jefferson's  Letter  to  Washington  on  the  Subject — To  Colonel  Monroe — To 
Mr.  Adams— Mr.  Adams's  Reply — C.  F.  Adams;s  Allegations  of  Inconsistency  con 
sidered  (Note) — Jefferson's  and  Madison's  Excursion  North — Instructions  to  Mr. 
Short — Political  Correspondence — Yazoo  Claims — Effects  of  United  States  Bank  Specu 
lations—Jefferson  visits  Home — Eighteen  Letters  to  his  Daughters — His  return,  and 
the  Meeting  of  Congress — Reports  to  Congress — Report  to  the  President  on  English 
and  French  Commerce — His  Views  on  Constitution  of  Virginia — Practice  of  keeping 
his  "  Ana  "  commenced — The  Charges  against  this  Production  considered — Reasons 
for  writing  it — Did  it  involve  a  Breach  of  Confidence  ? — Fairness  of  Posthumous  Publi 
cations  of  this  kind — Reasons  for  revising  and  leaving  it  for  publication — Judge  Mar 
shall  and  his  Life  of  Washington — Its  bearing  on  the  Republican  Party,  and  on  Jeffer 
son — The  Ana  intended  as  a  Defence  against  it — The  Right  to  employ  the  Testimony 
adduced — Avoidance  of  irrelevant  Personalities — Compared  with  similar  Productions 
in  this  Particular — The  Duty  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Biographer. 

PRESIDKNT  WASHINGTON'S  signing  of  the  Bank  Bill,  did  not 
abate  Mr.  Jefferson's  confidence  in  him,  or  change  their  rela 
tions  in  the  least  degree  towards  each  other.  The  latter  wrote 
to  Colonel  Innes,  of  Virginia,  March  13th,  1791  : 

"  I  wish  you  would  come  forward  to  the  federal  Legislature  and  give  your  assist 
ance  on  a  larger  scale  than  that  on  which  you  are  acting  at  present.  I  am  satisfied 
you  could  render  essential  service  ;  and  I  hare  such  confidence  in  the  purity  of 
your  republicanism,  that  I  know  your  efforts  would  go  in  a  right  direction.  Zeal 
and  talents  added  to  the  republican  scale  will  do  no  harm  in  Congress.  It  in 
fortunate  that  our  first  executive  magistrate  is  purely  and  zealously  republican 
VOL.  ii. — 1  l 


2  AX     AWKWARD    AFFAIR.  [CHAP.  I. 

We  cannot  expect  all  his  successors  to  be  so,  and  therefore  should  avail  ourselves 
of  the  present  day  to  establish  principles  and  examples  which  may  fence  us  against 
future  heresies  preached  no\v,  to  be  practised  hereafter." 

During  the  winter  session  of  Congress  (1790-91),  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  made  important  reports  to  the  House  of  Kepresen- 
tatives  relative  to  the  American  Mediterranean  trade,  to  our 
prisoners  in  Algiers,  to  the  cod  and  whale  fisheries,  and  to  other 
topics,  for  which  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  his  published 
Work?.  Congress  adjourned  on  the  3d  of  March,  1791. 

In  April,  the  President  set  out  on  a  tour  through  the  Southern 
States.  Informing  the  Cabinet  of  the  points  where  their  com 
munications  would  find  him,  at  specified  dates,  he  directed  them, 
if  serious  questions  should  arise — of  which  he  thought  "  the 
probability  was  but  too  strong  " — to  consult  together,  and  if 
necessary,  notify  him  to  return.  But  if  the  heads  of  depart 
ments  thought  they  could  legally  and  properly  proceed  without 
the  immediate  agency  of  the  President,  they  were  authorized  to 
do  so.  In  a  a  supposed  emergency  "  (which  the  President's  let 
ters  do  not  specifically  name),  the  Vice-President's  opinion  was 
to  be  taken.1 

In  May,  an  event  took  place  which  led  to  some  unpleasant 
consequences;  and  it  was  thus  described,  at  the  moment,  by 
Mr.  Jefferson,  one  of  the  principal  actors  in  it,  in  a  letter  to  the 
President : 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  8, 1791. 
SIR, 

The  last  week  does  not  furnish  one  single  public  event  worthy  communicat 
ing  to  you;  so  that  I  have  only  to  say  "all  is  well."  Paine's  answer2  to  Burke's 
pamphlet  begins  to  produce  some  squibs  in  our  public  papers.  In  Fenno's  paper 
they  are  Burkites.  in  the  others,  Painites.  One  of  Fenno's  was  evidently  from  the 
author  of  the  discourses  on  Davila.  I  am  afraid  the  indiscretion  of  a  printer  has 
committed  me  with  my  friend,  Mr.  Adams,  for  whom,  as  one  of  the  most  honest 
and  disinterested  men  alive,  I  have  a  cordial  esteem,  increased  by  long  habits  of 
concurrence  in  opinion  in  the  days  of  his  republicanism ;  and  even  since  his  apos 
tasy  to  hereditary  monarchy  and  nobility,  though  we  differ,  we  differ  as  friends 
should  do.  Beckley  had  the  only  copy  of  Paine's  pamphlet,  and  lent  it  to  me, 
desiring  when  I  should  have  read  it,  that  I  would  send  it  to  a  Mr.  J.  B.  Smith,  who 
had  asked  it  for  his  brother  to  reprint  it.  Being  an  utter  stranger  to  J.  B.  Smith, 

1  He  was  consulted  during  the  President's  absence;  and  Mr.  Jefforson  erroneously 
mentions  it  as  the  "  only  occasion"  on  which  the  Vice-President  "was ever  requested  to 
take  part  in  a  Cabinet  question."     This  shows  that  the  President's  consultation  of  Mr. 
Adams,  in  regard  to  permitting  Lord  Dorchester's  passage  across  our  territories,  was 
not  made  known  to  his  Cabinet. 

2  That  is,  his  "Rights  of  Man." 


OilAP.  I.]  EXPLANATIONS,    ETC.  3 

both  by  sight  and  character,  I  wrote  a  note  to  explain  to  him  why  I  (a  stranger  to 
him)  sent  him  a  pamphlet,  to  wit,  that  Mr.  Beckley  had  desired  it ;  and  to  take  off 
a  little  of  the  dryness  of  the  note,  I  added  that  I  was  glad  to  find  it  was  to  be 
reprinted,  that  something  would,  at  length,  be  publicly  said  against  the  political 
heresies  which  had  lately  sprung  up  among  us,  and  that  I  did  not  doubt  our  citizens 
would  rally  again  round  the  standard  of  Common  Sense.  That  I  had  in  my  view 
the  discourses  on  Davila,  which  have  filled  Fenno's  papers  for  a  twelvemonth, 
without  contradiction,  is  certain,  but  nothing  was  ever  further  from  my  thoughts 
than  to  become  myself  the  contradicter  before  the  public.  To  my  great  astonish 
ment,  however,  when  the  pamphlet  came  out,  the  printer  had  prefixed  my  note  to 
it,  without  having  given  me  the  most  distant  hint  of  it.  Mr.  Adams  will  unques- 
t'onably  take  to  himself  the  charge  of  political  heresy,  as  conscious  of  his  own 
views  of  drawing  the  present  government  to  the  form  of  the  English  Constitution, 
and,  I  fear,  will  consider  me  as  meaning  to  injure  him  in  the  public  eye.  I  learn 
that  some  Anglo-men  have  censured  it  in  another  point  of  view,  as  a,  sanction  of 
Pairie's  principles  tends  to  give  offence  to  the  British  Government.  Their  real  fear, 
however,  is  that  this  popular  and  republican  pamphlet,  taking  wonderfully,  is  likely  at 
a  single  stroke  to  wipe  out  all  the  unconstitutional  doctrines  which  their  bell-wethor 
Davila  has  been  preaching  for  a  twelvemonth.  I  certainly  never  made  a  secret  of 
my  being  anti-monarchical,  and  anti-aristocratical ;  but  I  am  sincerely  mortified  to 
be  thus  brought  forward  on  the  public  stage,  where  to  remain,  to  advance,  or  to 
retire,  will  be  equally  against  my  love  of  silence  and  quiet,  and  my  abhorrence  of 
dispute.  *  *  *  *  * 

In  a  letter  to  Colonel  Monroe  (July  10th),  Mr.  Jefferson  thus 
traced  the  further  history  of  this  affair  : 

"  The  papers  which  I  send  Mr.  Randolph  weekly,  and  which  I  presume  you  see, 
will  have  shown  you  what  a  dust  Paine's  pamphlet  has  kicked  up  here.  My  last  to 
Mr.  Randolph  will  have  given  an  explanation  as  to  myself,  which  I  had  not  time  to 
give  when  I  sent  you  the  pamphlet.  A  writer  under  the  name  of  Publicola,  in 
attacking  all  Paine's  principles,  is  very  desirous  of  involving  me  in  the  same  cen 
sure  with  the  author.  I  certainly  merit  the  same,  for  I  profess  the  same  principles; 
but  it  is  equally  certain  I  never  meant  to  have  entered  as  a  volunteer  into  the 
cause.  My  occupations  do  not  permit  it.  Some  persons  here  are  insinuating  that 
I  am  Brutus,  that  I  am  Agricola,  that  I  am  Philodemus,  etc.,  etc.  I  am  none  of 
them,  being  decided  not  to  write  a  word  on  the  subject,  unless  any  printed  imputa 
tion  should  call  for  a  printed  disavowal,  to  which  I  should  put  my  name.  A  Boston 
paper  has  declared  that  Mr.  Adams  '  has  no  more  concern  in  the  publication  of  the 
writings  of  Publicola,  than  the  author  of  the  Rights  of  Man  himself.'  If  the  equi 
voque  here  were  not  intended,  the  disavowal  is  not  entirely  credited,  because  not 
from  Mr.  Adams  himself,  and  because  the  style  and  sentiments  raise  so  strong  a 
presumption.1  Besides,  to  produce  any  effect  he  must  disavow  Davila  and  the 
Defence  of  the  American  Constitutions.  A  host  of  writers  have  risen  in  favor  of 
Painr,  and  prove  that  in  this  quarter,  at  least,  the  spirit  of  republicanism  is  sound. 
The  contrary  spirit  of  the  high  officers  of  government  is  more  understood  than  I 
expected.  Colonel  Hamilton  avowing  that  he  never  made  a  secret  of  his  principles, 

1  Mr.  Adams's  son,  John  Qnincy  Adams,  was  the  author  of  the  articles  signed 
Publicola. 


<1  EXPLANATION   TO   MR.    ADAMS.  [CHAP.  T. 

yet  taxes  the  imprudence  of  Mr.  Adams  in  having  stirred  the  question,  and  agrees 
that  '  his  business  is  done.'  Jay,  covering  the  same  principles  under  the  veil  of 
silence,  is  rising  steadily  on  the  ruins  of  his  friends." 

On  the  17th  he  addressed  the  following  frank  and  manly 
letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  which,  if  it  sheds  no  new  light  on  the  trans 
action,  deserves  examination  in  this  connection  for  the  personal 
feelings  which  it  displays.  It  goes  to  show  how  far  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  was  purposely  the  aggressor  in  the  bitter  contests  soon  to 
take  place,  and  in  which  his  name  was  made  to  bear  so  con 
spicuous  a  part. 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  17, 1701. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  have  a  dozen  times  taken  up  my  pen  to  write  to  you,  and  as  often  laid  it 
down  again,  suspended  between  opposing  considerations.  I  determine,  however, 
to  write  from  a  conviction  that  truth,  between  candid  minds,  can  never  do  harm. 
The  first  of  Paine's  pamphlets  on  the  Rights  of  Man,  which  came  to  hand  here, 
belonged  to  Mr.  Beckley.  He  lent  it  to  Mr.  Madison,  who  lent  it  to  me  ;  and  while 
1  was  reading  it,  Mr.  Beckley  called  on  me  for  it,  and.  as  I  had  not  finished  it,  he 
desired  me,  as  soon  as  I  should  have  done  so,  to  send  it  to  Mr.  Jonathan  B.  Smith, 
whose  brother  meant  to  reprint  it.  I  finished  reading  it,  and,  as  1  had  no  acquain 
tance  with  Mr.  Jonathan  B.  Smith,  propriety  required  that  I  should  explain  to  him 
why  I,  a  stranger  to  him,  sent  him  the  pamphlet.  I  accordingly  wrote  a  note  of 
compliment,  informing  him  that  I  did  it  at  the  desire  of  Mr.  Beckley,  and,  to  take 
off  a  little  of  the  dryness  of  the  note,  I  added  that  I  was  glad  that  it  was  to  be 
reprinted  here,  and  that  something  was  to  be  publicly  said  against  the  political 
heresies  which  had  sprung  up  among  us.  etc.  I  thought  so  little  of  this  note,  that 
1  did  not  even  keep  a  copy  of  it :  nor  ever  heard  a  tittle  more  of  it,  till,  the  week 
following,  I  was  thunderstruck  with  seeing  it  come  out  at  the  head  of  the  pamphlet. 
I  hoped,  however,  it  would  not  attract  notice.  But  I  found,  on  my  return  from  a 
journey  of  a  month,  that  a  writer  came  forward,  under  the  signature  of  Publicola, 
attacking  not  only  the  author  and  principles  of  the  pamphlet,  but  myself  as  its 
sponsor,  by  name.  Soon  after  came  hosts  of  other  writers,  defending  the  pamph 
let,  and  attacking  you,  by  name,  as  the  writer  of  Publicola.  Thus  were  our  names 
thrown  on  the  public  stage  as  public  antagonists.  That  you  and  I  differ  in  our 
ideas  of  the  best  form  of  government,  is  well  known  to  us  both  ;  but  we  have  dif 
fered  as  friends  should  do,  respecting  the  purity  of  each  other's  motives,  and  con 
fining  our  difference  of  opinion  to  private  conversation.  And  I  can  declare  with 
truth,  in  the  presence  of  the  Almighty,  that  nothing  was  further  from  my  intention 
or  expectation  than  to  have  either  my  own  or  your  name  brought  before  the  public 
on  this  occasion.  The  friendship  and  confidence  which  has  so  long  existed  between 
us,  required  this  explanation  from  me,  and  I  know  you  too  well  to  fear  any  mis- 
Construction  of  the  motives  of  it.  Some  people  here,  who  would  wish  me  to  be,  ot 
to  be  thought  guilty  of  improprieties,  have  suggested  that  I  was  Agricola,  that  I  was 
Brutus,  etc.,  etc.  I  never  did  in  my  life,  either  by  myself  or  by  any  other,  have  a 
sentence  of  mine  inserted  in  a  newspaper  without  putting  my  name  to  it ;  and  I 
believe  I  never  shall 


.  I.]  MB.  ADAMS'S  ANSWER.  5 

It  will  be  observed  that  while  this  letter  disclaims  any  inten 
tion  of  publicly  assailing  Mr.  Adams,  it  does  not  hint  at  a  denial 
that  Mr.  Adams  was  alluded  tc  in  the  letter  to  Smith  as  one  of 
the  persons  guilty  of  "  political  heresies ;"  nay,  Jefferson 
expressly  says  :  "  that  you  and  I  differ  in  our  ideas  of  the  best 
form  of  government,  is  well  known  to  us  both  " — and  he  speaks 
as  if  these  differences  had  been  made  the  subject  of  conversation 
between  himself  and  Mr.  Adams.1 

Mr.  Adams  replied,  July  29th,  giving  "full  credit"  to  the 
disclaimer — declaring  that  "  the  friendship  that  had  subsisted 
[between  them]  for  fifteen  years  without  the  smallest  interrup 
tion,  and,  until  this  occasion,  without  the  slightest  suspicion, 
ever  had  been,  and  still  was  very  dear  to  his  heart " — and 
that  he  "  bad  not  a  doubt  "  Mr.  Jefferson's  "  motives  for 
writing  to  him  "  u  were  the  most  pure  and  the  most  friendly." 
He  declared  that  he  had  not,  u  either  by  himself  or  by  any 
other,  [had]  a  sentence  of  his  inserted  in  a  newspaper  since  he 
had  left  Philadelphia" — that  u  he  neither  wrote  nor  corrected 
Publicola." 

The  letter  contained  the  following  paragraph  : 

"  You  observe  :  '  that  you  and  I  differ  in  our  ideas  of  the  best  form  of  govern 
ment,  is  well  known  to  us  both.'  But,  my  dear  sir,  you  will  give  me  leave  to  say 
that  I  do  not  know  this.  I  know  not  what  your  idea  is  of  the  best  form  of  govern 
ment.  You  and  I  have  never  had  a  serious  conversation  together,  that  I  can  recol 
lect,  concerning  the  nature  of  government.  The  very  transient  hints  that  have 
ever  passed  between  us  have  been  jocular  and  superficial,  without  ever  coming  to 
an  explanation.  If  you  suppose  that  I  have,  or  ever  had,  a  design  or  desire  of 
attempting  to  introduce  a  government  of  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  or  in  other 
words,  an  hereditary  Executive,  or  an  hereditary  Senate,  either  into  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  or  that  of  any  individual  S  ate,  you  are  wholly  mistaken. 
There  is  not  such  a  thought  expressed  or  intimated  in  any  public  writing  or  private 
letter,  and  I  may  safely  challenge  all  mankind  to  produce  such  a  passage,  and 
quote  the  chapter  and  verse.  If  you  have  ever  put  such  a  construction  on  any 
thing  of  mine,  I  beg  you  would  mention  it  to  me,  and  I  will  undertake  to  convince 
you  tliat  it  has  no  such  meaning."  a 

1  A  letter  from  Knox  to  Adams,  June  10,  1791  (published  in  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii. 
p.  503),  speaks  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  note  prefixed  to  Paine's  pamphlet.  It  would  seem  to 
us  from  this  letter,  that  Knox,  too,  was  fully  under  the  impression  there  was  such  a  dif 
ference  between  Jefferson's  and  Adams's  ideas  of  government,  as  the  former  alleged. 

2  For  the  letter  entire,  see  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  pp.  506-509.  On  a  cursory  view, 
the  contents  of  this  letter  might  appear  to  clash  with  the  report  of  the  dinner-table  con 
versation  between  Adams,  Hamilton  and  Jeifcrson.  reported  in  the  Ana  and  quoted  by  us 
in  vol.  i.  pp.  633-4.  But  Adams  would  be  justly  entitled  to  claim  that  although  he  thought 
the  British  Constitution  purged,  as  he  proposed  in  that  conversation,  would  be  "the  most 
perfect  one  on  earth  "  in  theory,  he  did  not  thereby  express  any  wish  to  u  attempt  to 
introduce  "  it  into  the  United  States.  Again,  he  denies  that  they  have  had  any  serious  con- 


6  SUPPOSED  CONSEQUENCES.  [CHAP.  I. 

The  above  quotation  is  given  in  justice  to  Mr.  Adams,  and 
it  shows,  if  we  may  credit,  his  assertions,  that  Jefferson's 
impressions  drawn  from  Mr.  Adams's  writings  and  conversation, 
that  he  desired  to  "  attempt  to  introduce  "  a  hereditary  govern 
ment  of  i;  King,  Lords,  and  Commons,"  into  the  United  States, 
were  not  well  founded.  We  confess  we  are  inclined  to  give  full 
credit  to  Mr.  Adams's  assertions.  We  are  inclined  to  give  him 
the  benefit  of  that  distinction  between  theoretical  opinions  and 
actual  designs,  which  it  has  been  sought  so  unsuccessfully  to 
establish  in  the  case  of  Hamilton. 

Mr.  Adams's  mention,  in  the  same  letter,  that  (apparently 
he  means  to  carry  the  idea  in  consequence  of  Jefferson's  letter 
to  Smith)  Samuel  Adams  in  his  "  formal  speech  "  as  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  had  "  very  solemnly  held  up  the 
idea  of  hereditary  powers,  and  cautioned  the  public  against 
them,  as  if  they  were  at  that  moment  in  the  most  imminent  dan 
ger  of  them  " — that  "  these  things  were  all  accompanied  with 
the  most  marked  neglect,  both  of  the  Governor  [John  Han 
cock]  and  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  State  towards  him  [Mr. 
Adams]  "-^-that  "  all  together  served  as  a  hue  and  cry  to  all  his 
enemies  and  rivals,  to  the  old  constitutional  faction  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  in  concert  with  the  late  insurgents  of  Massachusetts,  both 
of  whom  considered  his  [Mr.  Adams's]  writings  as  the  cause  of 
their  overthrow,"  etc. — that  u  Mr.  Hancock's  friends  were  pre 
paring  the  way  by  his  [Mr.  Adams's]  destruction,  for  his  [Mr. 
Hancock's]  election  to  the  place  of  Vice-President " — that 
'*  many  people  thought,  too,  that  no  small  share  of  a  foreign 
influence l  in  revenge  for  certain  intractable  conduct  at  the 
treaty  of  peace  was  and  would  be  intermingled  " — we  say,  Mr. 
Adams's  mention  of  these  things  serves  to  show  that  a  vague 
allusion  in  a  letter  by  Jefferson  exercised  a  marvellous  influence 
on  the  public  mind,  or  else  it  shows  that  Jefferson's  opinions 
were  very  generally  shared  by  the  leading  Republicans.  Which 
is  the  most  probable  solution  ?  We  will  not  cite  Hancock's 
views,  or  those  of  the  Pennsylvania  "  faction "  alluded  to, 
because  Mr.  Adams  believed  these  parties  were  his  enemies. 


vcisatiuii    tu^ttiici     uu    tiic    suujc^Jt    v/i     tuc    iiatuic    ui    gu  vcri  uiucut tiiat  auviiiuii;    ucsiuco 

"very  transient  hints"   have  passed  between  them,  etc.     Those  familiar  with  Mr. 
Adams's  style  of  political  disquisition,  will  readily  understand  that  he  would  not  regard 


anything  short  of  a  folio  or  two,  as  anything  beyond  "  hints'" 
»  That  is.  French  influence. 


CHAP.  I.]  A.    BETTER    SOLUTION.  7 

But  had  Sarnnel  Adams,  whose  virtue  was  even  more  Spartan 
than  his  nerve,  officially  directed  popular  prejudice  and  ani 
mosity  against  his  Revolutionary  colleague,  only  on  the  proof 
of  a  bare  supposed  allusion  in  a  published  letter  by  a  third 
person  ?  Can  we  suppose  that  all  this  banding  together  against 
the  second  officer  and  man  l  in  the  nation  flowed  from  such  a 
source  ?  Jefferson's  words  always  fell  like  a  spell  on  the  Ameri 
can  ear  ;  but  the  tracing  of  such  an  effect  to  such  a  cause,  is 
too  wide  of  the  boundaries  of  probability  to  receive  grave  con 
sideration. 

In  truth,  we  are  not  compelled  to  resort  to  any  strained  and 
unnatural  theory  of  solution.  John  Adams's  Defence  of  the 
American  Constitutions,  and  his  Discourses  on  Davila,  were  as 
open  to  other  eyes  as  to  Jefferson's.  They  produced  the  same 
impression  on  the  popular  party  (the  men  who  were  to  form  the 
Republican  party  as  soon  as  it  organized)  throughout  the  Union. 
If  they  were  not  construed  in  the  like  manner  by  the  opposite 
parry,  the  assurances  which  Sedgwick  gave  Hamilton,  that 
Adams  had  abandoned  his  earlier  political  views,  most  have 
been  based  on  Other  and  satisfactory  evidence  !  In  truth,  a 
perusal  of  these  productions  will  now  show  that  they  could  not 
of  possibility  have  failed  to  convey  the  idea  to  the  intelligent 
men  of  all  parties  that  the  writer  had  no  confidence  whatever  in 
democracy,  and  that  at  least  all  his  "  theoretical  "  preferences 
were  in  favor  of  a  mixed  form  closely  analogous  to  that  of 
England.  If  Mr.  Adams  did  not  wish  to  have  the  spirit  of  our 
system  directed  somewhat  in  the  same  channel,  by  the  construc 
tion  which  should  be  given  to  our  written  constitutions,  why 
did  he  write  and  publish  these  voluminous  disquisitions? 

Again  we  say  we  do  not  believe  Mr.  Adams  sought  to 
change  the  form  of  our  government.  Nor  do  we  believe  that 
he  so  far  sought  to  change  the  essence,  as  to  make  his  adherence 
to  the  form  a  mere  pretext  to  deceive  the  public;  and  herein. 
was  the  difference  between  him  and  the  Hamiltonians.  Yet  he 
undoubtedly  would  have  preferred  to  give,  in  the  progress  of 
what  he  considered  a  fair  experiment,  a  much  more  consolidated 
structure  to  the  general  government,  and  a  greater  prepon 
derance  to  the  the  executive  and  senatorial  branches  than  they 
now  possess.  Mr.  Adams,  as  we  think  was  usual  with  him? 

1  Such  was  unquestionably  Mr.  Adams's  position  in  the  public  eye  at  this  moiaent. 


8  IMPUTED    DISCREPANCIES,  ETC.  [CHAP.  I. 

wrote  and  talked  worse  than  he  voluntarily  acted  ;  and  in  his 
Defence  and  Davila,  foolishly  brought  on  himself  the  suspicion 
of  being  the  most  ultra  of  that  anti-popular  party,  when  in 
reality  he  hardly  came  up  to  middle  ground  among  them.  We 
must  be  understood  here  and  elsewhere  to  speak  of  Mr.  Adams's 
opinions  in  their  general  or  prevailing  tenor.  If  the  most 
exaggerated  momentary  excesses  in  other,  if  not  in  all,  directions 
were  to  be  taken  into  account,  he  could  be  shown  to  have 
believed  anything  or  nothing.  This  gross  inconsistency  was 
superficial.  As  in  the  case  of  all  honest  men,  there  was  a  cer 
tain  central  thread  of  consistency  in  his  life,  which  liberal  eyes 
can  never  be  at  a  loss  to  find. 

On  the  30th  of  August,  Jefferson  replied  to  Adams's  last 
quoted  letter  of  June  29th.  He  expressed  his  gratification  that 
the  latter  saw  "  in  its  true  point  of  view,  the  way  in  which  he 
[Jefferson]  had  been  drawn  into  the  scene  " — urging,  however, 
that  his  note  to  Smith  had  not  produced  by  far  so  important  an 
offect  as  Mr.  Adams  attributed  to  it — that  it  was  Publicola's 
attack  on  the  political  principles  set  forth  in  Paine's  Rights  of 
Man,  that  had  called  forth  such  a  number  of  replies — and  that 
the  bitterness  personally  'manifested  towards  Mr.  Adams  had 
proceeded  from  the  supposition  that  he  was  Publicola.1  And 
here  the  correspondence  appears  to  have  dropped. 

1  This  letter  is  given  entire,  and  we  are  bound  to  presume  correctly,  in  Mr.  Adams's 
Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  509. 

One  of  the  sentences  in  it  is  as  follows :  "  His  [Publicola's]  antagonist  very  crimi 
nally,  in  ray  opinion,  presumed  you  to  be  Publicola,  and  on  that  presumption  hazarded 
a  personal  attack  on  you."  The  editor  of  Mr.  Adams's  Works  remarks,  in  a  note 
appended  to  the  first  clause  of  this  sentence  :  "If  this  was  criminal,  Mr.  Jefferson  proba 
bly  erred  with  him.  He  [Jefferson]  attributes  one  article  in  Fenno's  paper,  at  least,  to 
Mr.  Adams."  The  editor  then  cites  the  letter  of  Jefferson  to  Washington  of  May  8th, 
already  given  in  this  chapter.  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  contains  Jefferson's  declara 
tion  :  '•  one  of  Penno's  [articles]  was  evidently  from  the  author  of  the  Discourses  on 
Davila."  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  might  have  also  cited  the  letter  of  Jefferson  to  Monroe,  of 
July  10th,  in  which  the  latter  allegation  is  made  more  comprehensive — by,  impliedly. 
imputing  all  of  Publicola's  articles  to  John  Adams. 

But  we  confess  we  do  not  discover  anything  in  this  to  justify  the  impression  that  Jef 
ferson  stood  in  the  same  predicament  with  Publicola's  "  antagonist,"  unless  it  should  be 
made  to  appear  that  a  private  and  confidential  expression  of  an  opinion  bearing  against 
a  friend  is  equivalent  to  a  public  charge  "  presumed  "  or  taken  for  granted  as  a  fact,  in  a 
newspaper,  and  made  the  ground  of  a  personal  attack!  This  will  hardly,  we  fancy,  pass 
for  a  sequitur. 

Again,  Mr.  Jefferson  said  in  the  same  letter  to  Mr.  Adams  : 

u  Indeed,  it  was  impossible  that  my  note  should  occasion  your  name  to  be  brought 
into  question ;  for,  so  far  from  naming  you,  I  had  not  even  in  view  any  writing  which  I 
might  suppose  to  be  yours,  and  the  opinions  I  alluded  to  were  principally  those  I  heard 
in  common  conversation  from  a  sect  aiming  at  the  subversion  of  the  present  Government, 
to  bring  in  their  favorite  form  of  a  King.  Lords,  and  Commons." 

Mr.  Adams's  editor  appends  the  following  note  to  the  above  : 

k>  But  on  the  other  hand  is  the  following,  addressed  to  another  person  :  k  That  I  had  in 
my  view  the  Discourses  on  Davila,  which  ha  1  filled  Fenno's  papers  for  a  twelvemonth, 
rt-ithout  contradiction,  is  certain.'  Jefferson  to  Washington  (8th  May,  1791)  in  Sparks's 


.    I.] 


IMPUTED    DISCREPANCIES.  9 


On  the  17th  of  May,  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Madison  set  out  on 
an  excursion  to  the  North.  It  appears  from  memoranda  of  the 
former,  lying  before  us,  that  they  reached  New  York  on  the  19th, 

edition  of  Washington's  Writings,  vol.  x.  p.  160,  note.     Those  who  are  curious  in  such 
matters,  would  do  well  to  compare  the  tone  of  the  two  letters  throughout." 

This  note  of  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams,  like  the  preceding  one,  is  designed  to  point  out  a  sup 
posed  conflict  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  statements  to  different  persons. 

We  think  the  interpretation  in  both  cases  turns  on  the  same  idea.  In  the  first  case, 
Mr.  Jefferson  said  in  effect  :  "Nobody  had  the  right  to  take  it  for  granted  in  a  public 
newspaper,  that  you  were  Publicola,  and  to  assail  you  accordingly."  Jn  the  second,  he 
said  in  effect:  "When  I  wrote  J.  B.  Smith,  I  had  in  view  no  production  which  I  had  the 
right  to  take  for  granted  to  be  yours,  and  therefore  no  one  had  the  right  to  assume  that 
I  meant  you  ;  but  I  did  have  in  view  certain  doctrines  heard  in  conversation,"  etc. 

Can  it  be  supposed  that  he  had  any  intention  of  really  deceiving  Mr.  Adams  in  regard  to 
the  mental  application  of  the  Smith  letter,  when  in  his  first  communication  to  him 
on  this  subject  (July  17,  1791),  he  substantially  admitted  that  application,  first,  by  not 
denying  it,  and,  secondly,  by  informing  Mr.  Adams  that  it  was  well  known  to  them  both 
that  they  differed  in  their  ideas  of  the  best  form  of  government,  and  that  they  had  talked 
about  it? 

When  Mr.  Adams  accepted  his  explanation  on  this  basis,  what  would  be  the  use  of 
advancing  to  a  new  and  contradictory  position? 

Bat  no  contradiction  is  expressed,  or  intended.  In  the  second  letter,  he  still  adheres 
to  his  original  position,  that  he  had  made  no  public  attack  on  Mr.  Adams,  and  had  done 
nothing  which  authorized  others  to  make  such  an  attack.  He  does  not  again  impute  the 
doctrines  to  Mr.  Adams  which  ha  did  in  his  first  letter,  because  the  latter  had  ostensibly 
disclaimed  them.  But  he  now  advances  from  an  admission  to  the  direct  assertion  that  in 
the  Smith  letter  he  did  refer  to  the  doctrines  imputed  to  Mr.  Adams  in  the  first  letter  to 
him  !  And  it  will  be  further  remarked  that  in  the  last  one,  he  does  not  withdraw  the 
mental  application.  He  remains  silent  on  that  point.  He  says  as  much  as  to  say:  "I 
referred  in  the  Smith  letter  to  certain  doctrines.  It  cannot  be  possible  that  I  caused  your 
name  to  be  brought  into  -question,  so  long  as  I  had  no  acknowledged  writing  of  yours  in 
view,  and  so  long  as  you  say  (or  seem  to  say)  that  you  have  advocated  no  such 
doctrines." 

Jefferson's  aim  throughout  is  to  prove  that  he  has  neither  made  nor  authorized  any 
body  else  to  make  a  public  attack  on  his  friend,  while  beyond  this,  without  denying  or 
really  concealing  the  truth,  he  makes  no  blunt  or  offensive  admissions.  Perhaps  had  he 
understood  the  ordeal  his  words  were  to  pass  through,  he  would  have  been  more 
explicit  ! 

There  are  few  men  who  have  seen  much  of  the  world,  who  have  not  sometimes  stood 
in  analogous  positions  to  the  one  here  occupied  by  Jefferson,  and  who  do  not  know  how 
excessively  awkward  it  is  to  decide  just  how  much  and  just  how  little  shall  be  said  in 
extricating  one's  self  from  a  difficulty  with  a  friend,  particularly  if  the  aggrieved  party's 
temper  is  understood  to  be  very  excitable,  and  very  unreasonable  when  excited.  But 
whan  it  comes  to  the  motive,  certainly  that  man  shows  a  truer  friendship  who  is  willing 
to  do  all  he  decently  can  to  remove  the  difficulty,  than  he  who  at  once  throws  himself 
into  an  aggressive  attitude  by  those  bluntnesses  or  unnecessary  declarations  which  some 
regard  as  necessary  to  vindicate  their  courage. 

In  this  very  case,  we  have  no  doubt  that  John  Adams  made  a  greater  effort  to  keep 
a  troublesome  fact  out  of  sight  than  did  Mr.  Jefferson.  His  son  (J.  Q.  Adams),  assuming 
that  his  father  was  attacked  in  the  letter  to  J.  B.  Smith,  was  offensively  retaliating  on 
Mr.  Jefferson,  in  some  articles  over  the  signature  of  Publicola.  Nobody,  we  think,  had 
any  doubt  that  they  came  from  Mr.  Adams,  or  some  one  immediately  about  him.  These 
articles  were  continued.  Is  it  probable  that  John  Adams  did  not  know  their  authorship  ? 
If  we  had  any  doubts  on  the  subject,  they  would  be  removed  by  his  declarations  to  Jef 
ferson,  which  were  as  follows  : 

"  And  I,  with  equal  frankness,  declare  that  I  never  did.  either  by  myself  or  by  any 
other,  have  a  sentence  of  mine  inserted  in  any  newspaper  since  I  left  Phila  lelphia.  I 
neither  wrote  nor  corrected  Publicola.  The  writer  in  the  composition  of  his  pieces 
followed  his  own  judgment,  information  and  discretion  without  any  assistance  from  me." 

What  is  not  said  here  is  more  significant  than  what  is  said.  Why  did  not  Mr.  Adams 
say  that  he  "neither  wrote  the  articles  nor  knew  who  did  write  them?"  To  deny 
knowledge  of  authorship  would  have  covered  the  whole  ground,  and  saved  all  those  col 
lateral  and  special  disclaimers.  Yet  to  admit  the  knowledge,  when  the  writer  was  his  own 
son,  and  who,  it  would  therefore  be  presumed,  could  be  at  least  stopped  by  him  if  the 
attacks  were  painful  to  himself,  would  be  to  admit  a  degree  of  complicity.  Consequently, 
the  above  disclaimer  is  made  to  wear  the  appearance  of  a  total  disclaimer—  so  much  so, 
that  the  party  receiving  it  would  not  be  entitled  to  ask  a  more  specific  one  without 


10  JOURNEY    NORTH.  [CHAP.  I. 

Albany  on  the  26th,  Stillwater  on  the  28th,  Fort  George  on  the 
29th,  Ticonderoga  on  the  31st,  Bennington  on  the  4-th  of  June, 
Northampton  on  the  7th,  Springfield  and  Hartford  on  the  8th, 
Guilford  on  the  llth,  New  York  on  the  16th,  and  Philadelphia 
on  the  19th.  His  private  memoranda  of  the  journey  are  hardly 
worth  transcribing.  Some  general  description  of  it  will  be  found 
in  a  letter  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Randolph,  which  is  published 
without  any  address  in  the  Congressional  edition  of  his  Works 
(vol.  iii.  p.  265),  and  also  in  one,  we  shall  presently  give,  to  his 
daughter  Martha. 

On  the  28th  of  July,  the  Secretary  of  State  addressed  a  com 
munication  to  Mr.  Short,  in  France,  remonstrating  in  firm  lan 
guage  against  the  conduct  of  the  National  Assembly  in  impos 
ing  an  additional  duty  on  tobacco  carried  in  American,  over  that 
carried  in  French  vessels,  and  making  some  other  unfavorable 

betraying  unfriendly  and  offensive  distrust.  Under  the  circumstances,  the  "equivoque" 
was  probably  venial,  because  it  contained  no  express  deception,  and  was  the  fruit  of  a 
good  and  friendly  motive — to  obtain  a  reconciliation  with  a  valued  friend.  It  was  simply 
practising  on  the  rule  of  "least  said  soonest  mended" — an  excellent  one,  so  far  as  it  can 
be  conscientiously  carried  in  those  proverbially  delicate  matters,  misunderstandings 
between  friends  ! 

Some  gentlemen  seem  very  fond  of  assuming  that  Jefferson  always  had  a  very  par 
ticular  and  interested  design  in  keeping  on  terms  of  friendship  with  John  Adams  !  We 
agree  with  these  gentlemen  in  part.  We  believe  that  Jefferson  was  particularly  attached 
to  John  Adams — that  he  gave  up  even  political  coaction  with  the  Colossus  of  July  2d, 
3d  and  4th,  1776,  with  indescribable  reluctance.  But  on  the  score  of  mere  personal 
interest,  what  favors  had  he  to  ask,  what  to  expect  from  the  latter  ?  There  is  an 
ingenious  theory  that  some  years  subsequent  to  1791,  Jefferson  sought  to  divide  the 
Federalists,  by  drawing  away  John  Adams  from  the  ultra  school,  and  inducing  him  to 
unite  with  the  Republicans.  We  have  no  doubt  this  is  true.  But  was  there  anything 
unfriendly  or  treacherous  to  John  Adams,  or  improper  in  itself,  in  this  conduct?  The 
result  of  it  would  have  been  to  make  Mr.  Adams  President  for  two  terms — and  it  would 
have  necessarily  delayed  Jefferson's  accession  to  the  Presidency.  But  of  this  more 
hereafter. 

We  are  pleased  that  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  called  attention  to  a  comparison  of  "the  tone 
of  the  two  letters  throughout"  which  Jefferson  wrote  Washington  May  8th,  1791.  and  to 
John  Adams,  August  30th,  1791.  Herein  he  but  anticipated  us.  In  that  comparison  will 
be  found  a  more  unmistakable  explanation  of  Jefferson's  private  feelings  towards  the 
latter,  than  can  be  derived  from  any  other  source  at  that  precise  moment.  Washington, 
we  believe,  was  never  suspected  in  his  confidential  circle  of  being  at  all  partial  person 
ally  to  John  Adams.  At  least  such  was  Jefferson's  belief  and  his  declaration.  When, 
therefore,  he  wrote  General  Washington  that  he  was  "afraid  the  indiscretion  of  a  triuter 
had  committed  him  with  his  friend  Mr.  Adams,  for  whom,  as  one  of  the  most  honest  and 
disinterested  men  alive,  he  had  a  cordial  esteim,  increased  by  long  habits  of  concurrence 
in  opinion  in  the  days  of  his  republicanism."  etc.— we  say  when  he  wrote  this,  we  have 
every  reason  to  believe  we  get  at  his  true  fc<  lings.  We  have  not  observed,  at  any  rate, 
even  any  wire-drawn  theory  to  prove  what,  super-Jesuitical  scheme  Jefferson  could 
have  had  in  deceiving  Washington  in  this  particular,  in  a  letter  which  he  knew  would  be 
treated  confidentially. 

We  will  venture  to  extend  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams's  invitation  to  "the  curious."  We  invite 
them  to  "compare  the  tone"  of  every  letter  and  paper  Jefferson  ever  wrote  where 
John  Adams's  name  is  mentioned  or  allusion  is  made  to  him.  We  shall  find  no  over- 
boilings  of  wrath,  and  denunciations  as  ridiculous  as  children  heap  upon  each  other  in 
tLeir  anger,  in  private  letters— no  anonymous  attacks  in  newspapers — no  petty  criticisms 
on  his  great  productions  made  during  paroxysms  of  wounded  vanity,  followed  by  vehe 
ment  declarations  of  "love."  We  shall  find,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  one  consistent 
view  of  Mr.  Adams's  character — -one  consistent  way  of  speaking  of  that  character— one 
consistent  expression  of  the  writer's  feelings  towards  him  ! 


CHAP.  I.J  FRENCH    INSTRUCTIONS.  11 

regulations,  in  retaliation  for  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  Ton 
nage  Bill.  Mr.  Jefferson  declared  to  Short  he  could  not  help 
hoping  that  the  French  regulations  were  "  wanderings  of  a 
moment,  founded  in  misinformation  which  reflection  will  have 
corrected,"  before  his  letter  was  received.  He  adds,  with  increas 
ing  significance  : 

"  Whenever  jealousies  are  expressed  as  to  any  supposed  views  of  ours,  on  the 
dominior  of  the  West  Indies,  you  cannot  go  farther  than  the  truth,  in  asserting  we 
have  noiu.  If  there  be  one  principle  more  deeply  rooted  than  any  other  in  the 
mind  of  evuy  American,  it  is,  that  we  should  have  nothing  to  do  with  conquest. 
As  to  commerce,  indeed,  we  have  strong  sensations.  In  casting  our  eyes  over  the 
earth,  we  see  no  instance  of  a  nation  forbidden,  as  we  are,  by  foreign  powers,  to 
deal  with  neighbors,  and  obliged,  with  them,  to  carry  into  another  hemisphere,  the 
mutual  supplies  necessary  to  relieve  mutual  wants.  This  is  not  merely  a  question 
between  the  foreign  power  and  our  neighbor.  We  are  interested  in  it  equally  with 
the  latter,  and  nothing  but  moderation,  at  least  with  respect  to  us,  can  render  us 
indifferent  to  its  continuance.  An  exchange  of  surpluses  and  wants  between  neigh 
bor  nations,  is  both  a  right  and  a  duty  under  the  moral  law,  and  measures  against 
right  should  be  mollified  in  their  exercise,  if  it  be  wished  to  lengthen  them  to  the 
greatest  term  possible.  In  policy,  if  not  in  justice, 

they  should  be  disposed  to  avoid  oppression,  which,  falling  on  us,  as  well  as  on  their 
colonies,  might  tempt  us  to  act  together." 

A  letter  to  the  President,  two  days  afterwards,  shows  that 
the  above  instructions  were  drawn  up  by  the  Secretary  without 
consultation,  and  that  they  were  sent  to  the  former  (at  Mount 
Vernon)  for.  his  approbation.  Jefferson  urged  that  the  parts 
quoted  could  be  safely  left  to  be  used  by  Mr.  Short  at  his  discre 
tion,  but  that  if  the  President  "  thought  that  the  possibility 
that  harm  might  be  done  overweighed  the  chance  of  good,  he 
would  expunge  them,"  etc.  We  have  in  this  a  specimen  how 
far  the  writer  was  influenced  by  the  subserviency  to  France  of 
which  he  was  soon  afterwards  loudly  accused. 

Professor  Tucker1  gives  extracts  of  a  letter  from  Jefferson  to 
Short  of  the  same  date  with  the  instructions — from  whence 
derived  he  does  not  say,  but  we  infer,  probably,  from  Mr.  Short 
himself.  They  are  as  follows  : 

"  Paine's  pamphlet  has  been  published  and  read  with  general  applause  here. 
*  *  *  The  Tory  paper,  Fenno's,  rarely  admits  anything  which 

defends  the  present  form  of  government  in  opposition  to  his  desire  of  subverting 

1  Life  of  Jefferson,  vol.  i.  p.  350. 


12  POLITICAL   EXPRESSIONS.  [CHAP.  I. 

it,  to  make  way  for  a  King,  Lords,  and  Commons.  There  are  high  names  here  in 
favor  of  this  doctrine,  but  these  publications  have  drawn  forth,  pretty  generally, 
expressions  of  the  public  sentiment  on  this  subject,  and  I  thank  God  they  are,  to  a 
man,  firm  as  a  rock  in  their  republicanism." 

A  note  appended  to  the  above  after  the  word  "  names,"  was 
as  follows  : 

"  Adams,  Jay,  Hamilton,  Knox,  and  many  of  the  Cincinnati.  The  second  says 
nothing :  the  third  is  open.  Both  are  dangerous.  They  pant  after  union  with  Eng 
land,  as  the  power  which  is  to  support  their  projects,  and  are  most  determined 
Anri-Gallicans.  It  is  prognosticated  that  our  Republic  is  to  end  with  the  President's 
life,  but  I  believe  they  will  find  themselves  all  head  and  no  body." 

This  letter,  it  will  be  borne  in  mind,  was  written  in  the 
height  of  the  controversy  culled  out  by  the  publication  of  the 
Rights  of  Man,  with  Jefferson's  letter  to  Smith  prefixed,  and 
before  Jefferson  received  Mr.  Adams's  letter  of  explanation  and 
denial. 

On  the  29th  of  July  Jefferson  wrote  to  Thomas  Paine : 

"  I  am  glad  you  did  not  come  away  till  you  had  written  your  'Rights  of  Man.' 
That  has  been  much  read  here  with  avidity  and  pleasure.  A  writer  under  the  signa 
ture  of  Publicola  has  attacked  it.  A  host  of  champions  entered  the  arena  imme 
diately  in  your  defence.  The  discussion  excited  the  public  attention,  recalled  it  to 
the  '  Defence  of  the  American  Constitutions '  and  the  '  Discourses  on  Davila,'  which 
it  had  kindly  passed  over  without  censure  in  the  moment,  and  very  general  expres 
sions  of  their  sense  have  been  now  drawn  forth  ;  and  I  thank  God  that  they  appear 
firm  in  their  republicanism,  notwithstanding  the  contrary  hopes  and  assertions  of  a 
sect. here,  high  in  name  but  small  in  numbers.  These  had  flattered  themselves  that 
the  silence  of  the  people  under  the  '  Defence  '  and  '  Davila  '  was  a  symptom  of  their 
conversion  to  the  doctrine  of  King,  Lords,  and  Commons.  They  are  checked  at  least 
by  your  pamphlet,  and  the  people  confirmed  in  their  good  old  faith." 

On  the  10th  of  August,  in  a  letter  to  General  Knox,  he 
expressed  himself  very  decidedly  in  respect  to  the  legal  founda 
tion  on  which  the  afterwards  famous  "  Yazoo  Claims  "  rested, 
and  marked  out  the  precise  line  of  demarkation  between  the 
powers  of  the  General  and  State  Governments  in  extinguishing 
Indian  titles,  which  became  and  yet  remains  the  established  one. 
We  will  not  here  give  his  remarks.  They  may  be  quoted  here 
after  ;  or,  if  not,  our  citation  is  sufficient  to  call  attention  to 
them. 

The  remarkable  inflation  of  the  United  States  Bank  scrip,  in 


CHAP.  I.]  POLITICAL    EXPRESSIONS.  13 

the  summer  of  1791,  has  been  alluded  to.     Mr.  Jefferson  wrote 
to  Edward  Eutledge  of  South  Carolina,  August  25th  : 

"  What  do  you  think  of  this  scrippomony  ?  J  Ships  are  lying  idle  at  the  wharfs, 
buildings  are  stopped,  capitals  withdrawn  from  commerce,  manufactures,  arts,  and 
agriculture  to  be  employed  in  gambling,  and  the  tide  of  public  prosperity  almost 
unparalleled  in  any  country  is  arrested  in  its  course,  and  suppressed  by  the  rage  of 
getting  rich  in  a  day.  No  mortal  can  tell  where  this  will  stop  ;  for  the  spirit  of 
gaming,  when  once  it  has  seized  a  subject,  is  incurable.  The  tailor  who  has  made 
thousands  in  one  day,  though  he  has  lost  them  the  next,  can  never  again  be  con 
tent  with  the  slow  and  moderate  earnings  of  his  needle.  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
public  felicity,  if  our  papers  are  to  be  believed,  because  our  papers  are  under  the 
orders  of  our  scripmen.  I  imagine,  however,  we  shall  hear  that  all  the  cash  has 
quitted  the  extremities  of  the  nation,  and  accumulated  here.  That  produce  and 
property  fall  to  half  price  there,  and  the  same  things  rise  to  double  price  here 
That  the  cash  accumulated  and  stagnated  here,  as  soon  as  the  bank  paper  gets  out, 
will  find  its  vent  into  foreign  countries,  and  instead  of  this  solid  medium,  which  we 
might  have  kept  for  nothing,  we  shall  have  a  paper  one,  for  the  use  of  which  we 
are  to  pay  these  gamesters  fifteen  per  cent,  per  annum,  as  they  say. 

"  Would  to  God  yourself,  General  Pinckney  and  Major  Pinckney,  would  come 
forward  and  aid  us  with  your  efforts.  You  are  all  known,  respected,  wished  for ;  but 
you  refuse  yourselves  to  everything.  What  is  to  become  of  us,  my  dear  friend,  if 
the  vine  and  the  fig  tree  withdraw,  and  leave  us  to  the  bramble  and  thorn  ?" 

He  added  the  following  in  regard  to  the  French  Revolution 
and  its  influence  on  American  politics  : 

"  You  will  have  heard,  before  this  reaches  you,  of  the  peril  into  which  the 
French  Revolution  is  brought  by  the  flight  of  their  King.  Such  are  the  fruits  of 
that  form  of  government,  which  heaps  importance  on  idiots,  and  which  the 
Tories  of  the  present  day  are  trying  to  preach  into  our  favor.  I  still  hope  the 
French  Revolution  will  issue  happily.  I  feel  that  the  permanence  of  our  own,  leans 
in  some  degree  on  that ;  and  that  a  failure  there  would  be  a  powerful  argument  to 
prove  there  must  be  a  failure  here." 

On  the  second  day  of  September,  a  year  and  a  day  after 
starting  on  his  last  preceding  trip  for  home,  Mr.  Jefferson  again 
set  out  for  Monticello,  and  he  reached  it  on  the  12th.  A  diary 
of  this  trip  is  lying  before  us,  kept  in  a  new  form — a  tabular  one, 
in  which  the  distances,  time  of  travelling,  stopping-places,  etc., 
are  arranged  in  separate  and  corresponding  columns.  It  would 
scarcely,  perhaps,  repay  transcription. 

We  proceed  to  bring  down  his  unpublished  letters  to  his 
daughters,  since  his  previous  visit  home  : 

1  Scrip po-mania,  i.  e.  mania  for  Bank  scrip. 


14:  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.   I. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Die.  1st,  1790. 
MY  DEAR  DAUGHTER: 

In  my  letter  of  last  week  to  Mr.  Randolph,  I  mentioned  that  T  should  write 
every  Wednesday  to  him,  yourself,  and  Polly  alternately;  and  that  my  letters 
arriving  at  Monticello  the  Saturday,  and  the  answer  being  sent  off  on  Sunday,  I 
should  receive  it  the  day  before  I  should  have  to  write  again  to  the  same  person,  so 
as  that  the  correspondence  with  each  would  be  exactly  kept  up.  I  hope  you  will 
do  it  on  your  part.  I  delivered  the  fan  and  note  to  your  friend  Mrs.  Waters  (Miss 
Rittenhouse  that  was)  she  being  now  married  to  a  Doctor  Waters.  They  live  in  the 
house  with  her  father.  She  complained  of  the  petit  format  of  your  letter,  and 
Mvs.  Trist  of  no  letter.  I  inclose  you  the  Magasin  des  Modes  of  July.  My  furni 
ture  is  arrived  from  Paris  ;  but  it  will  be  long  before  I  can  open  the  packages,  as 
my  house  will  not  be  ready  to  receive  them  for  some  weeks.  As  soon  as  they 
are  ope'ned  the  mattresses,  etc.,  shall  be  sent  on.  News  for  Mr.  Randolph — the 
letters  from  Paris  inform  that  as  yet  all  is  safe  there.  They  are  emitting  great 
sums  of  paper  money.  They  rather  believe  there  will  be  no  war  between  Spain 
and  England ;  but  the  letters  from  London  count  on  a  war,  and  it  seems  rather 
probable.  A  general  peace  is  established  in  the  north  of  Europe,  except  between 
Russia  and  Turkey.  It  is  expected  between  them  also.  Wheat  here  is  a  French 
crown  the  bushel. 

Kiss  dear  Poll  for  me.     Remember  me  to  Mr.  Randolph.     I  do  not  know  yet 
how  the  Edgehill  negotiation  has  terminated.     Adieu,  my  dear. 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Dec.  7, 1790. 
HY  DEAR  POLL  : 

This  week  I  write  to  you,  and  if  you  answer  my  letter  as  soon  as  you  receive 
it,  and  send  it  to  Colonel  Bell  at  Charlottesville,  I  shall  receive  it  the  day  before  I 
write  to  you  again — that  will  be  three  weeks  hence  ;  and  this  I  shall  expect  you  to 
do  always,  so  that  by  the  correspondence  of  Mr.  Randolph,  your  sister,  and  your 
self,  I  may  hear  from  home  once  a  week.  Mr.  Randolph's  letter  from  Richmond 
came  to  me  about  five  days  ago.  How  do  you  all  do  ?  Tell  me  that  in  your  letter, 
also  what  is  going  forward  with  you,  how  you  employ  yourself,  what  weather  you 
have  had.  We  have  already  had  two  or  three  snows  here.  The  workmen  are  so 
slow  in  finishing  the  house  I  have  rented  here,  that  I  know  not  when  I  shall  have  it 
ready,  except  one  room  which  they  promise  me  this  week,  and  which  will  be  my  bed 
room,  study,  dining-room,  and  parlor.  I  am  not  able  to  give  any  later  news  about 
peace  or  war  than  of  October  16th,  which  I  mentioned  in  my  last  to  your  sister. 
Wheat  has  fallen  a  few  pence,  and  will,  I  think,  continue  to  fall,  slowly  at  first  and 
rapidly  after  a  while.  Adieu,  my  dear  Maria  ;  kiss  your  sister  for  me,  and  assure 
Mr.  Randolph  of  my  affection.  I  will  not  tell  you  how  much  I  love  you,  lest  by 
rendering  you  vain,  it  might  render  you  less  worthy  of  my  love. 

Encore  adieu, 

TH.  J 


CHAP.  I.]  LETTERS   TO   HIS    DAUGHTERS.  15 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  Dec.  23rf,  1790. 
MY  DEAR  DAUGHTER  : 

This  is  a  scolding  letter  tor  you  all.  I  nave  not  received  a  scrip  of  a  pen 
from  home  since  I  left  it.  I  think  it  so  easy  for  you  to  write  me  one  letter  every 
week,  which  will  be  but  once  in  the  three  weeks  for  each  of  you,  when  I  write  one 
every  week,  who  have  not  one  moment's  repose  from  business,  from  the  first  to  the 
last  moment  of  the  week. 

Perhaps  you  think  you  have  nothing  to  say  to  me.  It  is  a  great  deal  to  say  you 
are  all  well ;  or  that  one  has  a  cold,  another  a  fever,  etc.  :  besides,  that  there  \» 
not  a  sprig  of  grass  that  shoots  uninteresting  to  me ;  nor  anything  that  moves  from 
yourself  down  to  Bergere  or  Grizzle.1  Write,  then,  my  dear  daughter,  punctually 
on  your  day,  and  Mr.  Randolph  and  Polly  on  theirs.  I  suspect  you  may  have  news 
to  tell  me  of  yourself  of  the  most  tender  interest  to  me.  Why  silent  then  ? 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Jan.  5fJi,  1791. 

1  did  not  write  to  you,  mv  dear  Poll,  the  last  week,  because  I  was  really  a^gry 
at  receiving  no  letter.  I  have  now  been  near  nine  weeks  Irom  home,  and  have 
never  had  a  scrip  of  a  pen,  when  by  the  regularity  of  the  post  I  might  receive  your 
letters  as  frequently  and  as  exactly  as  if  I  were  at  Charlottesville.  I  ascribed  it  at 
first  to  indolence,  but  the  affection  must  be  weak  which  is  so  long  overruled  by 
that.  Adieu, 

TH.  J. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Feb.  9th,  1791. 
MY  DEAR  MARTHA  : 

Your  two  last  letters  are  those  which  have  given  me  the  greatest  pleasure  of 
any  I  ever  received  from  you.  The  one  announced  that  you  were  become  a  notable 
housewife  ;  the  other,  a  mother.  This  last  is  undoubtedly  the  keystone  of  the  arch 
of  matrimonial  happiness,  as  the  first  is  its  daily  aliment.  Accept  my  sincere 
congratulations  for  yourself  and  Mr.  Randolph. 

•  I  hope  you  are  getting  well ;  towards  which  great  care  of  yourself  is  necessary; 
for  however  advisable  it  is  for  those  in  health  to  expose  themselves  freely,  it  is  not 
so  for  the  sick.  You  will  be  out  in  time  to  begin  your  garden,  and  that  will  tempt 
you  to  be  out  a  great  deal,  than  which  nothing  will  tend  more  t£  give  you  health 

1  The  originals  brought  by  him  from  France,  of  the  stock  of  the  shepherd's  dog, 
•which  was  kept  up  at  Monticel'lo  till  within  a  short  period  of  his  death.  Bergere 's  name 
is  associated  in  the  minds  of  Mrs.  Randolph's  daughters  with  a  tradition  illustrative  of 
her  reasoning  powers.  Having  had  assigned  to  her,  among  her  "constitutional  func 
tions,"  the  office  of  gathering  up  the  poultry  at  nightfall,  and  seeing  them  "folded,"  and 
having  observed  that  it  is  the  nature  of  the  feathered  tribe  to  go  to  roost  on  cloudy  daya 
earlier  than  on  others,  she  adapted  her  government  to  the  character  of  her  subjects,  and 
used,  in  such  weather,  to  drive  them  up  without  regard  to  the  hour  of  sunset.  (Note  by 
a  member  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  family.) 


16  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  fCHAP.  I. 

tnd  strength.     Remember  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Randolph  and  Polly,  as  well  as 
to  Miss  Jenny.1  Yours  sincerely. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADRLPHI  i,  February  16th,  1791. 
MY  DEAR  POLL: 

At  length  I  have  received  a  letter  from  you.  As  the  spell  is  now  broke,  I 
hope  you  will  continue  to  write  every  three  weeks.  Observe  I  do  not  admit  the 
excuse  you  make  of  not  writing  because  your  sister  had  not  written  the  week 
before  ;  let  each  write  their  own  week  without  regard  to  what  others  do,  or  do  not 
do.  I  congratulate  you,  my  dear  aunt,2  on  your  new  title.  I  hope  you  pay  a  great 
deal  of  attention  to  your  niece,  and  that  you  have  begun  to  give  her  lessons  on  the 
harpsichord,  in  Spanish,  etc.  Tell  your  sister  »I  make  her  a  present  of  Gregory's 
Comparative  View,  inclosed  herewith,  and  that  she  will  find  in  it  a  great  deal  of 
useful  advice  for  a  young  mother  I  hope  herself  and  the  child  are  well.  Kiss  them 
both  for  me.  Present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Randolph  and  Miss  Jenny.  Mind 
your  Spanish  and  your  harpsichord  well,  and  think  often  and  always  of 

Yours  affectionately, 

TF.  JEFFERSON. 
P.  S. — Letter  inclosed  with  the  book  for  your  sister. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Mar.  9th,  1791. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

I  am  happy  to  have  at  length  a  letter  of  yours  to  answer ;  for  that  which 
you  wrote  to  me  February  13th,  came  to  hand  February  28th.  I  hope  our  corres 
pondence  will  now  be  more  regular,  that  you  will  be  no  more  lazy,  and  I  no  more 
in  the  pouts  on  that  account.  On  the  27th  of  February  I  saw  blackbirds  and  robin- 
redbreasts,  and  on  the  7th  of  this  month  I  heard  frogs  for  the  first  time  this  year. 
Have  you  noted  the  first  appearance  of  these  things  at  Monticello?  I  hope  you 
have,  and  will  continue  to  note  every  appearance,  animal  and  vegetable,  which  indi 
cates  the  approach  of  spring,  and  will  communicate  them  to  me.  By  these  means 
we  shall  be  able  to  compare  the  climates  of  Philadelphia  and  Monticello.  Tell  me 
when  you  shall  have  peas,  etc.,  up ;  when  everything  comes  to  table  ;  when  you 
shall  have  the  first  chickens  hatched  ;  when  every  kind  of  tree  blossoms,  or  puts 
forth  leaves;  when,  each  kind  of  flower  blooms.  Kiss  your  sister  and  niece  for  me, 
and  present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Randolph  and  Miss  Jenny. 

Yours  tenderly,  my  dear  Maria, 

Tn.  J. 


1  Miss  Jenny  Eldridge,  a  "  spinster,"  whose  name  is  associated  in  the  memories  of 
Mr.  Jefferson's  grandchildren  with  several  amusing  peculiarities,  and  particularly  her 
vast  lore  in  family  genealogies. 

9  The  meaning  of  this  will  be  found  explained  in  the  letter  to  Martha,  of  February  9th. 


CHAP.  I.]  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  17 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Mar.  24, 1791. 
MY  DEAR  DAUGHTER: 

The  badness  of  the  roads  retards  the  post,  so  that  I  have  received  no  letter 
this  week  from  Monticello.  I  shall  hope  soon  to  have  one  from  yourself;  to  know 
from  that  that  you  are  perfectly  reestablished,  that  the  little  Anne  is  becoming  a 
big  one,  that  you  have  received  Dr.  Gregory's  book  and  are  daily  profiting  from 
it.  This  will  hardly  reach  you  in  time  to  put  you  on  the  watch  for  the  annular  eclipse 
of  the  sun,  which  is  to  happen  on  Sunday  sennight,  to  begin  about  sunrise.  It  will 
be  such  a  one  as  is  rarely  to  be  seen  twice  in  one  life.  I  have  lately  received  a 
letter  from  Fulwar  Skipwith,  who  is  consul  for  us  in  Martinique  and  Guadaloupe. 
He  fixed  himself  first  in  the  former,  but  has  removed  to  the  latter.  Are  any  of 
your  acquaintances  in  either  of  those  islands?  If  they  are,  I  wish  you  would  write 
to  them  and  recommend  him  to  their  acquaintance.  He  will  be  a  sure  medium 
through  which  you  may  exchange  souvenirs  with  your  friends  of  a  more  useful 
kind  than  those  of  the  convent.  He  sent  me  half  a  dozen  pots  of  very  fine  sweet 
meats.  Apples  and  cider  are  the  greatest  presents  which  can  be  sent  to  those 
islands.  I  can  make  those  presents  for  you  whenever  you  choose  to  write  a  letter  to 
accompany  them  ;  only  observing  the  season  for  apples.  They  had  better  deliver 
their  letters  for  you  to  F.  S.  Skipwith.  Things  are  going  on  well  in  France,  the 
revolution  being  past  all  danger.  The  National  Assembly  being  to  separate  soon, 
that  event  will  seal  the  whole  with  security.  Their  islands,  but  most  particularly 
St.  Domingo  and  Martinique,  are  involved  in  a  horrid  civil  war.  Nothing  can  be 
more  distressing  than  the  situation  of  the  inhabitants,  as  their  slaves  have  been 
called  into  action,  and  are  a  terrible  engine,  absolutely  ungovernable.  It  is  worst 
in  Martinique,  which  was  the  reason  Mr.  Skipwith  left  it.  An  army  and  fleet 
from  France  are  expected  every  hour  to  quell  the  disorders.  I  suppose  you  are 
busily  engaged  hi  your  garden.  I  expect  full  details  on  that  subject  as  well  as 
from  Poll,  that  1  may  judge  what  sort  of  a  gardener  you  make.  Present  me 
affectionately  to  all  around  you,  and  be  assured  of  the  tender  and  unalterable 
love  of  Yours, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Mar.  81*f,  1791. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA: 

I  am  happy  to  have  a  letter  of  yours  to  answer.  That  of  March  6th  came 
to  my  hands  on  the  24th.  By  the  by,  you  never  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  my 
letters,  nor  tell  me  on  what  day  they  came  to  hand.  I  presume  that  by  this  time 
you  have  received  the  two  dressing-tables  with  marble  tops.  I  give  one  of  them  to 
vour  sister  and  the  other  to  you ;  mine  is  here  with  the  top  broken  in  two.  Mr. 
Randolph's  letter,  referring  to  me  the  name  of  your  niece,  was  very  long  on  the 
road.  I  answered  it  as  soon  as  I  received  it,  and  hope  the  answer  got  duly  to  hand. 
Lest  it  should  have  been  delayed,  I  repeated  last  week  to  your  sister  the  name  of 
Anne,  which  I  had  recommended  as  belonging  to  both  families.  I  wrote  you  in  my 
last  that  the  frogs  had  begun  their  songs  on  the  7th ;  since  that  the  blue-birds 
saluted  us  on  the  17th  ;  the  weeping-willow  began  to  leaf  on  the  18th  ;  the  lilac 
and  gooseberry  on  the  2oth,  and  the  golden-willow  on  the  '26th.  I  inclose  for  your 
sis'er  three  kinds  of  flowering  beans,  very  beautiful  and  very  rare.  She  must  plant 


IS  LETTERS    TO   HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.  T 

and  nourish  thein  with  her  own  hand  this  year  in  order  to  save  enough  seeds  fo* 
herself  and  me.  Tell  Mr.  Randolph  I  have  sold  my  tobacco  for  five  dollars  per  c., 
and  the  rise  between  this  and  September.  Warehouse  and  shipping  expenses  in 
Virginia,  freight  and  storage  here,  come  to  2s  9d  a  hundred,  so  that  it  is  as  if  1 
had  sold  it  in  Richmond  for  27s.  3d.  credit  till  September,  or  half  per  cent,  per 
month  discount  for  the  ready  money.  If  he  chooses  it,  his  Bedford  tobacco  may  be 

included  in  the  sale.     Kiss  everybody  for  me. 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April,  17, 1791. 
MY  DEAR  DAUGHTER  : 

Since  I  wrote  last  to  you,  which  was  on  the  24th  of  March,  I  have  received 
yours  of  March  22.  I  am  indeed  sorry  to  hear  of  the  situation  of  Walter  Gilmer, 
and  shall  hope  the  letters  from  Montk-ello  will  continue  to  inform  me  how  he  does. 
I  know  how  much  his  parents  will  suffer,  and  how  much  he  merited  all  their  affec 
tion.  Mrs.  Trist  has  been  so  kind  as  to  have  your  calash  made,  but  either  by 
mistake  of  the  maker,  or  of  myself,  it  is  not  lined  with  green.  I  have  therefore 
desired  a  green  lining  to  be  ^ot,  which  you  can  put  in  yourself  if  you  .prefer  it. 
Mrs.  Trist  has  observed  that  there  is  a  kind  of  veil  lately  introduced  here,  and 
much  approved.  It  fastens  over  the  brim  of  the  hat,  and  then  draws  round  the 
neck  as  close  or  open  as  you  please.  I  desire  a  couple  to  be  made  to  go  with  the 
calash  and  other  things.  Mr.  Lewis  not  liking  to  write  letters,  I  do  not  hear  from 
him ;  but  I  hope  you  are  readily  furnished  with  all  the  supplies  and  conveniences 
the  estate  affords.  I  shall  not  be  able  to  see  you  till  September,  by  which  time 
the  young  grand-daughter  will  begin  to  look  bold  and  knowing.  I  inclose  you  a 
letter  to  a  woman,  who  lives,  I  believe,  on  Buck  Island.  It  is  from  her  sister  in 
Paris,  which  I  would  wish  you  to  send  express.1  I  hope  your  garden  is  flourishing. 
Present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Randolph  and  Polly. 

Yours  sincerely,  my  dear, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  24, 1791. 

I  have  received,  my  dear  Maria,  your  letter  of  March  26th  ;  I  find  I  have 
counted  too  much  on  you  as  a  Botanical  and  Zoological  correspondent,  for  I  under 
took  to  affirm  here  that  the  fruit  was  not  killed  in  Virginia,  because  I  had  a  young 
daughter  there  who  was  in  that  kind  of  correspondence  with  me,  and  who,  I 
was  sure,  would  have  mentioned  it,  if  it  had  been  so.  However,  I  shall  go  on  com 
municating  to  you  whatever  may  contribute  to  a  comparative  estimate  of  the  two 
climates,  ir  hopes  it  will  induce  you  to  do  the  same  to  me.  Instead  of  waiting  to 

1  Here  is  a  sample  of  "  democracy,"  a?  it  lived  in  his  bosom  and  manifested  itself  in 
his  daily  life.  The  woman  whom  he  desires  an  "  express  "  to  be  sent  in  search  of  with 
her  letter — living  somewhere  on  Buck  Island,  fifteen  mHesormore  distant — was  the  sister 
of  the  wife  of  a  groom  in  the  stables  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  This  man,  a  common 
noldier,  had  been  one  of  the  Convention  prisoners  at  Charlottesville,  pnd  while  there  had 
married  a  poor  girl  in  the  neighborhood.  (Note  by  a  member  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  family.) 


OHAP.  I.]  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  19 

send  the  two  veils  for  your  sister  and  yourself  round  with  the  other  things,  I  inclose 
them  with  this  letter.  Observe  that  one  of  the  strings  is  to  be  drawn  tight  round 
the  root  of  the  crown  of  the  hat,  and  the  veil  then  falling  over  the  brim  of  the  hat 
is  drawn  by  the  lower  string  as  tight  or  loose  as  you  please  round  the  neck.  When 
the  veil  is  not  chosen  to  be  down,  the  lower  string  is  also  tied  round  the  root  of 
the  crown,  so  as  to  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  puffed  bandage  for  the  hat.  I  send 
also  inclosed  the  green  lining  for  the  calash.  J.  Eppes  is  arrived  here.  Present  my 
affections  to  Mr.  R.,  your  sister,  and  niece. 

Yours  with  tender  love, 

TH.  JEFFERSON 
April  5.  Apricots  in  bloom. 

Cherry  leafing. 
9.  Peach  in  blossom. 

Apple  leafing. 
11.  Cherry  in  blossom. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  8th,  1791. 

I  thank  you  for  all  the  small  news  of  your  letters,  which  it  is  very  grateful 
for  me  to  receive.  I  am  happy  to  find  you  are  on  good  terms  with  your  neighbors. 
It  is  almost  the  most  important  circumstance  in  life,  since  nothing  is  so  corroding 
as  frequently  to  meet  persons  with  whom  one  has  any  difference.  The  ill-will  of  a 
single  neighbor  is  an  immense  drawback  on  the  happiness  of  life,  and  therefore 
their  good-will  cannot  be  bought  to  dear. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  8th,  1791. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

Your  letter  of  April  18th  came  to  hand  on  the  30th  ;  that  of  May  1st,  I 
received  last  night.  By  the  stage  which  carries  this  letter  I  send  you  twelve  yards 
of  striped  nankeen  of  the  pattern  inclosed.  It  is  addressed  to  the  care  of  Mr. 
Brown,  Merchant,  in  Richmond,  and  will  arrive  there  with  this  letter.  There  are 
no  stuffs  here  of  the  kind  you  sent.  April  30th  the  lilac  blossomed.  May  4th  the 
gelder-rose,  dogwood,  redbud,  azalea  were  in  blossom.  We  have  still  pretty  con 
stant  fires  here.  1  shall  answer  Mr.  Randolph's  letter  a  week  hence.  It  will  be  the 
last  I  shall  write  to  Monticello  for  some  weeks,  because  about  this  day  sennight  I 
set  out  to  join  Mr.  Madison  at  New  York,  from  whence  we  shall  go  up  to  Albany 
and  Lake  George,  then  cross  over  to  Bennington,  and  so  through  Vermont  to  the 
Connecticut  River,  down  Connecticut  River  by  Hartford  to  New  Haven,  then  to  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  Take  a  map  and  trace  this  route.  I  expect  to  be  back  in 
Philadelphia  about  the  middle  of  June.  I  am  glad  you  are  to  learn  to  ride,  but 
hope  that  your  horse  is  very  gentle,  and  that  you  will  never  be  venturesome.  A 
lady  should  never  ride  a  horse  which  she  might  not  safely  ride  without  a  bridlo.  I 


20  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.  1. 

long  to  be  with  you  all.     Kiss  the  little  one  every  morning  for  me,  and  learn  her 
to  run  about  before  I  come.     Adieu,  my  dear. 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON.* 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

LAKK  CHAMPLAIN,  May  Slst,  1791. 
MY  DEAR  MARTHA  . 

I  wrote  to  Maria  yesterday  while  sailing  on  Lake  George,  and  the  same  kind 
of  leisure  is  afforded  me  to-day  to  write  to  you.  Lake  George  is,  \"'thout  compari 
son,  the  most  beautiful  water  I  ever  saw;  formed  by  a  contour  of  mountains  into  a 
basin  thirty-five  miles  long,  and  from  two  to  four  miles  broad,  finely  interspersed 
with  islands,  its  water  limpid  as  crystal,  and  the  mountain  sides  covered  with  rich 
groves  of  thuja,  silveY  fir,  white  pine,  aspen  and  paper  birch  down  to  the  water- 
edge  ;  here  and  there  precipices  of  rock  to  checker  the  scene  and  save  it  from 
monotony.  An  abundance  of  speckled  trout,  salmon  trout,  bass,  and  other  fish, 
with  which  it  is  stored,  have  added  to  our  other  amusements,  the  sport  of  taking 
them.  Lake  Champlain,  though  much  larger,  is  a  far  less  pleasant  water.  It  is 
muddy,  turbulent,  and  yields  little  game.  After  penetrating  into  it  about  twenty- 
five  miles  we  have  been  obliged  by  a  head  wind  and  high  sea  to  return,  having 
spent  a  day  and  a  half  in  sailing  on  it.  We  shall  take  our  route  again  through 
Lake  George,  pass  through  Vermont,  down  Connecticut  River,  and  through  Long 
Island  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  Our  journey  has  hitherto  been  prosperous 
and  pleasant,  except  as  to  the  weather,  which  has  been  as  sultry  hot  through  the 
whole  as  could  be  found  in  Carolina  or  Georgia.  I  suspect,  indeed,  that  the  heats 
of  northern  climates  may  be  more  powerful  than  those  of  southern  ones  in  propor 
tion  as  they  are  shorter.  Perhaps  vegetation  requires  this.  There  is  as  much 
fever  and  ague,  too,  and  other  bilious  complaints,  on  Lake  Champlain  as  on  the 
swamps  of  Carolina.  Strawberries  here  are  in  the  blossom  or  just  formed.  With 
you  I  suppose  the  season  is  over.  On  the  whole,  I  find  nothing  anywhere  else,  in 
point  of  climate,  which  Virginia  need  envy  to  any  part  of  the  world.  Here  they 
are  locked  up  in  ice  and  snow  for  six  months.  Spring  and  autumn,  which  make  a 

1  Let  the  reader  interpolate,  at  this  point,  the  following  letter,  giving  some  particu 
lars  of  Maria's  future  husband,  "Jack"  (John  W.)  Bppes  : 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  May  15th,  1791. 
"DEAR  SIR: 

"  Jack's  letters  will  have  informed  you  of  his  arrival  here  safe  and  in  good  health. 
Captain  Stratton  is  also  arrived,  whom  we  considered  as  lost.  Your  favors  of  April  5 
and  27  are  received.  I  had  just  answered  a  letter  of  Mr.  Skipwith's  on  the  subject  of  the 
Gnineaman,  and  therefore  send  you  a  copy  of  that  by  way  of  answer  to  your  last.  I 
shall  be  in  Virginia  in  October,  but  cannot  yet  say  whether  I  shall  be  able  to  go  to 
Richmond. 

"  Jack  is  now  set  in  to  work  regularly.  He  passes  from  2  to  4  hours  a  day  at  the  Col 
lege,  completing  his  courses  of  sciences,  and  4  hours  at  the  law.  Besides  this,  he  will 
write  an  hour  or  two  to  learn  the  style  of  business  and  acquire  a  habit  of  writing,  and  will 
read  something  in  history  and  government.  The  course  I  propose  for  him  will  employ 
bim  a  couple  of  years.  I  shall  not  fail  to  impress  on  him  a  due  sense  of  the  advantage 
of  qualifying  himself  to  get  a  living  independently  of  other  resources.  As  yet  I  discover 
nothing  but  a  disposition  to  apply  closely.  I  set  out  to-morrow  on  a  journey  of  a  month 
to  lakes  George,  Champlain,  etc.,  and  having  yet  a  thousand  things  to  do,  I  can  only  add 
assurances  of  the  sincere  esteem  with  which  I  am,  dear  sir, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

"  TH.  JEFFERSON. 
'•  Francis  Eppes,  Esq.,  Eppington." 


CHAP.  1.]  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  21 

paradise  of  our  country,  are  rigorous  winter  with  them.  And  a  tropical  summer 
breaks  on  them  all  at  once.  When  we  consider  how  much  climate  contributes  to  the 
happiness  of  our  condition,  by  the  fine  sensations  it  excites,  and  the  productions  it  is 
the  parent  of,  we  have  reason  to  value  highly  the  accident  of  birth  in  such  a  one 
as  that  of  Virginia. 

From  this  distance  I  can  have  little  domestic  to  write  to  you  about.  I  must 
always  repeat  how  much  I  love  you.  Kiss  the  little  Anne  for  me.  I  hope  she 
grows  lustily,  enjoys  good  health,  and  will  make  us  all,  and  long,  happy  as  the  cen 
tre  of  our  common  love.  Adieu,  my  dear. 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON  J 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  June  23, 1791. 

I  wrote  to  each  of  you  once  during  mv  journey,  from  which  I  returned  four 
days  ago,  having  enjoyed  through  the  whole  of  it  very  perfect  health.  I  am  fn 
hopes  the  relaxation  it  gave  me  from  business,  has  freed  me  from  the  almost  con 
stant  headache  with  which  I  had  been  persecuted  through  the  whole  winter  and 
spring.  Having  been  entirely  clear  of  it  while  travelling,  proves  it  to  have  been 
occasioned  by  the  drudgery  of  business.  I  found  here  on  my  return,  your  letter  of 
May  %23d,  with  the  pleasing  information  that  you  were  all  in  good  health.  I  wish  I 
could  say  when  I  shall  be  able  to  join  you  :  but  that  will  depend  on  the  motions  of, 
the  President,  who  is  not  yet  returned  to  this  place. 

In  a  letter  written  me  by  young  Mr  Franklin,  who  is  in  London,  is  the  follow 
ing  paragraph  :  u  I  meet  here  with  many  who  ask  kindly  after  you.  Among  these 
the  Duke  of  Dorset,  who  is  very  particular  in  his  inquiries.  He  has  mentioned  to 
me  that  his  niece  had  wrote  once  or  twice  to  your  daughter  since  her  return  to 
America  ;  but  not  receiving  an  answer,  had  supposed  she  meant  to  drop  her 
acquaintance,  which  his  niece  much  regretted.  I  ventured  to  assure  him  that  was 
not  likely,  and  that  possibly  the  letters  might  have  miscarried.  You  will  take  what 
notice  of  this  you  may  think  proper."  a  Fulwar  Skipwith  is  on  his  return  to  the 
United  States.  Mrs.  Trist  and  Mrs.  Waters  often  ask  after  you.  Mr  Lewis  being 
very  averse  to  writing,  I  must  trouble  Mr.  Randolph  to  inquire  of  him  relative  to 
my  tobacco,  and  to  inform  me  about  it.  I  sold  the  whole  of  what  was  good  here. 
Seventeen  hogsheads  only  are  yet  come,  and  by  a  letter  of  May  29,  from  Mr.  Ilyl- 
ton  there  were  then  but  two  hogsheads  more  arrived  at  the  warehouse.  I  am 
uneasy  at  the  delay,  because  it  not  only  embarrasses  me  with  guessing  at  excuses 
to  the  purchaser,  but  is  likely  to  make  me  fail  in  my  payments  to  Hanson,  which 
ought  to  be  made  in  Richmond  on  the  19th  of  next  month.  I  wish  much  to  know 
when  the  rest  may  be  expected. 

i  This  letter,  as  a  matter  of  curiosity  probably,  was  written  in  a  book  of  the  bark  of 
the  paper  birch,  having  leaves  seven  inches  long  by  four  wide. 

8  The  Duke  of  Dorset  was  British  Minister  in  France  during  Mr.  Jefferson's  residence 
there.  He  and  Mr.  Jefferson  were  on  very  cordial  personal  terms.  The  niece  spoken 
of  was  the  Ladv  Caroline  Tufton.  A  great  intimacy  and  friendship  existed  between  her 
and  Martha  Jefferson,  insomuch  that  the  latter  solicited  her  father,  on  her  return  home, 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  Lady  Caroline's  name  in  constant  recollection,  to  give  it 
to  one  of  his  farms.  A  farm  lying  off  the  eastern  slopes  of  Monticello  was,  accordingly, 
thenceforth  called  Tufton. 


22  LETTERS    TO   HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.  I. 

In  your  last  you  observe  you  had  not  received  a  letter  from  me  in  five  weeks 
My  letters  to  you  have  been  of  Jan.  20,  Feb.  9,  March  2,  24,  April  17,  May  8, 
which  you  will  observe  to  be  pretty  regularly  once  in  three  weeks.  Matters  in 
France  are  still  going  on  safely.  Mirabeau  is  dead;  also  the  Duke  de  Richelieu; 
so  that  the  Duke  de  Fronsac  has  now  succeeded  to  the  head  of  the  family,  though 
not  to  the  title  ;  these  being  all  abolished.  Present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  and  Polly,  and  kiss  the  little  one  for  me. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  June  26£A,  1791. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA: 

I  hope  you  have  received  the  letter  I  wrote  you  from  Lake  George,  and  that 
you  have  well  fixed  in  your  own  mind  the  geography  of  that  lake,  and  of  the 
whole  of  my  tour,  so  as  to  be  able  to  give  me  a  good  account  of  it  when  I  shall  see 
you.  On  my  return  here  I  found  your  letter  of  May  29th,  giving  me  the  informa 
tion  it  is  always  so  pleasing  to  me  to  receive,  that  you  are  all  well.  Would  to  God 
I  could  be  with  you  to  partake  of  your  felicities,  and  to  tell  you  in  person  how 
much  I  love  you  all,  and  how  necessary  it  is  to  my  happiness  to  be  with  you.  In 
my  letter  to  your  sister  written  to  her  two  or  three  days  ago,  I  expressed  my  unea 
siness  at  hearing  nothing  more  of  my  tobacco,  and  asked  some  inquiries  to  be 
made  of  Mr.  Lewis  on  the  subject.  But  I  received  yesterday  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Lewis  with  full  explanations,  and  another  from  Mr.  Hylton  informing  me  the 
tobacco  was  on' its  way  to  this  place.  Therefore  desire  your  sister  to  suppress  that 
part  of  my  letter  and  say  nothing  about  it.  Tell  her  from  me  how  much  I  love  her. 
Kiss  her  and  the  little  one  for  me,  and  present  my  best  affections  to  Mr.  Randolph, 
assured  of  them  also  yourself,  from  yours, 

TH.  J. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  81st,  1T91. 

The  last  letter  I  have  from  you,  my  dear  Maria,  was  of  the  29th  of  May, 
which  is  nine  weeks  ago.  Those  which  you  ought  to  have  written  the  19th  of 
June  and  10th  of  July,  would  have  reached  me  before  this  if  they  had  been  writ 
ten.  I  mentioned  in  my  letter  of  the  last  week  to  your  sister,  that  I  had  sent  off 
some  stores  to  Richmond  which  I  should  be  glad  to  have  carried  to  Monticello  in 
the  course  of  the  ensuing  month  of  August.  They  are  addressed  to  the  care  of 
Mr.  Brown.  You  mentioned  formerly  that  the  two  commodes  were  arrived  at 
Monticello.  Were  my  two  sets  of  ivory  chessmen  in  the  drawers  ?  They  have  not 
been  found  in  any  of  the  packages  which  came  here,  and  Petit  seems  quite  sure 
they  were  packed  up. 

How  goes  on  the  music,  both  with  your  sister  and  yourself?  Adieu,  my  dear 
Maria ;  kiss  and  bless  all  the  family  for  me. 

Tours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


CHAP.  I.]  MEETING   OF   CONGRESS.  23 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  August  21*£,  1791. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

Your  letter  of  July  10th  is  the  last  news  I  have  from  Monticello.  The  time 
of  my  setting  out  for  that  place  is  now  fixed  to  some  time  in  the  first  week  of  Septem 
ber,  so  that  I  hope  to  be  there  between  the  10th  and  15th.  My  horse  is  still  in 
such  a  condition  as  to  give  little  hope  of  his  living  :  so  that  I  expect  to  be  under  a 
necessity  of  buying  one  when  I  come  to  Virginia,  as  I  informed  Mr.  Randolph  in 
my  last  letter  to  him.  I  am  in  hopes,  therefore,  he  will  have  fixed  his  eye  on  some 
one  for  me,  if  I  should  be  obliged  to  buy.  In  the  meantime,  as  Mr.  Madison  comes 
with  me,  he  has  a  horse  which  will  help  us  on  to  Virginia.  Kiss  little  Anne  for  me 
and  tell  her  to  be  putting  on  her  best  looks.  My  best  affections  to  Mr.  Randolph, 
your  sister,  and  yourself.  Adieu,  my  dear  Maria. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

The  reader  need  not  be  reminded  of  the  principle  of  selection 
which  we  have  already  declared  would  guide  us  in  presenting 
these  family  letters.1 

Mr.  Jefferson  commenced  his  return  to  Philadelphia  on  the 
12th  of  October,  stopping  at  Mount  Vernon  as  usual.  He  carried 
with  him  his  youngest  daughter,  Maria,  who  thenceforth  resided 
with  him  during  most  of  his  further  continuance  in  his  present 
office.  On  commencing  housekeeping,  his  usual  establishment, 
we  observe,  consisted  of  a  steward,  Maria's  maid,  and  four  or  five 
hired  male  servants  ;  and  he  kept  five  horses. 

Congress  met  on  the  24th  of  October.  The  most  conspicu 
ous  of  the  old  members  had  been  rechosen.  The  Kepublicans 
(as  we  may  now  call  them),  had  gained  somewhat,  but  their 
opponents,  the  Federalists,  continued  in  a  majority  in  both 
houses,  and  in  a  very  decided  one  in  the  Senate.  Aaron  Burr, 
a  man  destined  to  exert  an  important  influence  on  the  future 
fortunes  of  two  members  of  the  President's  Cabinet,  took  his 
seat  in  the  Senate  from  New  York,  in  the  place  of  Hamilton's 
father-in-law,  General  Schuyler,  whose  unpopular  manners,  as 
much  as  his  views,  had  led  to  his  defeat.2  His  colleague,  whose 

1  See  vol.  1,  p.  389. 

a  Hammond,  in  his  excellent  and  exceedingly  candid  Political  History  of  New  York. 
says  : 

"  The  General  [Schuyler]  was  a  candidate  for  reelection,  and  Mr.  Aaron  Burr  was  his 
competitor.  Colonel  Burr  was  nominated  by  both  houses  [of  the  New  York  Legislature] 
— in  the  Assembly  his  majority  was  five,  in  the  Senate  eight.  *  It  may  appear 

singular  that  the  majority  in  the  Senate  was  so  large  against  Gen.  Schuyler,  as  the 
majority  in  that  body  must  have  been  nominally  Federal.  But  Schuyler,  although  he  was 
unquestionably  a  man  of  high  honor  and  integrity,  possessing  enlarged,  liberal  and 
patriotic  views  as  regarded  the  great  interests  of  the  State,  was  an  ardent  and  violent 
partisan,  and  was  presumed  to  act  under  the  influence  of  Gen.  Hamilton,  who  was  his 


24  REPORT    ON    FRENCH    AND    BRITISH    COMMERCE.       [CHAP.    I. 

time  had  not  yet  expired,  was  Eufus  King,  perhaps  the  ablest 
member  of  the  Federal  party  in  the  Senate.  The  most  promi 
nent  Republican  member  was  James  Monroe.  The  afterwards 
celebrated  Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North  Carolina,  first  took  his  seat 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  this  session.  Among  the  other 
conspicuous  new  members,  were  William  Findley  and  Andrew 
Gregg,  of  Pennsylvania;  Jonathan  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey; 
General  Artemas  Ward,  of  Massachusetts  ;  and  James  Hillhouse, 
of  Connecticut.  Madison,  Giles  and  Page  returned  from  Virginia; 
Gerry,  Ames  and  Sedgwick  from  Massachusetts;  Fitzsimmons, 
Mahlenburg  and  Hartley  from  Pennsylvania;  Lawrence,  Benson 
and  Sylvester  from  New  York  ;  Smith,  Sumpter  and  Tucker  from 
South  Carolina  ;  Williamson  from  North  Carolina  ;  Baldwin  from 
Georgia  ;  Boudinot  from  New  Jersey  ;  Trumbull  from  Connecti 
cut ;  Livermore  from  New  Hampshire;  and  Vining  from  Dela 
ware. 

Several  reports  to  Congress,  several  Cabinet  opinions,  and 
several  instructions  to  our  foreign  ministers,  were  prepared  by 
the  Secretary  of  State  during  the  session  ;  and  though  a  number 
of  these  papers  possess  no  inconsiderable  interest,  even  now, 
we  feel  compelled  to  pass  them  without  notice. 

Believing  that  a  moment  was  approaching  when  it  might  be 
useful  to  have  the  conditions  of  American  commerce  with  the 
French  and  British  dominions  accurately  understood,  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  on  the  23d  of  December,  placed  a  carefully  drawn  up  tabu 
lar  exhibit  of  the  facts  before  the  President.  This  disclosed 
gome  remarkable  circumstances.  But  a  single  article,  indigo, 
was  subjected  to  a  higher  duty  in  France  than  in  Great  Britain, 
except  in  their  West  India  possessions,  where  there  was,  in  a 
few  instances,  a  difference  of  one  per  cent,  in  favor  of  England. 
On  all  the  most  important  American  products  the  French  duties 
were  lower — in  some  cases  greatly  lower — while  many  of  those 
products  were  absolutely  prohibited  in  England.  The  latter 
also  prohibited  the  naturalization  of  American  ships,  which 
was  permitted  in  France.  English  port  charges  were  higher. 
Our  tonnage  in  the  French  trade,  including  the  islands,  was 
three  times  larger  than  in  the  English.  Yet  in  the  face  of  all 
these  facts,  our  exports  (leaving  out  the  West  India  Islands), 

eon-in-law,  and  although  he  was  a  man  of  commanding  appearance,  yet  his  manners,  having 
been  formed  in  camps,  and  not  in  courts  or  among  the  people,  were  austere  and  aristo 
cratic,  acd  rendered  him  personally  unpopular."  (Vol.  i.  p.  50.) 


.  I.]  ON   A   NEW    CONSTITUTION   FOR   VIRGINIA.  25 

were  about  five  times  and  our  imports  about  nine  times,  as  large 
to  and  from  England,  as  to  and  from  France.1  And  it  would  be 
appropriate  to  add,  that  in  the  face  of  all  these  facts — in  the 
face  of  our  different  Revolutionary  obligations  to  those  coun 
tries — in  the  face  of  England's  continued  refusal  to  evacuate  our 
territory,  or  to  enter  upon  any  terms  of  commercial  negotiation, 
or  even  to  exchange  a  minister  with  us — the  last  Federal  Con 
gress  had  refused  to  make  a  particle  of  discrimination  between 
the  regulations  imposed  on  British  and  French  commerce  !  Mr. 
Jefferson  attributed  the  refusal  to  prejudices  in  favor  of  England, 
somewhat  aided  by  southern  prejudices  against  the  shipping  in 
terests  of  New  England.2 

Of  the  same  date  with  the  preceding,  Mr.  Jefferson  addressed 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Stuart  of  Virginia,  on  the  expediency  of  forming 
a  new  Constitution  for  that  State.  He  considered  it  desirable,  but 
thought  it  would  be  unsafe  to  proceed  without  some  previous  un 
derstanding  with  Patrick  Henry  as  to  the  nature  of  the  proposed 
amendments.  This  patriotic  but  rather  unstable  politician  had 
been  inflamed  to  a  great  pitcli  of  exasperation  by  the  adoption 
of  the  United  States  Constitution.  He  now  scarcely  belonged 
to  any  party — but  his  unbounded  popularity  and  his  resistless 
eloquence  made  him  still  able  to  defeat  almost  any  measure 
which  could  be  brought  forward  for  the  interior  concerns  of  the 

O 

State.  He  had  hitherto  been  considered  opposed  to  the  forma 
tion  of  a  new  Constitution  in  Virginia,  and  if  a  convention  was 
called  in  defiance  of  his  views,  Mr.  Jefferson  apprehended  that 
he  would  "  either  fix  the  thing  as  at  present,  or  change  it  for 
the  worse."  He  proceeds  thus,  in  modern  phrase,  to  "  define 
his  own  position,"  and,  incidentally  to  touch  on  some  interest 
ing  topics  of  federal  politics  : 

"  I  shall  hazard  my  own  ideas  to  you  as  hastily  as  my  business  obliges  me.  I 
wish  to  preserve  the  line  drawn  by  the  federal  Constitution  between  the  general 
and  particular  governments  as  it  stands  at  present,  and  to  take  every  prudent  means 
of  preventing  either  from  stepping  over  it.  Though  the  experiment  has  not  yet  had 
a  long  enough  course  to  show  us  from  which  quarter  encroachments  are  most  to  bo 
feared,  yet  it  is  easy  to  foresee,  from  the  nature  of  things,  that  the  encroachments 

i  It  should  be  remarked,  however,  that  our  exports  to  and  imports  from  the  French 
West  Indies,  exceeded  by,  say,  one-fourth  those  to  and  from  the  British  West  Indies. 

a  These  views  will  be  found  expressed  in  a  letter  to  Edward  Rutledge,  of  Aug.  25, 
1791.  Mr.  Jefferson  particularly  points  to  the  South  Carolina  members  of  Congress  as 
entertaining  the  second  class  of  prejudices,  and  urges  Mr.  Rutledge  to  attempt  to  remove 
them. 


26  JEFFERSON'S  ANA  COMMENCED.  [CHAP.  i. 

of  the  State  Governments  will  tend  to  an  excess  of  liberty  which  will  correct  itself 
(as  in  the  late  instance),  while  those  of  the  General  Government  will  tend  to  monar 
chy,  which  will  fortify  itself  from  day  to  day,  instead  of  working  its  own  cure,  as 
all  experience  shows.  I  would  rather  be  exposed  to  the  inconveniences  attending 
too  much  liberty,  than  those  attending  too  small  a  degree  of  it.  Then  it  is  impor 
tant  to  strengthen  the  State  Governments ;  and  as  this  cannot  be  done  bv  any 
change  in  the  federal  Constitution  (for  the  preservation  of  that  is  all  we  need  con 
tend  for),  it  must  be  done  by  the  States  themselves,  erecting  such  barriers  at  the 
constitutional  line  as  cannot  be  surmounted  either  by  themselves  or  by  the  General 
Government.  The  only  barrier  in  their  power  is  a  wise  government.  A  weak  one 
will  lose  ground  in  every  contest.  To  obtain  a  wise  and  an  able  goverment,  I  con 
sider  the  following  changes  as  important.  Render  the  legislature  a  desirable  station 
by  lessening  the  number  of  representatives  (say  to  100)  and  lengthening  somewhat 
their  term,  and  proportion  them  equally  among  the  electors.  Adopt  also  a  better 
mode  of  appointing  senators.  Render  the  Executive  a  more  desirable  post  to  men 
of  abilities  by  making  it  more  independent  of  the  legislature.  To  wit,  let  him  be 
chosen  by  other  electors,  for  a  longer  time,  and  ineligible  for  ever  after.  Respon 
sibility  is  a  tremendous  engine  in  a  free  government.  Let  him  feel  the  whole 
weight  of  it  then,  by  taking  away  the  shelter  of  his  executive  council.  Experience 
both  ways  has  already  established  the  superiority  of  this  measure.  Render  the 
judiciary  respectable  by  every  possible  means,  to  wit,  firm  tenure  in  office,  compe 
tent  salaries,  and  reduction  of  their  numbers.  Men  of  high  learning  and  abilities 
are  few  in  every  country  ;  and  by  taking  in  those  who  are  not  so,  the  able  part  of 
the  body  have  their  hands  tied  by  the  unable.  This  branch  of  the  government  will 
have  the  weight  of  the  conflict  on  their  hands,  because  they  will  be  the  last  appeal 
of  reason.  These  are  my  general  ideas  of  amendments  ;  but,  preserving  the  ends, 
I  should  be  flexible  and  conciliatory  as  to  the  means.  You  ask  whether  Mr.  Madi 
son  and  myself  could  attend  on  a  Convention  which  should  be  called.  Mr.  Madi 
son's  engagements  as  a  member  of  Congress  will  probably  be  from  October  to 
March  or  April  in  every  year.  Mine  are  constant  while  I  hold  my  office,  and  my 
attendance  would  be  very  unimportant.  Wer^it  otherwise,  my  office  should  not 
stand  in  the  way  of  it." 

Before  leaving  the  history  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  life,  for  this 
year,  it  is  necessary  to  allude  to  a  practice  adopted  by  him 
towards  the  close  of  it,  which  has,  in  its  final  consequences, 
drawn  upon  him  more  bitter  animadversion  than  any,  than  all, 
the  other  acts  of  his  life  put  together.  It  has,  in  thousands  of 
bosoms,  converted  what,  would  have  been  mere  partisan  pre 
judice,  into  personal  and  vindictive  hate.  It  has,  in  thousands 
of  even  liberal  minds,  produced  wholly  distorted  estimates  of 
his  temper,  his  candor,  his  fairness  towards  opponents — in  a 
word,  of  his  whole  character  both  as  a  man  and  a  politician. 
We  allude  to  his  making  the  memoranda  which  have  been  pub 
lished  under  the  head  of  "  Ana"  This  word,  we  need  not  say, 
is  a  termination  derived  from  the  Latin,  and  when,  in  the  usual 


CHAP.  I.]  THEIR   NATURE.  27 

way,  connected  with  a  proper  name,  is  understood  to  denote 
anecdotes  or  sayings  of  the  person  bearing  that  name.1 

Mr.  Jefferson's  Ana  consist  of  records  of  official,  semi-offi 
cial,  and  private  conversations  and  proceedings  under  a  great 
variety  of  circumstances,  in  some  instances  witnessed  by  him 
self,  in  others  reported  to  him  by  third  persons. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  the  original  making  of  many  of 
these  memoranda  was  a  violation  of  the  established  decorums 
of  society  or  of  official  etiquette,  and  that  the  intention  of  pub 
lishing  them  converted  an  error  into  a  crime.  The  very  fact 
that  they  were  not  published  until  after  Mr.  Jefferson's  death, 
has  been  claimed  to  imply  a  more  settled  and  ruthless  malignity. 
The  public  have  been  eloquently  told  of  hate  and  bitterness  sur 
viving  the  tomb — of  profanations  of  the  sanctuary  of  the  grave, 
to  "  shoot  "  from  it  "  poisoned  arrows "  at  the  dead  and  the 
living.2 

It  is  conceded,  at  the  outset,  that  Mr.  Jefferson  undoubtedly 
wrote  his  Ana,  contemplating  their  publication,  if  events,  in  his 
judgment,  should  render  it  expedient.  They  were  begun  at 
what  he  esteemed  a  most  perilous  crisis  of  public  affairs,  to 
record  facts  which  would  explain  the  real  designs  of  tne  two 
political  parties.  Perhaps  he  had  formed  no  settled  purpose  in 
regard  to  the  use  to  be  made  of  them  further  than  as  aids  to 
his  own  memory.  It  is  probable  that  their  other  use  was  left  to 
depend  upon  circumstanc|b.  If  the  designs  he  attributed  to 
the  Federalists  had  continued  to  progress  towards  a  successful 
termination,  and  especially  if  they  had  continued  at  the  same 
time  concealed  from  the  popular  knowledge,  we  can  entertain 
no  doubt  that  such  portions  of  the  Ana  would  have  been  con 
temporaneously  made  public  as  respect  for  official  secrecy  per 
mitted.  The  motive  which  induced  the  making  of  such  a  re 
cord,  if  patriotic  and  consistently  carried  out,  would  certainly 
demand  this. 

But  the  designs  of  the  Federalists  were  not  successful.  No 
minute  documentary  evidence  became  necessary  to  expose  and 
overthrow  their  projects,  whatever  they  were.  Notwithstand- 

1  For  example,    Baconiana,  Voltariana,    Scaligerana,  etc.      We  doubt,   however, 
whether  the  word  was  well  selected  as  a  title  to  a  considerable  class  of  the  memoranda 
or  recollections  Mr.  Jefferson  placed  under  it. 

2  This  is  Judge   Marshall's  figure.     (Life   of  Washington,   second  edition,   vol.  r 
Appendix,  p.  32.)     The  reader  is  requested  to  turn  to  Judge  Marshall's  remarks  accom 
nanying  those  particularly  cited. 


28  EXPECTED   PUBLICATION    OF   ANA.  [CHAP.  I 

ing  tliis,  more  than  twenty  years  after  the  writing;  of  most  of 
the  Ana,  they  were  "  calmly  revised  "  for  more  accurate,  arid 
we  may  add,  more  certain  preservation.  Mr.  Jefferson's  suffer 
ing  them,  in  this  situation,  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  what  may 
be  termed  his  literary  executor,  leaving  their  publication  to  the 
judgment  of  that  executor,  makes  him  as  responsible  for  the 
action  of  the  latter  in  the  premises  as  if  it  had  been  his  own 
individual  action.  Nay,  this  is  hardly  stating  the  case  strongly 
enough.  It  is  apparent  that  when  Mr.  Jefferson  made  his 
"calm  revisal,"  he  expected  the  publication  of  the  papers  under 
certain  circumstances — unless  their  object  should  be  antici 
pated,  within  a  reasonable  time,  by  an  equivalent  publication 
from  some  other  source.  That  object  was  not  anticipated  by 
am^  other  publication.  His  executor,  then,  had  no  alternative. 
The  sole  question  left  is,  was  Mr.  Jefferson  justifiable  in  writing 
such  memoranda,  and  in  impliedly  directing  their  posthumous 
publication  ? 

There  is,  assuredly,  no  kind  or  shade  of  dishonor  which  a 
chivalric  mind  shrinks  from  more  instinctively  and  more  loath- 
ingly,  than  from  a  violation  of  personal  confidence,  whether 
that  confidence  pertains  to  public  or  private  concerns.  This 
feeling  is  riot  the  dictate  of  overstrained  sentiment,  but  of  com 
mon  honesty  ;  of  laws  absolutely  necessary  for  the  preservation 
of  society,  or  at  least  for  the  preservation  of  its  civilization. 
Where  the  official  cannot  freely  confer  with  his  brother  official, 
in  or  out  of  official  conclave,  without  having  all  his  inmost 
thoughts  carried  to  the  newspapers — where  men  cannot  meet 
amidst  the  gaieties  of  the  soiree, or  the  genialities  of  the  dinner 
table,  without  padlocks  on  their  mouths,  and  eyes  gleaming 
watchfully  for  an  advantage,  society  must  dissolve,  or  sink  into 
the  barbarism,  when  it  thus  sinks  into  the  espionage,  of  Japan. 
Among  men  of  any  breeding  the  intimation  that  a  disclosure  is 
"  confidential "  is  not  necessary  to  make  it  confidential.  The 
time,  the  place  and  the  circumstances  often  just  as  distinctly  and 
imperatively  impose  that  obligation.  As  a  general  thing,  polite 
society,  and  especially  where  the  assembled  circle  is  small,  is  to 
be  regarded  as  neutral  ground  where  even  antagonists  on  public 
questions  can  meet  with  armor  off.  In  the  genial  glow,  when 
those  antagonists  have  discovered  captivating  personal  qualities 
in  each  other  or  in  each  other's  families — when  perhaps  music, 


CHAP.  I.]  CONFIDENCE   OF   PRIVATE    INTERCOURSE.  29 

the  dance,  flashing  goblets  or  eyes  more  flashing,  have  cast 
spells  of  witchery  over  the  hour — men  not  made  of  iron  will 
sometimes  talk  unguardedly.  Sudden  confidences  are  inspired, 
and  find  utterances.  Who  has  not  waked  the  next  morning, 
startled  with  the  recollection  of  his  overnight  unreserve  ?  Who 
has  not  smiled  the  next  moment  at  his  tremor,  as  he  remembered 
that  honor  raised  walls  of  adamant  between  himself  and  be 
trayal  ?  It  is  precisely  these  sympathetic  leanings  of  man  towards 
his  fellow,  these  instinctive  confidences,  which  gradually  sponge 
away  the  sharp  demarkation  lines  of  party,  or  class,  or  sectional 
hate — which  teach  man  his  humanity — which  raise  him  from 
the  isolated  savage  to  a  clansman — from  a  clansman  to  a  patriot 
— from  a  patriot  to  a  philanthropist. 

But  are  there  no  exceptions  to  the  obligation  to  consider  as 
confidential  what  is  seen  and  heard  in  social  or  official  inter 
course?  There  obviously  are  many  such  exceptions.  We  cer 
tainly  are  at  liberty  (in  the  absence  of  any  specific  injunction  to 
the  contrary)  to  disclose  what  is  injurious  to  the  rights  or 
feelings  of  none.  Otherwise,  we  could  scarcely  speak  of  our 
neighbors,  or  of  the  affairs  of  society.  We  are  at  liberty  to 
mention  what  we  have  seen  or  heard,  though  we  regard  it  as 
injurious  to  the  person  of  whom  it  is  related,  provided  it  is  so 
far  made  common  as  to  lead  fairly  to  the  inference  that  it  is  not 
intended  or  desired  to  be  a  confidential  deposit  with  ourselves. 
For  example,  what  is  openly  said  in  a  legislative  body,  or  a 
promiscuous  collection  of  people  of  any  kind,  or  is  constantly 
and  carelessly  repeated  before  friend  and  foe,  or  indifferently 
before  new  auditors,  even  in  quasi  private  circles,  ceases  to 
carry  with  it  the  privilege  of  a  confidential  communication  in 
the  case  of  any  particular  hearer.1  If  we  are  not  the  hearers — if 

1  To  place  our  meaning  beyond  cavil,  we  will  enter  upon  some  specifications  of  what 
we  regard  as  those  "quasi  private  circles"  which  are  privileged  from  injurious  divul- 
gences.  unless  under  the  exceptions  taken  in  the  text.  We  place  among  them  unofficial 
conversations  on  official  subjects  with  colleagues  or  others  properly  concerned  in  them, 
even  though  the  parties  be  enemies— all  frank  and  unguarded  conversations  assuming  a 
quasi  confidential  tone  between  two  (or  a  small  number  of)  gentlemen,  without  reference 
to  their  previous  personal  relations — anything  mentioned  of  personal  or  family  affairs, 
and  especially  anything  which  pertains  to  females — anything  uttered  by  a  person  dispen 
sing  hospitality  under  his  own  roof,  etc.,  etc.  The  rule,  too,  in  our  judgment,  extends 
to  small  dinner  parties,  or  other  social  occasions,  where  a  limited  number  of  persons 
meet  as  common  friends,  or  as  the  common  friends  of  their  entertainer.  If  \ve  chance  to 
find  an  unfriend  in  such  a  place,  we  should  respect  the  roof  if  we  do  not  respect  him. 
Ami  finally,  a  high-toned  man  will  not  make  himself  a  personal  informer,  under  any  cir 
cumstances,  unless  he  feels  that  duty  demands  it  at  his  hands.  The  true  rule  is,  in  our 
judgment,  to  hold  everything  private  which  is  said  either  to  us  individually,  or  in  a  small 
li'-cle,  the  repetition  of  which  will  bring  any  kind  of  inj"ry,  ridicule  or  the  like,  on  thd 


30  CONFIDENCE   OF   OFFICIAl     INTERCOURSE.  [CHAP.  I. 

the  thing  has  come  to  us  second,  third,  or  fourth  handed — still 
less  is  the  implied  obligation  of  secrecy.  The  original  speaker 
or  divulger,  in  that  case,  reposed  no  trust  in  us.  If  anybody 
has  abused  his  confidence,  we  are  not  the  responsible  party ; 
nor  can  we  even  be  supposed  to  know  that  his  confidence  is  to 
be  abused,  unless  actually  informed  of  it.  There  can  be  no  merely 
implied  obligation  of  secrecy  on  us  in  such  a  case.1  It  can  be 
made  to  exist  only  by  express  injunction,  and  the  presumption 
is  always  against  the  wrong  d<>er  (the  first  revealer),  until  it  can 
be  made  to  appear  that  he  attempted  to  guard  his  improper  dis 
closure  from  spreading  further  by  such  injunction. 

Again,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  in  the  absence  of  a  particular 
obligation  of  secrecy,  that  we  have  a  right,  that  we  are  bound, 
to  reveal  anything  that  the  safety  and  interests  of  our  country, 
or  of  society,  demand  should  be  made  public.  Nay,  this  is  not 
going  far  enough.  If  the  meditation  or  commission  of  anything 
savoring  of  a  crime,  or  a  great  public  or  private  wrong  is 
intrusted  to  us,  an  injunction  of  secrecy  could  impose  no  obliga 
tion  whatever.  Our  indefeasible  moral  and  legal  duties  would 
supersede  any  artificial  one.  No  person  can  impose  a  duty  on 
himself  or  others,  even  by  express  promise,  which  transcends 
the  laws  of  God  and  man. 

Finally,  many  things  which  were  confidential  at  the  time  of 
their  occurrence,  cease  to  be  so  after  a  proper  lapse  of  time, 
provided  justice  to  individuals,  or  merely  the  truth  of  history, 
demands  their  publicity.  This  proposition  may  not,  at  first 
view,  appear  so  obvious  to  all,  as  do  the  preceding  ones ;  but  a 
little  consideration  will  show1,  at  least,  that  society  has  firmly 
settled  the  propriety  of  the  rule.  Our  intention  being  to  apply 
this  remark  chiefly  to  official  proceedings,  we  shall  now  examine 
the  subject  in  no  other  light.  There  are  many  official  circles 
(as  for  example,  the  members  of  an  executive  cabinet)  where  it 
is  not  customary  to  impose  formal  obligations  of  secrecy  in 
regard  to  daily  transactions,  but  where  such  obligations  are 
implied,  from  the  nature  of  things,  because  the  public  interest 

speaker,  unless  a  moral  or  public  duty,  or  absolutely  necessary  self-defence,  requires  its 
divulgence.  And  the  nobler  and  better  rule  is,  to  put  foe  and  friend  on  the  same  footing 
in  this  particular. 

1  We  by  no  means  claim  that  it  is  always  wise  or  delicate  to  consider  what  is  told  us 
not  in  confidence  of  third  parties  a  thing  which  may  be  unreservedly  repeated.  We  are 
now  discussing  what  does  or  does  not  constitute  a  breach  of  confidence. 


CHAP.  I.]  WHEN    IT   CEASES.  31 

or  the  proper  freedom  of  individual  action  requires  them.  But 
when  public  or  private  interests  cease  to  demand  privacy,  the 
practice  of  all  ages  shows  that  the  obligation  to  preserve  it  has 
been  regarded  as  removed.  It  would  be  difficult  to  point  to  the 
political  memoirs  of  any  statesman  which  do  not  reveal  things 
that  were  regarded  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence  as  official 
secrets  ;  and  we  find  no  hesitation  whatever,  even  in  the  cases  of 
colleagues,  in  giving  the  particulars  of  individual  action,  in  such 
transactions,  however  they. may  now  be  supposed  to  affect 
personal  reputation.  A  multitude  of  instances  of  this  will  at 
once  occur  to  every  well-read  person. 

Governments,  too,  have  in  repeated  instances  given  their 
sanction  to  the  same  rule  by  throwing  open  to  public  scrutiny 
records  of  secret  official  proceedings,  involving  individual 
action.  And  the  cases  have  not  been  few  where  governments 
have  themselves  published  such  records.  We  will  cite  one. 
Mr.  Madison  kept  a  daily  record  or  u  report "  of  what  took  place 
in  the  federal  Convention  of  1787,  which  sat  with  closed  doors, 
and  with  the  express  obligation  of  secrecy  resting  on  every 
member.  That  obligation  was  never  raised  by  the  official  body 
which  imposed  it,  or  by  any  other  body  composed  of  the  same, 
or  a  majority  of  the  same  persons,  or  even  of  other  persons 
acting  in  the  same  capacity.  No  man  doubts  that  a  great  many 
things  were  said  and  done  in  that  convention  by  persons  who 
would  not  have  dreamed  of  saying  or  doing  them  with  open 
doors.  Published,  during  the  lives  of  the  actors,  the  records  of 
them  would,  in  many  instances,  have  proved  highly  damaging 
to  their  popularity ;  and,  in  the  minds  of  some,  they  still 
seriously  affect  their  posthumous  reputation.  Yet  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  purchased  and  published  this  secret 
record !  We  have  heard  no  outcry  raised  on  the  subject — no 
blame  imputed  to  the  Government.1  It  appears  to  be  conceded, 
then,  that  acted  history  must,  after  immediate  personal  interests 
cease  to  be  affected,  give  up  its  secrets  to  written  and  published 
history.  The  practical  rule  established  seems  to  be  that  the 

i  Nor  have  we,  except  in  one  case,  heard  any  complaints  made  or  insinuated  against 
Mr.  Madison — and  they  are  by  a  filial  biographer,  who  afterwards  exhibited  his  own 
delicacy  by  publishing  the  most  confidential  letters  to  his  father,  making  far  more 
damaging  revelations  (if  either  are  damaging)  to  the  writers,  than  do  the  records  of  the 
federal  Convent  on  :  ail  tbnre  was  not,  certainly,  on  public  considerations,  a  tithe  of 
th*>  same  good  reasons  for  their  publication! 


W2  EFFECT    OF    POSTHUMOUS  PUBLICATION.  [CHAP.  I. 

lives  of  the  actors  generally1  constitute  the  just  limitation  of 
obligations  of  official  secrecy.4  Perhaps  another  condition 
should  be  superadded,  and  is  really  superadded  in  the  public 
judgment — that  fair  and  good  reasons  (something  besides  cater 
ing  to  a  useless  curiosity)  should  exist  for  publication. 

If  the  preceding  positions  are  tenable,  we  have,  at  the  out 
set,  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  assertion  that  the  reservation  of 
the  Ana  for  posthumous  publication,  implied  any  extraordinary 
inveteracy  in  political  or  personal  hostility.  And  it  is  quite  as 
easy  to  defend  posthumous  publications  on  the  score  of  fairness. 
An  obscure  man  may  not,  it  is  true,  be  as  easily  vindicated  from 
an  unjust  or  untruthful  charge,  twenty-five  years  after  his  death, 
as  when  he  and  all  the  witnesses  were  on  the  stage  together. 
But  no  man  of  sufficient  consequence  to  make  his  memoirs 
public  authority,  has  any  motive  for  striking  at  the  memories  of 
obscure  men,  except  where  they  appear  as  the  agents  or  repre 
sentatives  of  more  prominent  ones  ;  and  then  the  charge  against 
them  usually  stands  or  falls  with  that  against  their  principal. 
In  the  case  of  a  prominent  actor  on  the  public  stage,  in  nineteen 
cases  out  of  twenty,  an  important  charge  affecting  his  secret 
character  or  motives,  can  be  better  settled  after  than  before  his 
death.  He  must  be  a  most  wary  and  impenetrable  man  if  his 
own  private  papers,  and  those  of  his  associates  and  friends,  do 
not  really  settle  all  charges  in  regard  to  whatever  was  disguised, 
or  at  least  not  known,  of  his  character  and  great  aims  in  his  life. 
Infinitely  better  now,  than  during  their  lives,  can  we  judge  of 
the  esoteric  springs  of  action  which  influenced  the  political 
measures  of  Washington,  John  Adams,  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  or 
any  other  conspicuous  person  whose  private  papers  have  come 
before  the  world  since  his  death. 

And  the  dead  are  protected  from  petty  or  specific  damaging 
accusations,  in  regard  to  which  the  particular  defensive  proof 
has  become  extinct,  by  another  circumstance.  Mankind,  justly, 
on  the  \vhole,  judge  character  in  the  mass,  and  not  on  any 
isolated  incident  recorded  by  a  true  or  a  false  witness.  Even 
though  the  proof  appears  to  be  overwhelming,  the  world  really 

1  An  exception  would  of  course  exist,  where  the  peace  or  good  of  the  State  demanded 
either  further  silence  or  an  earlier  exposure. 

*  We  are  tree  to  confess  that,  in  our  opinion,  voluntary  private  and  personal  confi 
dence  can  never  die  ;  and  that  it  is  as  binding  on  descendants  as  on  the  original 
parties. 


CHAP.  I.]  EFFECT    OF    POSTHUMOUS    PUBLICATION.  33 

pays  little  attention  to  it,  if  it  goes  contrary  to  the  tenor  of  what 
is  well  settled  to  be  the  character  of  the  accused  person.  If  the 
proof  is  purely  ex  part e,  still  less  is  it  regarded.  Men  gener 
ously  and  properly  say,  "  we  do  not  know  what  contradictions 
or  explanations  the  accused  might  have  offered."  Few  men,  in 
truth,  have  ever  been  ultimately  condemned,  except  on  their 
own  testimony.  Accordingly,  the  posthumous  memoirs  or  alle 
gations  of  an  opponent  do  not  weigh  a  feather,  when  opposed  to 
the  tenor  of  a  life,  and  to  those  inside  views  of  himself  which 
the  confidential  correspondence  and  papers  of  a  statesman 
furnish,  when  spread  before  the  world.  We  ought  not,  for 
example,  to  ask  any  man  to  believe  any  aggressive  statement  in 
Mr.  Jefferson's  Ana,  which  is  opposed  by  such  evidence,  nor 
will  we.  All  that  such  personal  memoirs  of  an  opponent — or 
one  not  in  the  confidence  of  the  accused — can  be  considered 
worth,  after  private  papers  come  to  light,  is  that,  as  corrobora- 
tions  or  explanations,  they  may  more  fully  explain  what  pru 
dence  left  but  half  spoken  on  paper,  even  to  confidants. 

Before  a  man's  private  papers  are  under  the  inspection  of 
the  public,  he  is,  in  our  judgment,  vastly  more  liable  to  miscon 
struction  than  afterwards,  and  more  exposed  to  misrepresenta 
tion.  Contemporary  passions  and  prejudices  increase  the 
opportunity  for  delusion.  We  assert,  then,  that  posthumous 
accusations  of  the  nature  of  those  contained  in  the  Ana,  are  in 
every  point  of  view  as  fair  as  contemporaneous  ones;  as  fair  in 
the  intention,  when  made  by  an  intelligent  man  who  under 
stands  their  practical  effects,  and  clearly  as  fair  in  their  prac 
tical  consequences.  Indeed,  the  world,  on  the  whole,  has  been 
inclined  to  view  them  with  even  greater  favor,  because  they 
cannot  possibly  be  supposed  to  be  prompted  by  immediate  per 
sonal  interest.  While  it  gives  actual  credit  to  them  or  not. 
according  to  circumstances,  while  it  knows  that  every  man  is 
anxious  to  commend  himself  and  his  party  to  posterity,  it  takes 
for  granted  that  no  one  morally  above  the  rank  of  a  ruffian, 
would  deliberately  pass  the  dark  portals  of  the  grave  with  a 
gratuitous  and  malevolent  aggressive  falsehood  on  his  lips.  Nor 
has  the  world  decided  on  the  right  fulness  of  these  posthumous 
accusations,  even,  strictly  speaking,  by  their  truthfulness  of  fact. 
They  have  only  required  that  they  should  be  truthful  in  inten 
tion — honestly  and  sincerely  written. 

VOL.   TI.--3 


34  AVOWED    OBJECT    OF   THE    ANA.  [CHAP.    I. 

The  fact  that  posthnmonsness  of  publication,  other  tilings 
being  equal,  is  generally  regarded  as,  on  the  whole,  a  favorable 
indication  as  to  motives,  we  make  no  doubt;  but  in  reality,  it  is 
a  consideration  perhaps  generally  hardly  thought  of.  Let  the 
best  informed  reader  suddenly  ask  himself  whether  the  writings 
approaching  to  the  character  of  those  which  have  been  most 
condemned  in  the  Ana  (accusatory  personal  charges l)  of 
Burnet,  Clarendon,  De  Comities,  Evelyn,  Franklin,  Hntchinson, 
Las  Casas,  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbnry,  Lutterel,  Mather,  Melvil, 
Pepys,  Reresby,  Rochefoucault,  De  Retz,  Sidney,  Sully,  Temple, 
Winthrop,  and  the  multitude  of  other  personal  memoir  writers, 
from  the  days  of  Xenophon  to  those  of  Senator  Benton,  were 
published  before  or  after  the  death  of  their  authors.  His 
inability  to  answer,  without  a  good  deal  of  effort  to  recollect, 
will  probably  satisfy  him,  by  a  fair  test,  how  little  real  impor 
tance  he  has  attached  to  that  particular  fact — how  little  he  or 
any  other  man  has  dreamed  of  looking  to  either  side  of  it  for  a 
ground  of  accusation  against  any  other  man  than  Mr.  Jefferson.9 
Unless  under  a  cloud  of  temporary  prejudice  and  passion,  no 
intelligent  person,  in  our  opinion,  would  have  ever  dreamed  of 
making  it  a  ground  of  accusation  against  the  latter.  "We,  shall 
have  occasion  to  see  that  the  rule  that  would  condemn  him  in 
this  particular,  would  equally,  in  the  principle,  if  not  in  the 
extent,  condemn  Washington,  and  nearly  every  other  prominent 
statesman  of  our  country. 

What  were  Mr.  Jefferson's  real  and  special  motives  for  ori 
ginally  writing,  for  subsequently  revising,  and  for  meditating  a 
posthumous  publication  of  his  Ana?  We  have  hinted  at  these, 
but  he  has  left  express  declarations  on  the  subject,  in  the  intro 
duction  prefixed  to  those  papers,  in  1818,  which  it  would  not  be 
proper  to  omit : 

Explanation  of  the  three  volumes  bound  in  marbled  paper.* 

In  these  three  volumes  will  be  found  copies  of  the  official  opinions  given  in 
writing  by  me  to  General  Washington,  while  I  was  Secretary  of  State,  with  some- 

I  We  shall  not  say  that  the  writings  of  all  we  are  about  to  name  contain  such  charges 
—for  we  shall  mention  a  list  of  personal  memoir  writers  almost  at  random — but  we  should 
be  curious  to  know  which  of  them,  or  of  all  the  same  class  of  writers  who  ever  wrote, 
contains  nothing  of  the  kind. 

II  We  make  no  doubt  that  had  Mr.  Jefferson's  Ana  been  published  during  his  life,  we 
should  have  had  ten  times  as  loud  a  cry  about  his  "ferocity,"  "malignity,"  etc. ! 

3  Note,  by  the  editor  (Mr.  Randolph)  of  Jefferson's  Works  : 

••  These  arc  the  volumes  containing  the  Anas  to  the  time  that  the  author  retired 


CHAP.  I.]  AN   ANSWER   TO   MARSHALL'S    HISTORY.  35 

times  the  documents  belonging  to  the  case.  Some  of  these  are  the  rough  drafts, 
some  press  copies,  some  fair  ones.  In  the  earlier  part  of  my  acting  in  that  office, 
I  took  no  other  note  of  the  passing  transactions  ;  but  after  a  while,  I  saw  the 
importance  of  doing  it,  in  aid  of  my  memory.  Very  often,  therefore,  I  made 
memoranda  on  loose  scraps  of  paper,  taken  out  of  my  pocket  in  the  moment, 
and  laid  by  to  be  copied  fair  at  leisure,  which,  however,  they  hardly  ever  were. 
These  scraps,  therefore,  ragged,  rubbed,  and  scribbled  as  they  were,  i  had  bound 
with  the  others  by  a  binder  who  came  into  my  cabinet,  did  it  under  my  own  eye, 
and  without  the  opportunity  of  reading  a  single  paper.  At  this  day,  after  the  lapse 
of  twenty-five  years,,  or  more,  from  their  dates,  I  have  given  to  the  whole  a  calm 
revisal,  when  the  passions  of  the  time  are  passed  away,  and  the  reasons  of  the 
transactions  act  alone  on  the  judgment.  Some  of  the  informations  I  had  recorded^ 
are  now  cut  out  from  the  rest,  because  I  have  seen  that  they  were  incorrect,  or 
doubtful,  or  merely  personal  or  private,  with  which  we  have  nothing  to  do.  I  should 
perhaps  have  thought  the  rest  not  worth  preserving,  but  for  their  testimony  against 
the  only  history  of  that  period,  which  pretends  to  have  been  compiled  from  authen 
tic  and  unpublished  documents.  ****** 
But  a  short  review  of  facts  *****  will  show,  that  the  contests  of  that  day 
were  contests  of  principle,  between  the  advocates  of  republican,  and  those  of 
kingly  government,  and  that  had  not  the  former  made  the  efforts  they  did,  our 
government  would  have  been,  even  at  this  early  day,  a  very  different  thing  from 
what  the  successful  issue  of  those  efforts  have  made  it. 

We  have  here  a  most  unequivocal  avowal  that  the  Ana  were 
designed  for  ultimate  publication,  to  furnish  the  writer's  life-long 
and  dying  testimony  against  a  history,  brought  forth  under  cir 
cumstances  which  would  give  it  great  weight,  but  a  history 
which,  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  opinion,  wholly  misstated  and  per 
verted  the  respective  principles  and  purposes  of  the  original 
Federal  and  Republican  parties,  and  consequently  the  true 
grounds  of  issue  between  them  and  their  leaders. 

The  history  thus  alluded  to  was  Chief- Justice  Marshall's  Life 
of  Washington.  To  the  importance  it  derived  from  being  then 
the  only  history  of  its  period  purporting  to  be  "  compiled  from 
authentic  and  unpublished  documents  "  (General  Washington's 
private  papers  and  the  records  in  the  several  Government  offi 
ces),  Mr.  Jefferson  might  have  added  that  importance  necessarily 
-inuring  from  its  author's  high  official  and  personal  character. 

Judge  Marshall  was  a  man  of  sound  and  powerful  intellect, 
and  of  austere  public  and  private  virtue.  He  was  a  Federalist  of 
the  "  straightest  sect."  He  had  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  an 
embassy  to  France,  the  result  of  which  gave  peculiar  disgust  to 

from  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.  The  official  opinions  and  documents  referred  to. 
being  very  voluminous,  are  for  the  most  part  omitted,  to  make  room  for  the  oonversa 
tinns  which  the  same  volumes  comprise." 


J 


36  CHIEF   JUSTICE   MARSHALL.  [CHAP.  I. 

the  Republicans,  and  none  had  expressed  that  disgust  more 
warmly  than  Jefferson.  Marshall  became  Secretary  of  State 
under  John  Adams,  and  stood  unflinchingly  by  the  most  obnox 
ious  and  high-handed  measures  of  his  administration,  such  as 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  the  raising  of  standing  armies,  etc. 
Towards  Mr.  Jefferson  politically,  and  personally,  he  entertained 
the  deepest  aversion,1  and  it  is  but  justice  to  say  that  these  feelings 
were  heartily  reciprocated  by  the  latter.  Marshall  was  appointed 
Chief-Justice  about  two  months  before  the  close  of  Mr.  Adams's 
Presidential  term,  and  his  acceptance  of  that  office  and  his  pre 
siding  at  the  February  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1801, 
while  he  still  continued  to  fill  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State — 
(thus  doing  acts  in  one  capacity,  it  was  said,  which  he  could 
claim  the  right  to  pass  upon  judicially  in  another) — did  not 
tend  to  divest  Jefferson  and  the  other  Kepublican  leaders 
of  the  impression,  that  while  the  ermine  of  the  judge  continued 
to  cover  an  acting  political  officer,  it  also  continued  to  cover  the 
natural  feelings  and  biases  of  a  partisan. 

This  was,  perhaps,  doing  him  injustice,  so  far  as  his  intent 
was  concerned.  Judge  Marshall  unquestionably  carried  to  the 
bench  his  consolidating  views  in  politics;  and  he  acted  on  them 
unhesitatingly  throughout  his  whole  judicial  career.  There  were 
cases  where  the  Republicans  of  his  day  accused  him  of  resort 
ing  to  extraordinary  judicial  courses,  and  of  travelling  out  of 
his  path  to  pronounce  obiter  dicta*  for  the  purpose  of  assail 
ing  their  opinions,  and  even  with  no  worthier  object  than  of 
annoying  and  tendering  a  quasi  defiance  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  when  the  Presidency  was  filled  by  Mr.  Jefferson.' 
Judge  Marshall's  career,  taken  as  a  whole,  and  his  stainless  pri 
vate  character,  render  incredible  the  idea  that  he  ever  knowingly 
and  voluntarily  allowed  mere  partisan  or  personal  feelings  to 
influence  his  action  on  the  bench.  He  aimed  to  be  an  upright 
and  impartial  judge.  "We  believe  him  to  have  been  an  earnest 
and  sincere  man.  His  errors,  if  he  committed  any,  were  the 
errors  of  his  system,  and  of  those  unconscious  prejudices  and  feel 
ings  from  which  the  most  perfect  men  can,  perhaps,  never  be 
wholly  exempt.  He  sat  on  the  bench  long  enough  to  see  his 

1  This  fact  will  not  be  left  to  unsupported  assertion,  but  distinctly  made  to  appear  ir 
the  progress  of  this  narrative. 

3  Opinions  not  called  for  in  the  case. 

1  The  facts  on  which  these  imputations  rested,  will  hereafter  appear. 


OTIAP.  I.]  HIS    HISTORIC    STATEMENTS.  37 

own  cardinal  theory  of  our  Government  repudiated  by  a  major 
ity  of  his  associates  ;  and  that  theory  was  afterwards,  in  all  its 
main  features,  almost  wholly  swept  away.  But  his  earlier  judi 
cial  decisions  came  during  the  fierce  struggles  of  those  parties 
who  were  contesting  inch  by  inch  the  very  questions  he  was 
oftentimes  more  or  less  directly  passing  upon,  and,  his  opponents 
asserted,  stretching  his  jurisdiction  beyond  all  its  constitutional 
limits  to  pass  upon.  Those  opponents  asserted  that  the  Federalists, 
beaten  and  routed  in  the  sovereign  body,  the  people,  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  that  this  power,  constantly 
extending  its  encroachments,  was  attempting  to  effect  that  con 
solidation  which  the  powerful  Federal  party  had  broken  itself 
down  in  attempting  to  accomplish.  The  Republican  feeling  was 
therefore  strong  against  Judge  Marshall,  and  no  one  will  doubt 
that,  as  a  man,  he  fully  repaid  that  aversion. 

During  the  first  pause  in  the  great  political  struggle — during 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson — Marshall's  Life  of  Washing 
ton  made  its  appearance.1  The  subject  and  the  circumstances,  as 
already  said,  gave  it  peculiar  importance.  That  the  author 
intended  it  for  a  faithful  and  impartial  history,  we  will  not 
doubt.  But,  notwithstanding  its  guarded  tone  of  moderation,  its 
seeming  judicial  tone,  its  respectful  language  towards  adversa 
ries,  no  one  could  then,  or  can  now,  fail  to  see  that  it  was 
colored  throughout  by  those  political  opinions  and  feelings 
which  none  complain  of  in  the  historian  where  they  are  frankly 
avowed.  It  is  a  calm  and  well  argued  defence  of  the  Federal 
party  and  principles,  and  a  calm,  decorously  expressed,  bur  none 
the  less  earnest  and  decided,  condemnation  of  the  opposite  party 
and  its  principles.  That  "  great  party,"  that  c'  overwhelming 
majority  "  of  the  people,  as  he  so  often  termed  the  Republicans, 
is  almost  alwavs  placed  in  the  wrong.  The  wisdom  of  the  few 
and  the  folly  of  the  many,  are,  obviously,  ever  pressing  on  the 
author's  mind,  and  are  the  text  of  never-ceasing  commentaries 
or  allusions.  Unlike  Jefferson's  theory,  that  the  preceding  poli 
tical  contests  had  been  ''contests  of  principle  between  the  advo 
cates  of  republican  and  those  of  kingly  government,"  Marshall's 
was  that  the  Federalists,  as  a  party,  had,  on  all  the  great  ques- 

i  It  was  in  preparation  during  Jefferson's  first  Presidency,  and  was  expected  by  the 
latter  to  appear  pending  the  canvas  when  he  was  reflected.  We  think,  however,  no  par4. 
of  it  was  got  ready  for  publication  before  1805. 


38  MARSHALL'S  TREATMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  [CHAP,  i 

tions,  acted  wisely  and  well — that  they  had  never  desired  any 
stronger  form  of  government  than  comported  with  the  Consti 
tution,  and  was  necessary  to  security — that  Hamilton's  Treasury 
schemes  were  just,  salutary,  and  necessary — that  the  original 
State  Right  and  Anti-Federal  party  originated  in  a  desire  to 
avoid  the  payment  of  the  public  debts,  a  dislike  of  the  restraints 
indispensable  to  good  order,  and  in  the  narrow  and  unprincipled 
ambition  of  local  demagogues — that  their  successors,  the  Repub 
licans,  availing  themselves  of  the  same  physical  elements, 
embarked  in  a  factions  opposition  to  Hamilton's  schemes,  and 
finally  to  General  Washington's  administration  from  the  same 
motives  in  part,  in  part  from  their  hostility  to  England  and 
sympathy  with  the  Jacobin  Democracy  of  France,  and  perhaps 
more  yet  from  their  anxiety  to  clutch  ;i  the  loaves  and  fishes  " 
of  political  power.  According  to  Judge  Marshall's  whole  show 
ing,  the  Federalists  were  but  a  quite  moderate,  truly  republican 
party,  and  the  representations  of  their  opponents  to  the  con 
trary  were  but  pretences,  fabricated  by  demagogues  or  mad 
enthusiasts,  and  addressed  to  the  passions  and  prejudices  ot 
ignorant  mobs. 

Towards  Jefferson,  personally,  Judge  Marshall's  language  was 
most  guarded.  Admitting  his  talents  and  public  services,  never 
stooping  (like  the  Callenders,  the  Sullivans  and  several  later 
writers)  to  retail  the  low  calumnies  of  the  day  against,  him, 
always  speaking  of  his  conduct  with  temper  and  decorum,1  he 
nevertheless  contrives  very  often  to  convey  the  impression  that 
his  political,  and  not  unfrequently  his  personal,  course  was  more 
<-r  less  indefensible.  Sometimes  circumstances  were  omitted 
which  Mr.  Jefferson's  friends  have  ever  claimed  were  necessary 
i<>  a  true  understanding  of  his  conduct.  Those  friends,  too,  have 
:  Iways  insisted  that  if  Judge  Marshall  nowhere  resorts  to  direct 
inisstatements,  he  has  sometimes  so  presented  and  grouped  the 
facts  as  to  convey  totally  erroneous  impressions.  The  facts  on 
which  these  assertions  were  put  forth  will,  in  several  instances, 
necessarily  appear  in  these  volumes.  But,  waiving  these  questions 
for  the  present,  it  is  at  least  apparent  that  he  presents  Jefferson 
to  the  world  as  the  leading  spirit  of  a  party  whose  aims  and  con 
duct  he  so  unqualifiedly  condemns.  He  represents  party  posi- 

1  Except  in  a  note  to  his  second  edition,  replying  to  personal  censures  of  Jefferson  on 
his  first. 


CHAP.  I.]  HIS    TREATMENT   OF   JEFFERSON.  39 

tions  which  everybody  knows  Jefferson  ever  firmly  insisted  on 
as  most  truthful  and  important,  as  the  hollow  pretences  of  dema 
gogues  ;  and  maxims  of  political  faith,  which  Jefferson  ever  acted 
on  as  cardinal,  as  the  licentious  extravagances  of  disorganizes. 

Nor  was  there  wanting  in  the  work  a  coloring  of  what  was 
regarded  (we  will  not  now  say  with  what  justice)  as  intended 
personal  offence  to  Mr.  Jefferson.  A  letter  of  the  latter  to  an 
Italian,  named  Mazzei,  had  made  its  appearance  in  the  public 
prints  in  1797,  and  was  seized  upon  by  the  Federalists  as 
a  topic  of  party  declamation,  on  the  ground  that  it  contained 
a  covert  insult  to  General  Washington,  for  the  purpose  of 
ingratiating  the  writer  and  his  party  with  the  Government  of 
France.  Judge  Marshall  directed  attention  to  this  letter  in  a 
note,  in  a  manner  which  vividly  recalled  to  Jefferson's  enemies 
their  original  impression  concerning  its  object ;  and  though 
Marshall  made  no  mention  of  its  containing  a  supposed  attack 
on  General  Washington,  he  presented,  if  not  strictly  speaking 
a  conclusion  resting  on  that  hypothesis,  at  least,  an  idea  so 
closely  associated  with  it  in  the  minds  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  enemies, 
that  to  recall  the  one  was  equally,  in  effect,  to  recall  the  other. 
And  this  imputation  reacted  and  strengthened  another  very 
favorite  out-door  one  of  the  Federalists,  that  he  had  been  from 
an  early  period,  if  not  always,  secretly  hostile  to  General  Wash 
ington — that  while  holding  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet  of  the  latter, 
he  was  secretly  and  sedulously  organizing  a  party  against  him. 

These  mortal  stabs,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  deemed  them,  at  both  his 
reputation  as  a  statesman  and  a  man — these  efforts  to  prove  that 
the  i4  great  party  "  which  he  had  so  long  led  and  which  carried 
with  it  all  the  sympathies  of  his  heart,  was  but  an  organization 
of  demagogues  and  dupes,  and  that  he  wras  only  the  greatest 
demagogue  or  dupe  in  the  number — these  constant  hypotheses 
which,  carried  to  their  legitimate  results  and  applied  to  him, 
would  convict  him  of  almost  every  shade  of  folly,  or  unmanly 
insincerity — nay,  these  seemingly  sanctioning  allusions  to  charges 
which  he  regarded  as  impeaching  his  personal  honor — were 
probably  rendered  none  the  more  palatable  because  they  came 
from  a  dignified  source,  because  they  were  clothed  in  dig 
nified  language,  and  because  his  assailant  assumed  many  of  the 
ceremonious  forms  of  weighing  the  testimony  and  even  of  occa 
sionally  making  some  liberal  concessions,  before  putting  on  tho 


iO  HAD    JEFFEKSON    A    BIGHT    TO    DEFEND    HIMSELF  ?        [CHAP.  I. 

black  cap  to  pass  sentence.  Nor  was  Jefferson's  condemnation 
of  the  tone  and  spirit  of  Judge  Marshall's  Work  much  more 
decided  than  that  of  some  of  the  Federalists  themselves.1 

It  was  under  such  circumstances  that  Jefferson,  twenty-five 
years  alter  writing  his  Aria,  "  calmly  revised  "  them,  and  deli 
berately  bequeathed  them  to  his  posterity,  to  be  used  as  his  tes 
timony  against  Judge  Marshall's  History.  The  reader  now  has 
the  facts,  and  he  will  judge  for  himself  how  far  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  conduct  in  regard  to  these  celebrated  papers,  deserves  the 
imputations  of  wanton  and  unprovoked  aggression,  of  a  malig 
nity  determined  to  pass  the  boundaries  of  this  world  and  shoot 
"  poisoned  arrows "  from  the  grave,  and  the  other  tragic  and 
pathetic  flights  of  rhetoric  which  to  the  extent  of  volumes  have 
been  inflicted  on  the  Ana.  The  simple  question  presented  is, 
had  or  had  not  Mr.  Jefferson  the  same  right  with  Judge  Mar 
shall  to  defend  himself  and  his  party,  to  give  to  the  world  his 


1  John  Adams  repeatedly  alludes  with  severity  to  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington — 
speaking  of  it  as  a  book  made  to  sell  in  England — an  effort  to  crush  all  other  men  with 
the  weight  of  General  Washington's  popularity,  etc.  etc.  His  idea  apparently  is.  that 
the  effort  of  Marshall  was  to  appropriate  all  the  popularity  of  Washington  to  the  Ultra 
(and  Anglo)  Federalists,  and  use  it  as  a  sacred  weapon  against  their  opponents,  which 
nobody  would  dare  to  strike  against,  even  in  self-defence. 

We  cannot  believe  Judge  Marshall  had  any  such  view  to  English  popularity  as  that 
Mr.  Adam*  imputed  to  him.  If  he  had,  he  failed  in  his  object.  As  a  specimen  of  the 
severity — we  think  illiberal  severity — of  treatment  his  work  received  in  the  Edinburgh 
Review,  we  will  transcribe  a  paragraph. 

From  Edinburgh  Review,  October,  1808. 

"  We  were  glad  to  see,  from  the  title  and  preface,  that  Mr.  Marshall  did  not  affect  to 
follow  that  very  unsatisfactory  and  indeed  preposterous  scheme  of  biography,  which 
separates  a  man's  private  from  his  public  life.  This  gives  us  a  right  to  expect,  not  only 
an  account  of  his  achievements  in  arms,  and  his  labors  as  a  legislator  and  statesman,  but 
of  those  lesser  occupations  also,  those  habitudes  and  distinguishing  particulars,  which  are 
necessary  to  a  clear  view  and  lively  conception  of  individual  character,  conduct  and 
demeanor.  What,  indeed,  is  biography  if  it  does  not  do  this?  and  where  would  be  its 
pretensions  to  those  delightful  details  which  are  forbid  in  the  more  formal  and  stately 
communications  of  general  history?  Mr.  Chief-Justice  Marshall,  however,  seems  to  have 
formed  a  very  different  conception  of  its  nature  and  objects.  Though  affecting  to  give  a 
full  view  of  his  hero's  character  and  actions,  he  preserves  a  most  dignified  and  mor 
tifying  silence  regarding  every  particular  of  his  private  life  and  habits;  and  seems  to 
haVe  thought,  that  the  gravity  of  his  historical  functions  would  have  been  impaired  by 
anything  approaching  to  familiar  and  easy  description.  We  cannot,  indeed,  go  quite  the 
length  of  the  amiable  and  ingenious  writer  who  informs  us,  that  he  was  grateful  for  be  ing 
told  Ml  ton  wore  shoe-buckler;  but  we  do  not  recollect  any  book,  calling  itself  the  history 
of  a  life,  more  unpardonably  deficient  in  all  that  constitutes  the  soul  and  charm  of 
biography.  We  are  never  permitted  to  see  the  great  man  in  his  private  and  voluntary 
occupations — 'in  his  happier  hour' — when  relaxed  from  the  cares  of  policy  and  war. 
We  look  in  vain,  through  these  stiff  and  countless  pages,  for  any  sketch  or  anecdote  that 
might  fix  a  distinguishing  feature  of  private  character  in  the  memory.  When  Chastellux 
mentions,  for  example,  that  Washington  broke  his  own  horses,  and  that  he  read  with 
peculiar  delight  the  King  of  Prussia's  Instructions  and  Guibert's  Tactics,  every  one  is 
gratified  and  instructed  :  and  in  omitting  such  traits.  Mr.  Marshall  may  be  assured,  that 
he  has  greatly  impaired  the  interest  as  well  as  the  utility  of  his  book  :  that  his  ungraphic 
generalities  will  neither  satisfy  the  curious  nor  the  superficial  inquirer  into  character: 
and  that  what  seemed  to  pass  with  him  for  dignity,  will,  by  his  reader,  be  pronounced 
dullness  and  frigidity." 


JHAP.  I.]  WAS    THE    TESTIMONY    LEGITIMATE?  4:1 

version  of  the  political  questions  of  his  day,  and  his  direct  testi 
mony  an<1  most  direct  information  on  the  points  in  controversy 
between  himself  and  his  life-long  and  those  who  were  to  be  his 
posthumous  accusers  ? 

The  next  proper  inquiry,  it  would  seem,  is,  did  Mr.  Jefferson, 
in  pursuing  this  object,  bring  forward  legitimate  testimony,  and 
in  a  legitimate  way  ?  The  reader  is  invited  to  take  up  the  Ana, 
and  closely  scrutinize  them  line  by  line,  to  find  a  word  that, 
under  the  rules  already  laid  down  (and  which  we  are  persuaded 
carried  with  them  the  assent  of  every  candid  mind),  it  was  not 
strictly  legitimate  to  present.  We  confess,  we  cannot  find  one 
such  word. 

We  will  notice  one  or  two   collateral   charges  which  have 

C5 

been  brought  against  the  Ana.  One  is  that  Mr.  Jefferson  re 
peatedly  transcended  the  fair  rights  of  a  witness,  by  avowedly 
repeating  merely  hearsay  stories,  second,  third,  or  fourth 
handed.  This  may  weigh  against  their  credibility.  If  so,  no 
one  is  misled.  When  he  states  anything  on  other  authority  than 
his  own,  he  not  only  mentions  that  fact,  but  also  the  number 
and  names  of  the  witnesses  through  whom  his  information  has 
been  derived.  If  this  is  not  fair,  what  portion  of  history  is  fair? 
How  much  history  even  purports  to  be  written  on  the  direct 
personal  knowledge  of  the  author? 

It  has  been  said  that  portions  of  the  Ana  are  irrelevant  to 
any  of  the  useful  purposes  of  history,  and  that,  consequently, 
where  such  portions  reflect  on  individuals,  they  imply  malice. 
The  strong  specimen  case  always  brought  forward  is,  that  Jeffer 
son  has  recorded  that  General  Washington,  on  a  few  occasions, 
exhibited  anger,  and  that  on  one  or  two  he  used  an  oath.  A 
human  Washington  is  not  to  the  taste  of  the  myth-makers  !  The 
difference  between  them  and  Jefferson  was,  that  the  latter 
thought  Washington  was  good  enough  as  he  was,  and  in  need 
of  no  patching  or  mending  !  Jefferson's  reasons  for  stating 
facts  of  so  little  historic  or  other  general  importance  (unless  in 
the  eye  of  those  whose  knowledge  and  taste  are  exemplified  in 
their  desire  to  conform  the  character  of  a  great  warrior  and 
statesman,  who  lived  in  stormy  times,  to  that  of  some  meek  her 
mit  living  on  bread  and  water  diet),  become  apparent  if  wre 
turn  to  the  occasions  when  the  facts  took  place.  We  discover 
at  once  that  his  object  was  to  show  how  strong  and  deep  were 


42  WAS   THE   TESTIMONY   LEGITIMATE  ?  [CHAP.  I, 

General  Washington's  opinions  and  feelings  on  certain  topics  of 
public  interest.  The  intensity  of  his  feelings  was  as  much  a  part 
of  the  facts  as  that  he  had  feelings  on  the  subject.  Do  we 
allow  the  witness,  who  is  required  to  describe  before  legal  tri 
bunals  the  particular  conduct  of  a  party  in  explanation  of  his 
intent,  to  suppress,  at  his  option,  any  circumstance,  any  word,  or 
any  look  or  motion,  which  tends  to  throw  light  on  that  intent  ? 
Does  honest  history  make  or  tolerate  such  suppressions? 

The  Ana  may  contain  irrelevant  entries.  This  being  purely 
a  question  of  judgment,  or  taste,  the  world  cannot  be  expected 
to  be  agreed  on  it.  "We  should  quite  willingly,  however,  enter 
upon  a  comparison  between  those  claimed  to  be  most  irrelevant 
or  unnecessary,  and  statements  which  could  be  readily  selected 
from  perhaps  any  of  that  list  of  celebrated  writers  of  a  kindred 
class  of  productions  which  has  been  given  in  this  chapter.  It 
will  be  found  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  so  far  from  being  an  instance 
of  a  wanderer  from  his  ostensible  and  legitimate  topic  to  wan 
tonly  assail,  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  contrary.  His  for 
bearance  in  introducing  irrelevant  and  injurious  personal  matter 
is  specially  conspicuous.  Every  entry  which  has  been  com 
plained  of  for  its  severity  or  bitterness  bears  on  some  public 
question — was  designed  to  throw  light  on  the  conduct  or  mo 
tives  of  men  or  parties,  in  reference  to  such  questions.  Some 
very  innocent  persons  may  imagine  that  this  abstinence  from 
personalities  was  occasioned  by  a  want  of  materials  !  Those  who 
are  at  all  familiar  with  the  histories  of  several  of  the  individuals 
handled  most  severely  in  the  Ana,  and  against  whom  not  the 
most,  covert  hint  in  respect  to  private  character  is  tin-own  out  in 
that  production,  are  very  well  aware  that  those  individuals 
were  stained  with  notorious,  and  in  one  or  two  celebrated  in 
stances,  self-confessed  offences  of  the  deepest  dye  against  pro 
priety  and  even  morality. 

What  solicited  this  forbearance  on  the  part  of  Jefferson? 
Was  it  that  a  blacker  and  steadier  stream  of  purely  personal 
calumny  was  discharged  on  himself  than  was  ever  discharged 
on  ihe  head  of  any  other  statesman,  from  the  foundation  of  the 
government  down  to  the  present  day  ?  Was  it  because  good 
and  even  devout  hands,  while  pouring  the  oil  of  canonization  on 
open  and  self-proclaimed  violators  of  the  laws  of  God  and  man, 
narrated  odious  and  circumstantial  personal  calumnies  about 


CHAP.  I.]  JEFFEKSON   AND   HIS    ASSAILANTS.  43 

him,  on  testimony  which  should  have  been  laughed  at  or  spurned 
by  magnanimous  foes? 

And  we  shall  have  abundant  occasion  to  see  that  his  politi 
cal  attacks  were  mild  compared  with  those  made  on  himself; 
and  no  more  acrid  in  their  tone  than  those  which  were  common 
at  that  day  among  our  most  distinguished  men.  We  do  not 
know  of  one  solitary  instance  of  an  American  statesman  of  that 
period,  whose  papers  have  to  any  considerable  extent  been  pub 
lished,  who  did  not  indulge,  at  times,  in  severe  and  highly  offen 
sive  language  and  imputations  against  his  opponents.  It  was 
the  fashion  of  the  day,  and  extended  from  the  bar-room  and 
"the 'stump  "  even  to  the  pulpit.  The  same  bitter  and  unspar 
ing  tone  was  then  common  in  England  and  in  the  debates  of  its 
Parliament.  The  first  parliamentary  speakers,  men  of  the  rank 
of  Pitt,  and  Fox,  and  Burke,  habitually  indulged  in  language 
which,  we  take  it,  would  not  now  be  tolerated  in  a  deliberative 
body  in  Honolulu. 

There  have  been  reasons,  easy  enough  to  specify,  but  which 
we  do  not  feel  here  called  upon  to  specify,  why  the  current  of 
persono-controversial  literature  has  been  made  to  set  strongly 
against  Jefferson.  We  are  presented  with  the,  at  first  view, 
singular  anomaly,  that  while  a  vast  majority  of  the  American 
people  revere  his  name  as  they  revere  no  other  name  but  Wash 
ington's,  he  has  not  had  one  personal  defender  to  every  fifty 
personal  assailants.  Like  most  of  the  other  great  Republican 
leaders  of  the  first  era  of  the  Republic,  he  left  no  softs,  and  thus 
none  have  succeeded  him  deeply  interested  in  his  mere  personal 
defence,  and  at  the  same  time  near  enough  to  the  contests  of  his 
day  to  be  anointed  with  their  bitter  chrism,  who  are  willing  to 
swell  pamphlets  to  books  to  roll  back  the  tide  of  personal  vitu 
peration  on  his  assailants.  Nor  will  we.  But  the  faithful  bio 
grapher  is  at  liberty  to  shun  no  really  serious  issue,  which  goes  to 
the  character  of  his  subject.1  The  world  has  a  right  to  admire 
the  loyalty  which  has  defended  other  graves  from  profanation, 
nor  should  it  too  nicely  watch  for  every  word  which  might  seem 
to  transcend  the  strict  boundaries  of  defence.  But  there  is  a 
lonely  grave  on  the  declivities  of  Monticello  which  is  equally  en- 

1  That  is,  an  issue  of  that  kind  made  by  reputable  antagonists,  and  supported  by 
sufficient  proof  to  properly  carry  a  degree  of  moral  conviction  against  his  subject,  unless 
such  proof  is  specifically  rebutted,  or  shown  to  be  untrustworthy  by  facts  already  suffi 
eiently  established. 


44  COMPARATIVE   USE   OF   PERSONALITIES.  [CHAP.  I, 

titled  to  protection  from  insult,  if  truth  and  justice  will  afford 
that  protection  ! 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  human  in  all  his  feelings,  and  he  erred 
like  other  men.  Assailed  and  maligned  in  public  and  private 
life  as  no  other  American  statesman  was  ever  assailed  and 
maligned,  he  sometimes  turned  upon  his  bitter  persecutors.  In 
exposing  what  he  believed  to  be  their  motives,  he  was  compelled 
to  speak  harshly.  In  the  instanceb  of  individuals,  we  believe, 
he  sometimes  misjudged.  Where  he  did  so,  let  the  reparation 
be  extorted  to  the  last  atom.  But  be  it  remembered  that  if  in 
that  life-long  contest,  whether  covering  the  retreat  from  the  lost 
field,  whether  rallying  his  broken  squadrons,  whether  bearing 
down  in  the  front  of  the  battle  and  fio-htino;  foot  to  foot  and 

O  ^ 

hand  to  hand  with  that  host  of  champions  who  ever  simultane 
ously  singled  him  out  for  attack,  or  whether  parrying  the  assas 
sin's  stab  made  at  him  unarmed  in  his  tent  after  the  battle,  he 
never  struck  a  blow  which  he  has  not  deliberately  left  his  name 
and  fame  responsible  for ;  he  never,  even  by  an  innuendo,  car 
ried  the  war  into  the  sacred  privacy  of  domestic  life  ;  he  never, 
towards  the  enemies  of  his  cause,  approached,  either  in  kind  or 
degree,  the  imputations  and  denunciations  cast  upon  him  by 
his  opponents  of  every  grade,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
and  which  can  now  be  exhibited  in  their  accredited  writings.1 

i  We  speak  of  his  opponents  as  a  body.  Hamilton,  Sedgwick,  and  a  number  of  others 
— even  John  Adams  once  or  twice — indulged  in  offensive  "personalities"  towards  him  in 
writings  now  published  and  acknowledged  ;  and  we  remember  no  case  in  which  Jefferson 
retaliated  in  kind,  in  the  strict  meaning  of  the  word.  That  is  to  say,  while  he  severely 
impugned  their  conduct  and  even  motives  as  politicians  ami  as  public  men — while  he  some 
times  (though  rarely)  criticised  in  decent  and  becoming  terms  individual  peculiarities — 
we  nowhere  tind  him  towards  respectable  opponents  indulging  in  those  offensive  personal 
imputations  which  among  gentlemen  are  regarded  as  necessarily  and  intentionally  insult 
ing.  He  does  not  speak  of  them,  for  example,  sweepingly,  as  "mean  men,"  as  "false 
hearted  men,"  as  "  hypocrites,"  as  "  liars,"  or  make  any  equivalent  selections  from  that 
vocabulary  so  diligently  culled  from  by  his  assailants.  Yet  we  have  in  our  minds  a  few 
cases  where  he  politically  attacked  men  who  did  not,  so  far  as  we  know  (they  mostly 
having  little  or  no  contemporaneous  writings  preserved),  return  the  compliment.  We 
therefore  have  applied  the  remark  in  the  text  to  his  opponents  as  a  body. 

There  are  no  so  ample  and  accessible  examples  of  precisely  what  we  mean  as  are  fur 
nished  by  the  published  Works  of  Jefferson  and  Hamilton — and  it  is  for  his  severity 
towards  the  latter,  that  Jefferson  has  been  frequently  arraigned  !  If  there  is  a  solitary 
remark  in  all  of  his  Writings  in  respect  to  Hamilton  which  Mr.  Pitt  or  Mr.  Fox  would 
have  felt  bound  to  resent  as  a  personal  insult,  if  spoken  of  themselves  in  the  British  House 
of  Commons,  it  is  not  now  in  our  memory.  Jefferson  did  him  ample  justice  as  a  private 
gentleman,  in  his  Ana,  in  words  we  have  already  quoted.  On  the  other  hand,  Hamil 
ton's  Writings  (many  of  them  published  contemporaneously)  literally  reek  with  person 
ally  offensive  imputations  against  Jefferson.  We,  of  course,  are  not  unaware  of  the 
twaddle  a  class  of  men  can  utter  over  the  distinction  we  have  attempted  to  take.  It  in 
one,  however,  which  is  perfectly  understood,  and  habitually  kept  in  view  am^ng  all  well 
of  respectable  cultivation. 


CHAPTER  H. 
1792. 

New  Diplomatic  Arrangements — Grounds  of  the  Opposition  to  Morris's  Appointment- 
Explanations  between  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State — The  President  apprised 
of  permanent  Divisions  in  his  Cabinet — Apprised  of  Jefferson's  intended  Retirement — 
Jefferson's  Draft  of  Instructions  to  our  Ministers  in  Spain — Cabinet  Consultation  on  the 
Apportionment  Bill — Circumstances  of  the  Veto — Madison  consulted — Proposed  Extra 
dition  Treaty  with  Spain — Instructions  to  Mr.  Morris — Negotiations  between  Jefferson 
and  the  English  Minister — Jefferson  delivers  Hammond  his  Specifications  of  the  Eng 
lish  Breaches  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace — Hamilton's  alleged  Interference  in  the  Negotia 
tions—Hammond's  Answer  to  Jefferson's  Specifications — Jefferson's  Rejoinder — His 
Official  Partialities  between  France  and  England  examined — His  Letter  urging  Wash 
ington  to  accept  a  Reelection — Washington's  Answer — Paul  Jones's  appointment  to 
Office,  and  Death — His  Relations  with  Jefferson — Political  Letters — Further  Division  be 
tween  Parties — Hamilton's  anonymous  Attacks  on  Jefferson — Founders  of  the  National 
Gazette — Jefferson  visits  Home — Family  Correspondence — Washington's  Letter  to 
Jefferson  on  Dissensions  in  the  Cabinet — His  Letter  to  Hamilton — Jefferson's  Reply — 
Hamilton's  Reply — Comparison  of  the  Tone  of  the  Letters — Professions  and  practice  of 
the  two  compared — Jefferson's  Interview  with  the  President  at  Mount  Vernon — 
President  urges  his  continuance  in  Office — Hamilton's  charge  that  such  continuance 
was  indelicate — Their  respective  "  Opposition  "  to  the  President  Examined — Jeffer 
son's  Notice  in  Correspondence  of  Hamilton's  Attacks  on  him — Washington's  Letter  to 
Jefferson— Washington's  Idea  of  Parties — President's  Proclamation  to  Resisters  of 
Excise  Law — Marshall's  Statements — Jefferson  complains  of  English  Impressments — 
Complains  to  Spain  of  Governor  Carondelet — Cabinet  Meeting  on  Viar  and  Jaudenes* 
Complaints— Hamilton  Counsels  an  English  Alliance— The  President  rejects  the  Pro 
position. 

SOME  new  and  important  diplomatic  arrangements  between 
the  United  States  and  other  powers  took  place  not  far  from  the 
beginning  of  1792.  Great  Britain  finally  sent  a  Minister,  Mr. 
Hammond,  to  onr  Government,  and  Major  Thomas  Pinckney,  of 
South  Carolina,  went  as  our  Minister  to  that  court.  The  French 
Minister,  the  Count  de  Moustier,  was  recalled  by  his  Govern 
ment,  and  his  place  filled,  as  anticipated,  by  M.  de  Ternant. 
Governeur  Morris  was  nominated,  in  exchange,  and  after  a 


4li  NEW   DIPLOMATIC    ARRANGEMENTS.  [CHAF.  IT. 

severe  struggle,  confirmed  by  the  Senate.1  Mr.  Short,  who  had 
acted  as  Charge"  d'Affaires  in  France,  since  the  departure  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  was  made  Minister  resident  at  the  Hague.  Colo 
nel  Humphreys  remained  in  the  embassy  to  Portugal,  and  Mr. 
Carmichael  in  that  to  Spain  ;  and  the  King  of  Spain  having 
expressed  a  willingness  to  negotiate  on  the  subject  of  the  navi 
gation  of  the  Mississippi,  the  two  last  named  officers  were 
appointed  Commissioners-Plenipotentiary  to  treat  with  him. 

On  the  29th  of  February,  some  important  personal  explana 
tions  took  place  between  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State, 
which  we  give  as  we  find  them  recorded  in  the  Ana.  They 
had  conversed,  the  day  previously,  in  regard  to  certain  pro 
posed  changes  in  the  Post  Office  department,  but  the  President 
being  called  away  by  company,  desired  the  Secretary  to  break 
fast  with  him  the  next  morning,  for  the  purpose  of  resuming  the 
subject.  Mr.  Jefferson  proceeds  to  say  : 

1  The  vote  finally  stood  in  the  Senate,  sixteen  for  confirmation,  eleven  against.  The 
objections  to  Morris  were,  that  he  was  excessively  unpopular  in  France,  being  con 
sidered  there  an  advocate  of  aristocracy,  and  unfriendly  to  its  revolution  and  new  Con 
stitution.  He  was  accused  of  openly  and  offensively  expressing  his  views,  and  of  "  levity 
and  imprudence  of  conversation  and  conduct."  A  letter  from  General  Washington  to 
Morris,  informing  him  of  these  objections,  and  cautioning  him  to  more  prudence,  will  be 
found  in  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  216.  (See,  also,  on  the  same  subject,  Sparks's 
Life  and  Writings  of  Morris,  vol.  i.  p.  368,  et  seq.) 

Judge  Marshall  says  :  "  Mr.  Governeur  Morris,  who  was  understood  to  have  rendered 
himself  agreeable  to  the  French  Government,  was  appointed  to  represent  the  United 
States  at  the  Court  of  Versailles."  (Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  239.)  This,  in  our 
judgment,  conveys  an  erroneous  idea.  Did  General  Washington  appoint  a  Minister  to 
France,  odious  to  its  people  and  Legislative  representatives,  because  he  was  understood 
to  have  "  rendered  himself  agreeable  ''  to  the  Court  or  Executive  branch  of  the  Govern 
ment?  As  persons  enough  coul^i  have  been  found  unobjectionable  to  the  latter,  and  at 
the  same  time  unobjectionable  to  the  nation,  is  it  at  all  probable  that  Washington,  at  this 
period,  intended  to  express  the  preference  in  regard  to  the  political  struggles  of  France, 
which  the  motive  assigned  to  him  by  Judge  Marshall,  taken  alone,  would  appear  to 
imply?  Are  there  any/acfs,  beyond  the  one  of  Morris's  appointment,  to  indicate  such 
preferences  or  motives  ?  We  are  unable  to  discover  any  traces  of  them. 

General  Washington  probably  nominated  Mr.  Morris  from  several  considerations 
which  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  particularly  enter  upon.  He  was  pressed  to  nominate 
him  by  Robert  Morris  and  probably  by  other  influential  persons.  We  think  he  had  a 
strong  friendly  personal  regard  for  him.  We  think  he  had  particular  confidence  in 
Morris's  personal  integrity  and  sagacity.  We  have  no  doubt  that  he  believed  his  own 
plain  letter  to  the  latter  would  induce  him  to  adopt  a  course  which  would  cease  to  give 
offence  to  the  liberal  party  in  France.  That  he  was  acceptable  to  the  Executive  govern 
ment  was  doubtless  one,  and  an  entirely  legitimate,  consideration  for  his  appointment; 
but  to  throw  this  into  the  foreground  as  the  reason,  without  naming  any  other  circum 
stances,  would  seem  to  imply  views  which  Washington  did  not  then  entertain  in  respect 
to  the  French  Revolution,  and  a  system  of  action  in  respect  to  the  internal  politics  of 
other  nations  which  Washington  never  practised. 

There  was  quite  abroad  distinction  between  feeling  hostility  to  a  revolution  in  France, 
to  the  conversion  of  a  despotism  into  a  constitutional  monarchy,  or  some  other  liberal 
form  of  government,  and  detesting  the  subsequent  atrocities  of  the.  Revolution.  Long 
after  this,  we  shall  show,  from  his  own  lips,  that  Washington  gave  his  approbation  to  the 
French  Revolution  as  it  was. 

That  Morris  did  not  follow  the  wise  advice  of  the  President — that  he  established  a 
most  unfortunate  precedent  of  ambassadorial  intermeddling,  we  regard  as  undeniable. 
But  Washington  was  not  responsible  for  this.  When  Morris  carried  that  disposition  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  produced  official  complaint,  Washington  recalled  him. 


CHAP    IT.]  WASHINGTON    AND   JEFFERSON.  47 

"  February  the  29<&. — T  did  ?o  ;  and  after  breakfast  we  retired  to  nis  room,  aud 
I  unfolded  my  plan  for  the  post-office,  and  after  such  an  approbation  of  it  as  he 
usually  permitted  himself  on  the  first  presentment  of  any  idea,  and  desiring  me  to 
commit  it  to  writing,  he,  during  that  pause  of  conversation  which  follows  a  business 
closed,  said  in  an  affectionate  tone,  that  he  had  felt  much  concern  at  an  expression 
which  dropped  from  me  yesterday,  and  which  marked  my  intention  of  retiring 
when  he  should.  That  as  to  himself,  many  motives  obliged  him  to  it.  He  had, 
through  the  whole  course  of  the  war,  and  most  particularly  at  the  close  of  it,  uni 
formly  declared  his  resolution  to  retire  from  public  affairs,  and  never  to  act  in  any 
public  office  ;  that  he  had  retired  under  that  firm  resolution  :  that  the  Government, 
however,  which  had  been  formed,  being  found  evidently  too  inefficacious,  and  it 
being  supposed  that  his  aid  was  of  some  consequence  towards  bringing  the  people 
to  consent  to  one  of  sufficient  efficacy  for  their  own  good,  he  consented  to  come 
into  the  Convention,  and  on  the  same  motive,  after  much  pressing,  to  take  a  part  in 
the  new  Government,  and  get  it  under  way.  That  were  he  to  continue  longer,  it 
might  give  room  to  say,  that  having  tasted  the  sweets  of  office,  he  could  not  do 
without  them  :  that  he  really  felt  himself  growing  old,  his  bodily  health  less  firm, 
his  memory,  always  bad,  becoming  worse,  and  perhaps  the  other  faculties  of  his 
mind  showing  a  decay  to  others  of  which  he  was  insensible  himself;  that  this  appre 
hension  particularly  oppressed  him  :  that  he  found,  moreover,  his  activity  lessened, 
business  therefore  more  irksome,  and  tranquillity  and  retirement  become  an  irresis 
tible  passion.  That  however  he  felt  himself  obliged,  for  these  reasons,  to  retire 
from  the  Government,  yet  he  should  consider  it  as  unfortunate,  if  that  should  bring 
on  the  retirement  of  the  great  officers  of  the  Government,  and  that  this  might  pro 
duce  a  shock  on  the  public  mind  of  dangerous  consequence. 

"  I  told  him  that  no  man  had  ever  had  less  desire  of  entering  into  public  offices 
than  myself;  that  the  circumstance  of  a  perilous  war,  which  brought  everything 
into  danger,  and  called  for  all  the  services  which  every  citizen  could  render,  had 
induced  me  to  undertake  the  administration  of  the  government  of  Virginia  ;  that  I 
had  both  before  and  after  refused  repeated  appointments  of  Congress  to  go  abroad 
in  that  sort  of  office,  which,  if  I  had  consulted  my  own  gratification,  would  always 
have  been  the  most  agreeable  to  me  ;  that  at  the  end  of  two  years,  I  resigned  the 
government  of  Virginia,  and  retired  with  a  firm  resolution  never  more  to  appear  in 
public  life  ;  that  a  domestic  loss,  however,  happened,  and  made  me  fancy  that 
absence  and  a  change  of  scene  for  a  time  might  be  expedient  for  me  ;  that  I  there 
fore  accepted  a  foreign  appointment,  limited  to  two  years  ;  that  at  the  close  of  that, 
Doctor  Franklin  having  left  France,  I  was  appointed  to  supply  his  place,  which  I 
had  accepted,  and  though  I  continued  in  it  three  or  four  years,  it  was  under  the 
constant  idea  of  remaining  only  a  year  or  two  longer  ;  that  the  revolution  in  France 
coming  on,  I  had  so  interested  myself  in  the  event  of  that,  that  when  obliged  to 
bring  my  family  home,  I  had  still  an  idea  of  returning  and  awaiting  the  close  of 
that,  to  fix  the  era  of  my  final  retirement ;  that  on  my  arrival  here  I  found  he  had 
appointed  me  to  my  present  office  ;  that  he  knew  I  had  not  come  into  it  without 
some  reluctance  ;  that  it  was,  on  my  part,  a  sacrifice  of  inclination  to  the  opinion 
that  I  might  be  more  serviceable  here  than  in  France,  and  with  a  firm  resolution  in 
mv  mind,  to  indulge  my  constant  wish  for  retirement  at  no  very  distant  day  ;  that 
when,  therefore,  I  had  received  his  letter,  written  from  Mount  Vernon,  on  his  v?ay 
to  Carolina  and  Georgia  (April  the  1st,  1791),-  and  discovered,  from  an  expression 
in  that,  that  he  meant  to  retire  from  the  Government  ere  long,  and  as  to  the  precise 
opoch  there  could  be  no  doubt,  my  mind  was  immediately  made  up,  to  make  that  the 


4.8  PERSONAL   EXPLANATIONS.  [CHAP.  II. 

epoch  of  my  own  retirement  from  those  labors  of  which  I  was  heartily  tired.  That, 
however,  I  did  not  believe  there  was  any  idea  in  any  of  my  brethren  in  the  admin 
istration  of  retiring  ;  that  on  the  contrary,  I  had  perceived  at  a  late  meeting  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  developed  the 
plan  he  intended  to  pursue,  and  that  it  embraced  years  in  its  view. 

''He  said,  that  he  considered  the  Treasurv  department  as  a  much  more  limited 
one,  going  only  to  the  single  object  of  revenue,  while  that  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
embracing  nearly  all  the  objects  of  administration,  was  much  more  important,  and 
the  retirement  of  the  officer,  therefore,  would  be  more  noticed :  that  though  the 
Government  had  set  out  with  a  pretty  general  good  will  of  the  public,  yet  that 
symptoms  of  dissatisfaction  had  lately  shown  themselves  far  beyond  what  he  could 
have  expected,  and  to  what  height  these  might  arise,  in  case  of  too  great  a  change 
in  the  administration,  could  not  be  foreseen. 

u  I  told  him,  that  in  my  opinion,  there  was  only  a  single  source  of  these  discon 
tents.  Though  they  had  indeed  appeared  to  spread  themselves  over  the  War 
department  also,  yet  I  considered  that  as  an  overflowing  only  from  their  real  chan 
nel,  which  would  never  have  taken  place,  if  they  had  not  first  been  generated  in 
another  department,  to  wit,  that  of  the  Treasury.  That  a  system  had  there  been 
contrived,  for  deluging  the  States  with  paper  money  instead  of  gold  and  silver,  for 
withdrawing  our  citizens  from  the  pursuits  of  commerce,  manufactures,  buildings, 
and  other  branches  of  useful  industry,  to  occupy  themselves  and  their  capitals  in  a 
species  of  gambling,  destructive  of  morality,  and  which  had  introduced  its  poison 
into  the  Government  itself.  That  it  was  a  fact,  as  certainly  known  as  that  he  and  I 
were  then  conversing,  that  particular  members  of  the  legislature,  while  those  laws 
were  on  the  carpet,  had  feathered  their  nests  with  paper,  had  then  voted  for  the 
laws,  and  constantly  since  lent  all  the  energy  of  their  talents,  and  instrumentality 
of  their  offices,  to  the  establishment  and  enlargement  of  this  system  ;  that  they  had 
chained  it  about  our  necks  for  a  great  length  of  time,  and  in  order  to  keep  the 
game  in  their  hands,  had,  from  time  to  time,  aided  in  making  such  legislative  con 
structions  of  the  Constitution,  as  made  it  a  very  different  thing  from  what  the  peo 
ple  thought  they  had  submitted  to  ;  that  they  had  now  brought  forward  a  proposi 
tion  far  beyond  every  one  ever  yet  advanced,  and  to  which  the  eyes  of  many  were 
turned,  as  the  decision  which  was  to  let  us  know,  whether  we  live  under  a  limited 
or  an  unlimited  government.  He  asked  me  to  what  proposition  I  alluded  ?  I 
answered,  to  that  in  the  report  on  manufactures,  which,  under  color  of  giving 
bounties  for  the  encouragement  of  particular  manufactures,  meant  to  establish  the 
doctrine,  that  the  power  given  by  the  Constitution  to  collect  taxes  to  provide  for 
the  general  welfare  of  the  United  States,  permitted  Congress  to  take  everything 
under  their  management  which  they  should  deem  for  the  public  welfare,  and  which 
is  susceptible  of  the  application  of  money  ;  consequently,  that  the  subsequent  enu 
meration  of  their  powers  was  not  the  description  to  which  resort  must  be  had,  and 
did  not  at  all  constitute  the  limits  of  their  authority  :  that  this  was  a  very  differen* 
question  from  that  of  the  Bank,  which  was  thought  an  incident  to  an  enumerated 
power :  that,  therefore,  this  decision  was  expected  with  great  anxiety  ;  that, 
indeed,  I  hoped  the  proposition  would  be  rejected,  believing  there  was  a  majority 
in  both  houses  against  it,  and  that  if  it  should  be,  it  would  be  considered  as  a 
proof  that  things  were  returning  into  their  true  channel ;  and  that,  at  any  rate,  I 
looked  forward  to  the  broad  representation  which  would  shortly  take  place,  fcr 
keeping  the  general  Constitution  on  its  true  ground ;  and  that  this  would  remove  a 
great  deal  of  the  discontent  which  had  shown  itself.  The  conversation  ended  with 


CHAP.  Il.J  JEFEEKSOtt's    ATTITUDE    UNDEKSTOOD.  49 

this  last  topic.  It  is  here  stated  nearly  as  much  at  length  as  it  really  was  ;  the 
expressions  preserved  where  I  could  recollect  them,  and  their  substance  always 
faithfully  stated." 

General  Washington  had  intentionally  selected  a  cabinet 
balanced  between  the  earlier  friends  of  popular  and  strong 
government.  He  had  done  so,  hoping  they  would  fuse  in  prin 
ciple  and  act  cordially  together.  He  had  long  since  been  unde 
ceived  by  the  constant  opposition  to  each  other's  views  of 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton  in  the  Cabinet,  and  the  constantly 
widening  breach  between  the  Republicans  and  the  Federalisis 
in  Congress.  We  cannot  suppose  that  the  above  recorded  con 
versation  of  February  29th,  really  gave  the  President  any  new 
insight  into  the  political  views  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  But 
if  we  were  to  adopt  that  hypothesis,  it  cannot  be  urged,  at  least, 
that  thenceforth  he  did  not  fully  understand  them — that  he  did 
not  understand  they  were  permanent  views,  and  parts  of  a  settled 
system,  and  that  they  cardinally  conflicted  at  nearly  every 
point  with  those  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  thence 
forth,  at  least,  understood  further,  that  Jefferson  retained  deep 
and  fixed  objections  to  Hamilton's  principal  fiscal  measures, 
notwithstanding  they  had  received  the  official  sanction  of  the 
President  himself.  He  was  therefore  distinctly  apprised  that 
his  Cabinet  could  no  more  be  brought  to  act  in  partisan  politics 
as  a  unit,  than  it  could  be  brought  to  think  as  a  unit.  This 
is  a  fact  which  justice  to  all  parties  requires  to  be  henceforth 
kept  clearly  in  view. 

A  letter  from  Jefferson  to  Short,  a  few  days  later  (March 
18th),  recurs  to  and  confirms  a  previous  intimation  that  he 
meant  to  retire  at  the  close  of  President  Washington's  first  term. 
After  giving  a  melancholy  picture  of  the  explosion  which  fol 
lowed  the  inordinate  speculations  in  United  States  Bank  scrip — • 
the  rapid  fall  in  the  Government  6  per  cents. — the  decline  of  the 
Bank  stock  from  115  or  120  to  73  or  74  in  the  space  of  two  or  three 
weeks — }ie  gays  :  "  This  nefarious  business  is  becoming  more 
and  more  the  public  detestation,  and  cannot  tail,  when  the 
knowledge  of  it  shall  be  sufficiently  extended,  to  tumble  its 
authors  headlong  from  their  heights."  He  adds  :  *•  There  can 
never  be  a  fear  but  that  the  paper  which  represents  the  public 
debt  will  be  ever  sacredly  good.  The  public  faith  is  bound  for 
this,  and  no  change  of  system  will  ever  be  permitted  to  touch 
VOL.  ir — 4 


50  SPAUTSH    INSTRUCTIONS.  [CHAP.  II. 

this ;  but  no  other  paper  stands  on  ground  equally  sure." 
Deeply  as  Jefferson  disapproved  of  the  manner  of  creating  no 
inconsiderable  portion  of  that  debt,  he  never  had  any  doubts  on 
the  subject  of  preserving  the  public  faith. 

On  the  18th  of  March,  he  delivered  to  the  President  a  report 
on  the  subjects  of  negotiation  between  the  United  States  and 
Spain,  it  being  the  draft  of  the  instructions  he  proposed  to  com 
municate  to  Messrs.  Carmichael  and  Short,  the  commissioners 
to  that  court.  The  subjects  discussed  are  the  Boundary,  the 
Navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Commerce  between  the 
two  nations.  The  contested  boundary  (between  Florida  and 
Georgia)  is  claimed  to  be  the  same  with  that  established  at  the 
Treaty  of  Peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 
The  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi,  through  the  Spanish 
possessions  to  its  mouth,  is  claimed  under  the  Treaty  of  Paris  of 
1763,  the  Treaty  of  1782-3,  and  on  what  the  writer  terms  the 
"  still  broader  and  more  unquestionable  ground,"  of  the  law  of 
nature  and  of  nations.  Under  the  latter  head,  it  is  declared  tc 
be  a  sentiment  "  written  on  rhe  heart  of  man,"  "  savage  or  civi 
lized,1'  that  "  the  ocean  is  free  to  all  men,  and  their  rivers  to  all 
their  inhabitants."  Where  a  river  passes  through  two  States,  it 
is  asserted,  "  if  the  right  of  the  upper  inhabitants  to  descend  the 
stream  is  in  any  case  obstructed,  it  is  an  act  of  force  by  a 
stronger  society  against  a  weaker,  condemned  by  the  judgment 
of  mankind."  The  principle  is  then  enounced  more  fully  than 
on  a  former  occasion,  "  that  the  right  to  a  thing  gives  a  right 
to  the  means  without  which  it  cannot  be  used."  By  a  guarded 
and  gradual  train  of  argument,  it  is  claimed  that,  owing  to 
"  very  peculiar  circumstances  attending  the  river  Mississippi," 
*he  preceding  right  involves  another  of  an  entrepot  near  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 
That  "  long  narrow  strip  of  land  called  the  Island  of  New 
Orleans,"  is  not  now  asked  for,  but  such  a  spot  "  below  the  town 
of  New  Orleans  "  as  American  Commissioners,  sent  for  the  pur 
pose,  should  select,  If  that  should  be  refused,  it  is  proposed 
that  the  Commissioners  press  the  naming  of  the  spot  in  the 
treaty,  and  Detour  aux  Anglais,  or  English  Turn,  is  suggested 
as  the  most  eligible  one.  The  objection  that  Spain  might  raise, 
that  her  treaties  with  other  nations,  where  she  granted  them  the 
cnnvmurcial  footing  of  :he  most  favored  nation,  would  require 


CHAP.  II.]  THE   APPORTIONMENT   BILL.  51 

her  to  grant  them  also  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  is  met 
by  the  proposition  that  "  Spain  does  not  grant  us  the  navigation 
of  the  river — we  have  an  inherent  right  to  it."  For  the  basis 
of  a  commercial  treaty,  an  exchange  of  the  privileges  of  native 
citizens,  and  of  the  most  favored  nation,  is  proposed.  The  above 
rather  comprise  a  few  important  points,  selected  from  a  long 
paper,  than  a  synopsis  of  its  contents.  It  was  drawn  up  with 
profound  research  and  ability,  couched  in  concise  and  perspica 
cious  phraseology,  and  carried  out  fully  those  diplomatic  prin 
ciples  and  positions,  officially  originating  with  Mr.  Jefferson, 
which  controlled  our  negotiations  with  Spain  until,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  same  statesman,  the  whole  Mississippi  question 
found  a  still  happier  solution. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  Mr.  Jefferson  gave  a  Cabinet  opinion, 
advising  the  President  to  veto  the  Apportionment  Bill  as  finally, 
after  a  long  and  angry  contest,' passed  by  Congress.  The  num 
ber  of  Representatives  in  Congress  was  restricted  by  the  Con 
stitution  to  one  for  every  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  The  bill 
adopted  that  ratio,  but  instead  of  applying  it  to  the  population 
of  each  State  separately,  applied  it  to  the  aggregate  population 
of  the  United  States,  or,  in  other  words,  divided  the  whole  popu 
lation  by  thirty  thousand,  and  apportioned  the  number  of  mem 
bers  corresponding  with  the  quotient  (one  hundred  and  twenty) 
among  the  States  according  to  their  relative  population.  This 
Mr.  Jefferson  claimed  was  contrary  to  'the  true  intent  of  the 
Constitution,  and  that  it  led  to  greater  inequalities  in  represen 
tation  than  was  at  all  necessary.  His  argument  is  able,  and 
fortified  by  forcible  illustrations.  One  of  his  reasons  for  advis 
ing  a  resort,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  government, 
to  an  Executive  veto,  is  peculiar  : 

"  The  non-user  of  his  negative  begins  already  to  excite  a  belief  that  no  Presi 
dent  will  ever  venture  to  use  it ;  and  has,  consequently,  begotten  a  desire  to  raise 
up  barriers  in  the  State  legislatures  against  Congress,  throwing  off  the  control  of 
the  Constitution." 

Randolph's  opinion  coincided  with  Jefferson's  ;  Hamilton 
and  Knox  had  some  doubts,  but  on  the  whole  advised  the 
President  to  sign  the  bill.  The  President  finally  concurred 
with  the  former,  but  an  entry  in  the  Ana  shows  with  what 
reluctance  he  did  so  : 


52  CABINET     OPINIONS.  [CHAP.  TT. 

"  April  6th. — The  President  called  on  me  before  breakfast,  and  first  introduced 
some  other  matter,  then  fell  on  the  Representation  Bill,  which  he  had  now  in  his 
possession  for  the  tenth  day.  I  had  before  given  him  my  opinion  in  writing,  that 
the  method  of  apportionment  was  contrary  to  the  Constitution.  He  agreed  that  it 
was  contrary  to  the  common  understanding  of  that  instrument,  and  to  what  was 
understood  at  the  time  by  the  makers  of  it :  that  yet  it  would  bear  the  construction 
which  the  bill  put,  and  he  observed  that  the  vote  for  and  against  the  bill  was  per 
fectly  geographical,  a  northern  against  a  southern  vote,  and  he  feared  he  should  be 
thought  to  be  taking  side  with  a  southern  party.  I  admitted  the  motive  of  deli 
cacy,  but  that  it  should  not  induce  him  to  do  wrong :  urged  the  dangers  to  which 
the  scramble  for  the  fractionary  members  would  always  lead.  He  here  expressed 
his  fear  that  there  would,  ere  long,  be  a  separation  of  the  Union  ;  that  the  public 
mind  seemed  dissatisfied  and  tending  to  this.  He  went  home,  sent  for  Randolph, 
the  Attorney-General,  desired  him  to  get  Mr.  Madison  immediately  and  come  to  me, 
and  if  we  three  concurred  in  opinion  that  he  should  negative  the  bill,  he  desired  to 
hear  nothing  more  about  it,  but  that  we  would  draw  the  instrument  for  him  to 
sign.  They  came.  Our  minds  had  been  before  made  up.  We  drew  the  instrument. 
Randolph  carried  it  to  him,  and  told  him  we  all  concurred  in  it.  He  walked  with 
him  to  the  door,  and  as  if  he  still  wished  to  get  off,  he  said,  l  And  you  say  you 
approve  of  this  yourself.'  'Yes,  sir,'  says  Randolph,  'I  do,  upon  my  honor.1  He 
sent  it  to  the  House  of  Representatives  instantly.  A  few  of  the  hottest  friends  of 
the  bill  expressed  passion,  but  the  majority  were  satisfied,  and  both  in  and  out  of 
doors  it  gave  pleasure  to  have,  at  length,  an  instance  of  the  negative  being  exer« 
cised. 

"  Written  this  the  9th  of  April." 

On  the  question  of  passing  the  bill  in  the  House,  notwith 
standing  the  President's  objections,  twenty-eight  voted  in  the 
affirmative,  and  thirty-three  in  the  negative.  Another  bill, 
raising  the  ratio  of  representation  to  thirty-three  thousand,  and 
apportioning  to  each  State  its  number  of  representatives,  with 
out  regard  to  fractions,  was  introduced,  and  soon  passed  both 
houses. 

The  above  extract  from  the  Ana  discloses  a  very  noticeable 
circumstance  in  the  President's  calling  in  Mr.  Madison  as  an 
adviser  so  confidential  that  he  practically  took  the  President's 
place,  on  this  occasion,  in  giving  the  casting  vote  in  the  Cabinet. 
It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  Mr.  Madison  was  now  the  open 
and  avowed  leader  of  the  Republican  party  in  Congress — of 
that  ''opposition"  which  was  so  vehemently  and  incessantly 
attacking  the  "Treasury  measures"  of  Hamilton  which  had 
received  the  President's  signature.  It  will  hereafter  appear 
that  these  same  confidential  relations  continued  to  exist  between 
them  for  a  long  period  to  come — at  least  as  long  as  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  remained  in  the  Cabinet. 


CFTAf    II.]  EXTRADITION   TREATY   WITH    SPAIN.  53 

On  the  24th  of  April,  the  Secretary  of  State  forwarded  to 
Messrs.  Carraichael  and  Short,  to  be  submitted  to  the  Spanish 
Court,  the  project  of  a  convention  for  the  mutual  rendition  of 
fugitives  from  justice,  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Spanish  territories  bordering  on  them.  The  plan  had  been  first 
drafted  by  the  Secretary,  and  received  the  approval  of  the  Pre 
sident.  It  provided  for  the  giving  up  of  persons  who  had  com 
mitted  willful  murder,  not  of  the  nature  of  treason  ;  for  the 
recovery  of  debt  from  fugitives,  in  the  courts  of  justice  estab 
lished  in  the  States  or  provinces  where  the  fugitive  was  found  ; 
for  the  recovery,  in  like  manner,  from  the  fugitive  or  his  repre 
sentatives,  of  property  or  its  value,  carried  away,  or  of  damages 
sustained  by  forgery.  But  in  no  case  was  the  person  of  the 
defendant  to  be  imprisoned  for  debt.  The  draft  was  accom 
panied  by  a  paper  assigning  heads  of  reasons  both  for  its  pro 
visions  and  seeming  omissions.  The  exile  necessarily  incurred 
by  a  fugitive  was  regarded  as  a  sufficient  punishment  for  most 
offences.  A  single  extract  is  given  to  exhibit  the  spirit  of  the 
paper : 

"  Treason.  This,  when  real,  merits  the  highest  punishment.  But  most  codea 
extend  their  definitions  of  treason  to  acts  not  really  against  one's  country.  T he\ 
do  not  distinguish  between  acts  against  the  government  and  acts  against  the  oppres 
sions  of  the  government ;  the  latter  are  virtues  ;  yet  they  have  furnished  more  vic 
tims  to  the  executioner  than  the  former ;  because  real  treasons  are  rare  :  oppres 
sions  frequent.  The  unsuccessful  strugglers  against  tyranny,  have  been  the  chief 
martyrs  of  treason  laws  in  all  countries. 

'•  Reformation  of  government  with  our  neighbors,  being  as  much  wanted  now 
as  reformation  of  religion  is,  or  ever  was  anywhere,  we  should  not  wish,  then,  to 
give  up  to  the  executioner,  the  patriot  who  fails,  and  flees  to  us.  Treasons,  then, 
taking  the  simulated  with  the  real,  are  sufficiently  punished  by  exile." 

On  the  28th  of  April,  the  Secretary  of  State  forwarded  to 
Mr.  Morris  instructions  on  the  subject  of  the  obnoxious  laws 
respecting  American  commerce,  passed  by  the  National  Assem 
bly  of  France,  couched  in  terms  no  less  firm  than  those  pre 
viously  used  to  Mr.  Short.  He  informed  the  Minister  that  the 
present  session  of  Congress  would  pass  over  the  subject  without 
exhibiting  any  but  friendly  preferences ;  "  but  if  these  should 
not  produce  a  retaliation  of  good  on  their  part,  a  retaliation  of 
evil  must  follow  on  ours  " — "  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  defer 
longer  than  the  next  session  of  Congress,  some  counter  regula- 
nons  for  the  protection  of  our  navigation  and  commerce." 


5-1  JEFFERSON    AND    BRITISH    MINISTER.  [CHAP.  II 

The  prompt  tone  adopted  by  the  Cabinet  towards  France, 
naturally,  by  the  striking  contrast  it  exhibits,  recalls  our  atten 
tion  to  the  state  of  negotiations  with  England.  As  has. been 
seen,  a  minister  arrived  from  the  latter  country  in  the  autumn 
of  1791.  He  made  his  first  call  on  the  Secretary  of  State,  in 
October.  The  latter  being  out  at  the  time,  immediately  dis 
patched  a  most  courteous  note  to  Mr.  Hammond,  expressing  his 
regret  at  not  meeting  him,  and  his  readiness  to  receive  any  for 
mal  or  informal  communication  from  him.  He  mentioned  that 
he  recollected  with  pleasure  his  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Ham 
mond  in  Paris,  and  that  he  should  "  be  happy  in  every  oppor 
tunity  of  rendering  him  such  offices  and  attentions  as  may  be 
acceptable  to  him."  Some  incidental  business  was  dispatched 
between  the  British  Minister  and  our  Government,  e\^rything 
being  conducted  ostensibly  in  the  same  tone  of  courtesy  on  both 
sides.  Mr.  Hammond  having  signified  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
that  he  was  authorized  to  communicate  his  Britannic  Majesty's 
readiness  "  to  enter  into  a  negotiation  for  establishing  inter 
course  upon  principles  of  reciprocal  benefit,"  the  latter  asked  if 
his  powers  extended  to  the  arrangement  of  a  treaty.  The  Min 
ister  replied  that  he  was  authorized  to  negotiate,  but  not  con 
clude  a  treaty.  On  receiving  a  communication  of  his  powers 
(December  15th),  Mr.  Jefferson  delivered  to  Mr.  Hammond  a 
paper  containing  a  specification  of  the  breaches  of  the  treaty  of 
peace  by  Great  Britain,  complained  of  by  the  United  States. 
About  a  week  afterwards,  Mr  Hammond  apologized  for  delay 
ing  his  answer.  He  then  paid  no  further  attention  to  the 
subject  until,  by  the  direction  of  the  President,  he  was 
"jogged  "  in  regard  to  it  by  the  Secretary  of  State  on  the 
Slet'of  February,  1792. 

The  warm  and  active  sympathy  for  England,  imputed  by 
the  Republicans  to  the  Federal  leaders,  and  Jefferson's  suspicion 
that  Hamilton  manifested  that  sympathy  by  directly  communi 
cating  with  its  Minister,  find  an  expression  in  the  following 
extracts  from  the  Ana : 

"  1791. — Towards  the  latter  end  of  November,  Hamilton  had  drawn  Ternant2  into 
a  conversation  on  the  subject  of  the  Treaty  of  Commerce  recommended  by  the 
National  Assembly  of  France  to  be  negotiated  with  us,  and,  as  he  had  no  ready 

1  This  note  will  be  found  in  Jefferson's  Correspondence,  dated  October  2',. 
*  The  French  Minister. 


CHAP.  IT.]         HAMILTON'S  SUPPOSED  INTERFERENCES.  55 

instructions  on  the  subject,  he  led  him  into  a  proposal  that  Ternant  should  take  the 
thing  up  as  a  volunteer  with  me,  that  we  should  arrange  conditions,  and  let  them 
go  for  confirmation  or  refusal.  Hamilton  communicated  this  to  the  President,  who 
came  into  it,  and  proposed  it  to  me.  1  disapproved  of  it,  observing,  that  such  a 
volunteer  project  would  be  binding  on  us,  and  not  them  ;  that  it  would  enable  them 
to  find  out  how  far  we  would  go,  and  avail  themselves  of  it.  However,  the  Presi 
dent  thought  it  worth  trying,  and  I  acquiesced.  I  prepared  a  plan  of  treaty  for 
exchanging  the  privileges  of  native  subjects,  and  fixing  all  duties  forever  as  they 
now  stood.  Hamilton  did  not  like  this  way  of  fixing  the  duties,  because,  he  said, 
many  articles  here  would  bear  to  be  raised,  and  therefore,  he  would  prepare  a  tariff. 
He  did  so,  raising  duties  for  the  French,  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  per  cent.  So  they 
were  to  give  us  the  privileges  of  native  subjects,  and  we,  as  a  compensation,  were 
to  make  them  pay  higher  duties.  Hamilton,  having  made  his  arrangements  with 
Hammond  to  pretend  that  though  he  had  no  powers  to  conclude  a  Treaty  of  Com 
merce,  yet  his  general  commission  authorized  him  to  enter  into  the  discussion  of 
one,  then  proposed  to  the  President,  at  one  of  our  meetings,  that  the  business 
should  be  taken  up  with  Hammond  in  the  same  informal  way.  I  now  discovered  the 
trap  which  he  had  laid,  by  first  getting  the  President  into  that  step  with  Ternant. 
I  opposed  the  thing  warmly.  Hamilton  observed,  if  we  did  it  with  Ternant  we 
should  also  with  Hammond.  The  President  thought  this  reasonable.  I  desired  him 
to  recollect,  I  had  been  against  it  with  Ternant,  and  only  acquiesced  under  his  opi 
nion.  So  the  matter  went  off  as  to  both.  His  scheme  evidently  was,  to  get  us 
engaged  first  with  Ternant,  merely  that  he  might  have  a  pretext  to  engage  us  on 
the  same  ground  with  Hammond,  taking  care,  at  the  same  time,  by  an  extravagant 
tariff,  to  render  it  impossible  we  should  come  to  any  conclusion  with  Ternant :  pro 
bably  meaning,  at  the  same  time,  to  propose  terms  so  favorable  to  Great  Britain, 
as  would  attach  us  to  that  country  by  treaty.  On  one  of  those  occasions  he 
asserted,  that  our  commerce  with  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  was  put  on  a  much 
more  favorable  footing  than  with  France  and  her  colonies.  I  therefore  prepared 
the  tabular  comparative  view  of  the  footing  of  our  commerce  with  those  nations, 
which  see  among  my  papers.1  See  also  my  project  of  a  treaty  and  Hamilton's 
tariff. 

"  Committed  to  writing  March  the  llth,  1792." 

"  It  was  observable,  that  whenever,  at  any  of  our  consultations,  any  thing  was 
proposed  as  to  Great  Britain,  Hamilton  had  constantly  ready  something  which  Mr. 
Hammond  had  communicated  to  him,  which  suited  the  subject  and  proved  the  inti 
macy  of  their  communications  ;  insomuch,  that  I  believe  he  communicated  to  Ham 
mond  ail  our  views,  and  knew  from  him,  in  return,  the  views  of  the  British  Court. 
Many  evidences  of  this  occurred  ;  I  will  state  some.  I  delivered  to  the  President 
my  report  of  instructions  for  Carmichael  and  Short,  on  the  subject  of  navigation, 
boundary,  and  commerce,  and  desired  him  to  submit  it  to  Hamilton.  Hamilton 
made  several  just  criticisms  on  different  parts  of  it.  But  where  I  asserted  that  the 
United  States  had  no  right  to  alienate  an  inch  of  the  territory  of  any  State,  he 
attacked  and  denied  the  doctrine.  See  my  report,  his  note,  aud  my  answer.  A 
few  days  after  came  to  hand  Kirkland's  letter,  informing  us  that  the  British,  at  Nia 
gara,  exoected  to  run  a  new  line  between  themselves  and  us ;  and  the  reports  of 
Pond  and  Stedman,  informing  us  it  was  understood  at  Niagara,  that  Captain  Steven- 

1  See  ante,  p.  '24. 


5f>  HAMMOND    ALLEGES   TREATY    VIOLATIONS.  [CHAP.  TT. 

son  nad  been  sent  here  by  Simcoe  to  settle  that  plan  with  Hammond.  Hence 
Hamilton's  attack  of  the  principle  I  had  laid  down,  in  order  to  prepare  the  way  for 
this  new  line.  See  minute  of  March  the  9th.  Another  proof.  At  one  of  our  con 
sultations,  about  the  last  of  December,  I  mentioned  that  1  wished  to  give  in  my 
report  on  commerce,  in  which  I  could  not  avoid  recommending  a  commercial  reta 
liation  against  Great  Britain.  Hamilton  opposed  it  violently  :  and  among  other 
arguments,  observed,  that  it  was  of  more  importance  to  us  to  have  the  posts  than 
to  commence  a  commercial  war ;  that  this,  and  this  alone,  would  free  us  from  the 
expense  of  the  Indian  wars;  that  it  would  therefore  be  the  height  of  imprudence 
in  us,  while  treating  for  the  surrender  of  the  posts,  to  engage  in  anything  which 
would  irritate  them  ;  that  if  we  did  so,  they  would  naturally  say,  '  these  people 
mean  war,  let  us  therefore  hold  what  we  have  in  our  hands.'  This  argument  struck 
me  forcibly,  and  I  said,  '  if  there  is  a  hope  of  obtaining  the  posih,  I  agree  it  would 
be  imprudent  to  risk  that  hope  by  a  commercial  retaliation.  I  will,  therefore,  wait 
till  Mr.  Hammond  gives  me  in  his  assignment  of  breaches,  and  if  that  gives  a  glim 
mering  of  hope  that  they  mean  to  surrender  the  posts,  I  will  not  give  in  my  report 
till  the  next  session.'  Now,  Hammond  had  received  my  assignment  of  breaches  on 
the  15th  of  December,  and  about  the  22d  or  23d  had  made  me  an  apology  for  not 
having  been  able  to  send  me  his  counter-assignment  of  breaches  ;  but  in  terms 
which  showed  I  might  expect  it  in  a  few  days.  From  the  moment  it  escaped  my 
lips  in  the  presence  of  Hamilton,  that  I  would  not  give  in  my  report  till  I  should 
see  Hammond's  counter-complaint,  and  judge  if  there  was  a  hope  of  the  posts, 
Hammond  never  said  a  word  to  me  on  any  occasion,  as  to  the  time  he  should  be 
ready.  At  length,  the  President  got  out  of  patience,  and  insisted  I  should  jog  him. 
This  I  did  on  the  21st  of  February,  at  the  President's  assembly  :  he  immediately 
promised  I  should  have  it  in  a  few  days,  and  accordingly,  on  the  5th  of  March  I 
received  it. 

u  Written  March  the  llth,  1792." 

The  answer,  delivered  by  the  British  Minister  on  the  5th  of 
March,  specified  many  alleged  infractions  of  the  treaty  by  the 
United  States — that  the  States  had  not  repealed  their  confisca 
tion  laws;  that  new  confiscation  laws  had  been,  in  some 
instances,  passed  ;  that  British  creditors  had  been  prevented 
from  collecting  their  debts,  by  State  laws  which  in  some  cases 
made  property,  in  others  paper  money,  at  its  nominal  value,  a 
legal  tender  in  the  discharge  of  such  debts;  that  State  courts 
had,  by  their  decisions,  reduced  the  amount  of  the  debts  in 
violation  of  the  original  contracts;  that  other  State  courts  had 
refused  to  take  cognizance  of  suits  brought  to  recover  these 
debts,  etc.  Hammond  cited  instances  to  prove  these  several 
allegations. 

Jefferson's  answer  was  delayed  for  a  considerable  period,  as 
it  required  no  little  time  and  trouble  to  collect  and  examine  the 
different  State  laws  and  legal  decisions  referred  to — and  then 
tl»<;  paper,  it  is  presumed  by  the  President's  wish,  was  in  turn 


OHAP.  n.]  JEFFEESON'S  CELEBEATED  EEPLY.  57 

submitted  to  Mr.  Madison,1  the  Attorney-General,  and  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury.  It  was  finally  delivered  on  the  29th  of 
May,  and  was  so  long  that  it  occupies  no  less  than  sixty-four 
octavo  pages  in  print.9  It  is  quite  too  long  to  admit  of  the  in 
sertion  here  of  even  an  abstract  of  its  contents.  The  gist  of  the 
reply  to  all  allegations  of  an  infraction  of  the  treaty  by  the  acts 
of  the  State  jurisdictions,  was  that  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  had  not  power  to  control  the  State  tribunals,  nor  had  it 
stipulated  to  do  so  in  the  treaty.  It  had  only  agreed  to  recom 
mend  a  particular  line  of  action ;  and  this  it  had  performed 
fully  and  in  good  faith.  The  Secretary  showed  that  the  nego 
tiators  of  the  treaty,  on  the  British  side,  as  well  as  the  British 
Ministry  and  Parliament,  fully  understood  beforehand  the  pre 
cise  force  of  a  Congressional  "  recommendation  "  in  the  premises 
— that  it  "  was  a  matter  not  of  obligation  or  coercion,  but  of  per 
suasion  and  influence  merely." 

Buthe  declared  that  only  one  State  had  refused  to  comply 
with  the  Congressional  recommendation  altogether;  that  all  the 
others  had  done  so  to  "  a  greater  or  less  degree,  according  to  the 
circumstances  and  dispositions  in  which  the  events  of  the  war 
had  left  them."  In  answer  to  the  assertion  that  Great  Britain 
had  paid  the  American  Royalists,  "  no  less  a  sum  than  four  mil 
lions  sterling  as  a  partial  compensation  for  the  losses  they  sus 
tained,"  he  declared  that  the  British  negotiators  of  the  treaty 
"understood  perfectly  that  no  indemnification  is  claimable  from 
us;  that,  on  the  contrary,  we  had  a  counter  claim  of  indemnifi 
cation  to  a  much  larger  amount."  And  he  added  :  "  We  have 
borne  our  losses.  We  have  even  lessened  yours  by  numerous 
restitutions,  where  circumstances  admitted  them;  and  we  have 
much  the  worst  of  the  bargain  by  the  alternative  you  choose  to 
accept,  of  indemnifying  your  own  sufferers,  rather  than  ours." 
On  the  article  of  debts,  he  showed  that  the  British  co;nmanders, 
in  withdrawing  from  America,  carried  away  a  large  number  of 
negroes,  in  known  violation  of  the  seventh  article  of  the  Treaty, 
"on  the  fulfillment  of  which  depended  the  means  of  paying 

i  In  a  letter  to  the  President,  May  16th,  Mr.  Jefferson  says,  without  any  other  remark 
or  explanation : 

"  Mr.  Madison  has  favored  me  with  some  corrections  for  my  letter  to  Mr.  H.  It  is 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  Attorney-General,  and  shall  then  be  submitted  to  Colonel  Hamil 
ton.  I  tind  that  these  examinations  will  retard  the  delivery  of  it  considerably.  How 
ever,  delay  is  preferable  to  error." 

*  It  is  published  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  Correspondence,  in  both  editions  of  his  Works. 


58  JEFFERSON'S  KEPLY  TO  HAMMOND.  [CHAP.  n. 

debts  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  laborers  withdrawn."  He 
claimed  that  the  violation  of  the  treaty  stipulation  to  surrender 
the  American  forts  "  with  all  convenient  speed,"  had  been  so 
entirely  disregarded,  that  towards  the  close  of  178±  the  Govern 
ment  had  received  official  information  that  no  orders  had  yet 
been  issued  for  their  evacuation,  from  whence  it  was  inferred 
that  no  such  orders  ]iad  ever  been  given  or  intended.1  He  said 
that  this  had  cut  us  off  from  our  fur  trade ;  and  had  secluded  us 
from  friendly  intercourse  with  the  northwestern  Indians,  where 
by  we  had  been  involved  in  bloody  and  expensive  wars.  The 
treaty,  he  asserted,  had  therefore  been  first  violated  in  points  so 
essential  by  Great  Britain,  that  the  United  States  Government 
had  its  "  election  to  declare  it  dissolved  in  all  its  articles,  or  to 
compensate  itself  by  withholding  execution  of  equivalent  ar 
ticles."  He  averred  that  the  laws  passed  by  the  States  imped 
ing  the  collection  of  British  debts,  were  actually  passed  in  reta 
liation  for  prior  and  continuous  British  infractions  ;  and  that 
even  waiving  this  justification,  the  legislation  specially  com 
plained  of  by  Mr.  Hammond  (delay  of  judgment,  delivery  of  the 
body  from  execution  on  the  delivery  of  property,  and  admitting 
executions  to  be  discharged  in  paper  money),  admitted  of  an 
apology  under  the  peculiar  and  difficult  circumstances  in  which 
the  country  was  placed.  The  State  judicatures  were  vindicated 
from  the  charges  of  Mr.  Hammond  in  tones  of  manly  firmness. 
To  the  comparison  instituted  by  the  latter  between  the  "impartial 
distribution  of  justice"  by  British  tribunals  towards  Americans, 
and  the  conduct  of  the  American  courts  towards  British  sub 
jects,  Mr.  Jefferson  cited  British  decisions  wearing  a  very  differ 
ent  aspect  from  the  impartial  one  claimed,  and  he  added : 
"  These  cases  appear  strong  to  us.  If  your  judges  have  done 
wrong  in  them,  we  expect  redress.  If  right,  we  expect  expla 
nations." 

Mr.  Hammond  made  no  reply  to  this  communication  during 
Mr.  Jefferson's  continuance  in   office."     When   the  paper  was 

1  The  forts   so   long    retained,  were"*Michillimackinac,   Detroit,  Niagara,   Oswego 
Oswegatchie,  Point-au-Fer,  Dutchman's  Point,  and,  we  believe,  some  others. 

2  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  mentions  Mr.  Hammond's  reception  of  this  paper  in  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Madison,  dated  June  4th : 

"  Mr.  Hammond  has  given  me  an  answer  in  writing,  saying,  he  must  send  my  letter 
to  his  court  and  wait  their  instructions.  On  this  I  desired  a  personal  interview,  that  we 
might  consider  the  matter  together  in  a  familiar  way.  He  came  accordingly,  yesterday, 
and  took  a  solo  dinner  with  me,  during  which  our  conversation  was  full,  unreserved,  and 
of  a  nature  to  inspire  mutual  confidence.  The  result  was  that  he  acknowledged  explicitly 


IJHAP.  H.]  filS    FEELINGS    TOWARDS    ENGLAND.  59 

spread  before  the  American  people,  it  was  bailed  by  the  great 
body  of  them  of  all  parties,  as  a  masterly  and  triumphant  vin 
dication  of  our  country.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  diplo 
matic  archives  of  the  Republic  now  contain  no  abler  State  paper. 
Mr.  Jefferson  has  been  accused  of  HIP  alenting  hostility  to 
England,  and  of  correspondingly  strong  prejudices  in  favor  of 
France.  That  he  entertained  no  especial  love  for  that  haughty 
power  which  had  inflicted  such  an  immensity  of  woes  on  his 
country,  and  which  hud  never  done  it  an  act  of  real  kindness 
unless  in  driving  exiles  to  it  by  oppression  and  intolerance,  is 
unquestionably  true.  That  he  felt  an  active  gratitude  for  the 
benefits  France  had  conferred  on  the  United  States,  that  he 
liked  the  character  of  its  people,  that  he  warmly  sympathized 
with  efforts  to  establish  liberal  government  in  that  and  all 
other  lands,  is  equally  true.  But  as  a  statesman — as  his  coun 
try's  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs — where  have  we  seen  him 
attempt  to  carry  an  iota  of  these  personal  feelings  into  diplo 
matic  transactions  ?  His  instructions  to  Mr.  Pinckney,  our 
Minister  to  Great  Britain,  issued  a  few  weeks  after1  his  letter  to 
Mr.  Hammond,  should  be  read  in  this  connection.  The  follow 
ing  is  a  paragraph  from  them  : 

"  To  you,  sir,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  undertake  a  general  delineation  of  the 
duties  of  the  office  to  which  you  are  appointed.  I  shall  therefore  only  express  a 
desire  that  they  be  constantly  exercised  in  that  spirit  of  sincere  friendship  which 
we  bear  to  the  English  nation,  and  that  in  all  transactions  with  the  minister,  his 
good  dispositions  be  conciliated  by  whatever  in  language  or  attentions  may  tend  to 
that  effect.  With  respect  to  their  government,  or  policy,  as  concerning  themselves 
or  other  nations,  we  wish  not  to  intermeddle  in  word  or  deed,  and  that  it  be  not 
understood  that  our  Government  permits  itself  to  entertain  either  a  will  or  opiniou 
on  the  subject." 

that  his  country  had  hitherto  heard  one  side  of  the  question  only,  and  that  from  preju 
diced  persons  ;  that  it  was  now  for  the  first  time  discussed,  that  it  was  placed  on  entirely 
new  ground,  his  court  having  no  idea  of  a  charge  of  first  infractions  on  them,  and  a  justi 
fication  on  that  ground  of  what  had  been  done  by  our  States ;  that  this  made  it  quite  a  new 
case,  to  which  no  instructions  he  had  could  apply.  He  found,  from  my  expressions,  that 
1  had  entertained  an  idea  of  his  being  able  to  give  an  order  to  the  Governor  of  Canada  to 
deliver  up  the  posts,  and  smiled  at  the  idea ;  and  it  was  evident  fro"m  his  conversation 
that  it  had  not  at  all  entered  into  the  expectations  of  his  court  that  they  were  to  deliver 
up  the  posts.  He  did  not  say  so  expressly,  but  he  said  that  tiey  considered  the  retain 
ing  of  the  posts  as  a  very  imperfect  compensation  for  the  losses  their  subjects  had  sus 
tained  :  under  the  cover  of  the  clause  of  the  treaty  which  admits  them  to  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  evident  mistake  of  the  negotiators  in  supposing  that  a  line  due 
west  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  would  strike  the  Mississippi,  he  supposed  an  explanatory 
convention  necessary,  and  showed  a  desire  that  such  a  slice  of  our  northwestern  territory 
might  be  cut  off  for  them  as  would  admit  them  to  the  navigation  and  profit  of  the 
Mississippi,  etc.  etc  He  expects  lie  can  have  his  final  instructions  by  the  meeting  of 
Congress. " 
1  Julv  llth. 


BO  PRESIDENT'S  ENTIRE  CONCURRENCE.  [CHAP.  n. 

This  corresponds,  in  spirit,  with  every  word  ever  written  by 
him  to  Mr.  Hammond. 

It  might  be  claimed  that  as  a  Cabinet  officer  he  really  could' 
have  little  independent  volition  in  the  matter,  that  his  official 
communications  to  ministers  did  not  represent  his  individual 
views,  but  the  views  of  the  Cabinet  or  of  the  President.  This 
is  undoubtedly  true  to  a  certain  extent.  But,  in  the  first  place, 
most  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  foreign  dispatches  were  drafted  prior 
to  any  consultation  in  regard  to  their  contents  ;  and  we  have 
scarcely  yet  met  with  an  instance  where  they  were  altered  in 
detail,  and  never  in  their  general  tenor,  on  subsequent  consulta 
tion.  How  far  this  remark  will  apply  to  his  future  dispatches, 
the  reader  is  invited  to  keep  in  view. 

But  were  the  facts  otherwise  from  what  they  will  appear, 
had  he  represented  a  minority  in  the  Cabinet  on  questions  of 
foreign  policy  as  he  did  on  those  of  finance,  and  had  the  Presi 
dent  himself  leaned  towards  opposite  views,  still,  who  that 
knows  General  Washington's  habitual  inclination  to  conform  to 
the  earnest  wishes  of  each  head  of  department  on  the  questions 
of  his  own  department,  can  doubt-  that  by  an  exhibition  of  per 
tinacity  and  feeling,  Jefferson  could  have  often  carried  some 
color  of  his  partial  views  as  between  France  and  England  into 
his  dispatches,  if  he  really  had  any  disposition  to  do  so?  He 
was  a  skillful  writer.  Washington  had  little  taste  for  controlling 
down  to  the  details  of  verbal  criticism.  Many  of  the  dispatches 
were  seen  by  no  eyes  but  his  and  Jefferson's.  And  where  they 
came  before  the  Cabinet,  minute  verbal  criticisms  would  not  be 
tolerated  a  great  way,  certainly  not  constantly,  in  the  case  of  an 
officer  whom  the  President  desired  to  retain  in  his  Cabinet. 
But,  in  truth,  the  President  did  not  lean  towards  opposite  views 
of  foreign  policy  from  those  entertained  by  the  Secretary  of 
State.  Circumstances  occurred  in  regard  to  wrhich  they  did  not 
think  alike ;  but  no  fact  will  appear  more  certain  than  that 
during  Jefferson's  entire  stay  in  the  Cabinet,  he,  in  a  great  ma 
jority  of  instances — almost  uniformly — carried  the  President's 
concurrence  with  his  proposed  official  acts  and  papers;  and  it 
will  appear  equally  certain  that  he  carried  far  more  of  the  Presi 
dent's  confidence  in  his  knowledge  and  judgment  generally,  in 
regard  to  the  foreign  relations  of  the  country,  than  any  othei 
officer  in  that  Cabinet 


CHAP.  II.]  JEFFERSON   DETERMINED   TO    RETIRE.  61 

We  think  a  fair  comparison  between  Jefferson's  French  and 
English  dispatches  will  show  that  the  former  were  often  more 
bluntly,  arid  where  the  occasion  equally  demanded,  more  menac 
ingly  written  than  the  latter.  We  attribute  this,  however,  only 
to  the  fact  that  the  well  known  friendly  feelings  of  France  to 
wards  the  United  States  required  less  ceremony,  less  circumlo 
cution,  in  saying  what  was  wished  or  meant  by  us,  than  did  the 
unslacking  hostility  and  irritable  arrogance  of  England. 

We  have  passed  over  some  topics  of  Cabinet  discussions 
where  the  characteristic  differences  between  the  Federal  and 
Republican  members  exhibited  themselves.  Those  differences 
were  constantly  increasing  and  becoming  systematic  instead  of 
incidental.  It  could  not  be  otherwise  when,  as  the  views  of 
each  side  were  ripened  by  circumstances  and  reflection,  they 
came  to  embrace  essentially  different  theories  of  the  real  charac 
ter  of  the  United  States  Constitution  and  Government. 

Jefferson,  tired  of  his  long  continuance  in  office,  and  natu 
rally  disinclined  to  a  position  calling  for  constant  personal 
collision  and  contest,  had  determined  to  retire  at  the  end  of  the 
President's  first  term  ;  but  he  foresaw  very  dangerous  conse 
quences  if  the  President  should  adhere  to  his  determination  also 
<T>  retire  at  the  same  time.  The  Secretary -appears  to  have 
thought  it  an  occasion  calling  for  a  written  expression  of  his 
views  not  only  in  regard  to  the  contemplated  act,  but  to  the 
important  political  questions  of  the  day,  which  he  supposed 
would  be  more  or  less  directly  influenced  by  that  act.  We 
give  his  communication  entire  : 

To  THE  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  23d,  1792. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  determined  to  make  the  subject  of  a  letter  what  for  some  time  past 
has  been  a  subject  of  inquietude  to  my  mind,  without  having  found  a  good  occasion 
of  disburdening  itself  to  you  in  conversation,  during  the  busy  scenes  which  occu 
pied  you  here.  Perhaps,  too,  you  may  be  able  in  your  present  situation,  or  ou 
the  road,  to  give  it  more  time  and  reflection  than  you  could  do  J>f>re  at  any 
moment. 

When  you  first  mentioned  to  me  your  purpose  of  retiring  from  the  government, 
though  I  felt  all  the  magnitude  of  the  event,  I  was  in  a  considerable  degree  silent. 
I  knew  that,  to  such  a  mind  as  yours,  persuasion  was  idle  and  impertinent ;  that 
before  forming  your  decision  you  had  weighed  all  the  reasons  for  and  against  the 
measure,  had  made  up  your  mind  on  full  view  of  them,  and  that  there  could  be 
".ttle  hope  of  changing  the  result.  Pursuing  my  reflections,  too,  I  knew  we 


62  DISSUADES    PRESIDENT   FROM    RETIRING.  [CHAP.  II. 

some  day  to  try  to  walk  alone,  and  if  the  essay  should  be  made  while  you  should 
be  alive  and  looking  on,  we  should  derive  confidence  from  that  circumstance,  and 
resource,  if  it  failed.  The  public  mind,  too,  was  calm  and  confident,  and  therefore 
in  a  favorable  state  for  making  the  experiment.  Had  no  change  of  circumstances 
intervened,  I  should  not,  with  any  hopes  of  success,  have  now  ventured  to  propose 
to  you  a  change  of  purpose.  But  the  public  mind  is  no  longer  confident  and 
serene ;  and  that  from  causes  in  which  you  are  no  ways  personally  mixed  Though 
these  causes  have  been  hackneyed  in  the  public  papers  in  detail,  it  may  not  be 
amiss,  in  order  to  calculate  the  effect  they  are  capable  of  producing,  to  take  a  view 
of  them  in  the  mass,  giving  to  each  the  form,  real  or  imaginary,  under  which  they 
have  been  presented. 

It  has  been  urged,  then,  that  a  public  debt,  greater  than  we  can  possibly  pay, 
before  other  causes  of  adding  new  debt  to  it  will  occur,  has  been  artificially  created 
by  adding  together  the  whole  amount  of  the  debtor  and  creditor  sides  of  accounts, 
instead  of  only  taking  their  balances,  which  could  have  been  paid  off  in  a  short 
time  :  that  this  accumulation  of  debt  has  taken  forever  out  of  our  power  those  easy 
sources  of  revenue  which,  applied  to  the  ordinary  necessities  and  exigencies  of 
government,  would  have  answered  them  habitually,  and  covered  us  from  habitual 
murmurings  against  taxes  and  tax-gatherers,  reserving  extraordinary  calls  for  those 
extraordinary  occasions  which  would  animate  the  people  to  meet  them :  that 
though  the  calls  for  money  have  been  no  greater  than  w  •  must  expect  generally, 
for  the  same  or  equivalent  exigencies,  yet  we  are  already  obliged  to  strain  the 
impost  till  it  produces  clamor,  and  will  produce  evasion  and  war  on  our  own  citizens 
to  collect  it,  and  even  resort  to  an  excise  law  of  odious  character  with  the  people, 
partial  in  its.  operation,  unproductive  unless  enforced  by  arbitrary  and  vexa 
tious  means,  and  committing  the  authority  of  the  Government  in  parts  where 
resistance  is  most  probable  and  coercion  least  practicable.  They  cite  propositions 
in  Congress,  and  suspect  other  projects  on  foot  still  to  increase  the  mass  of  debt. 
They  say,  that  by  borrowing  at  two-thirds  of  the  interest,  we  might  have  paid  off 
the  principal  in  two-thirds  of  the  time  ;  but  that  from  this  we  are  precluded  by  its 
being  made  irredeemable  but  in  small  portions  and  long  terms ;  that  this  irredeem 
able  quality  was  given  it  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  inviting  its  transfer  to  foreign 
countries.  They  predict  that  this  transfer  of  the  principal,  when  completed,  will 
occasion  an  exportation  of  three  millions  of  dollars  annually  for  the  interest,  a  drain 
of  coin,  of  which,  as  there  has  been  no  examples,  no  calculation  can  be  made  of  its 
consequences :  that  the  banishment  of  our  coin  will  be  complicated  by  the  creation 
of  ten  millions  of  paper  money,  in  the  form  of  bank  bills  now  issuing  into  circula 
tion.  They  think  the  ten  or  twelve  per  cent,  annual  profit  paid  to  the  lenders  of 
this  paper  medium  taken  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  people,  who  would  have  had 
without  interest  the  coin  it  is  banishing:  that  all  the  capital  employed  in  paper 
speculation  is  barren  and  useless,  producing,  like  that  on  a  gaming  table,  no  acces 
sion  to  itself,  and  is  withdrawn  from  commerce  find  agriculture,  where  it  would 
have  produced  addition  to  the  common  mass:  that  it  nourishes  in  our  citizens 
habits  of  vice  and  idleness,  instead  of  industry  and  morality :  that  it  has  furnished 
effectual  means  of  corrupting  such  a  portion  of  the  Legislature  as  turns  the  balance 
between  the  honest  voters,  whichever  way  it  is  directed :  that  this  corrupt  squadron, 
deciding  the  voice  of  the  Legislature,  have  manifested  their  dispositions  to  get  rid 
of  the  limitations  imposed  by  the  Constitution  on  the  general  Legislature,  limita 
tions  on  the  faith  of  which  the  States  acceded  to  that  instrument:  that  the  ulti 
mate  object  of  all  this  is  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  change  from  the  present 


CTIAP.  IT.j  DISSUADES    PRESIDENT   FROM   RETIRING.  63 

rrpublican  form  of  government  to  that  of  a  monarchy,  of  which  the  English 
Constitution  is  to  be  the  model :  that  this  was  contemplated  in  1  the  Convention  i? 
no  secret,  because  its  partisans  have  made  none2  of  it.  To  effect  it,  then,  was 
impracticable,  but  they  are  still  eager  after  their  object,  and  are  predisposing  every 
thing  for  its  ultimate  attainment.  So  many  of  them  have  got  into  the  Legislature, 
that,  aided  by  the  corrupt  squadron  of  paper  dealers,  who  are  at  their  devotion, 
they  make  a  majority  in  both  houses.  The  republican  party,  who  wish  to  preserve 
the  government  in  its  present  form,  are  fewer  in  number ;  they  are  fewer  even 
when  joined  by  the  two,  three,  or  half  dozen  Anti-Federalists^  who,  though  they 
dare  not  avow  it,  are  still  opposed  to  any  general  government ;  but,  being  less  so  to 
a  republican  than  a  monarchical  one,  they  naturally  join  those  whom  they  think 
pursuing  the  lesser  evil.  • 

Of  all  the  mischiefs  objected  to  the  system  of  measures  before  mentioned,  none 
is  so  afflicting  and  fatal  to  every  honest  hope,  as  the  corruption  of  the  Legislature. 
As  it  was  the  earliest  of  these  measures,  it  became  the  instrument  for  producing  the 
risk,  and  will  be  the  instrument  for  producing  in  future  a  King,  Lords,  and  Commons, 
or  whatever  else  those  who  direct  it  may  choose  Withdrawn  such  a  distance  from 
the  eye  of  their  constituents,  and  these  so  dispersed  as  to  be  inaccessible  to  public 
information,  and  particularly  to  that  of  the  conduct  of  their  own  representatives, 
they  will  form  the  most  corrupt  government  on  earth,  if  the  means  of  their  corrup 
tion  be  not  prevented.  The  only  hope  of  safety  hangs  now  on  the  numerous 
representation  which  is  to  come  forward  the  ensuing  year.  Some  of  the  new 
members  will  be,  probably,  either  in  principle  or  interest,  with  the  present 
majority ;  but  it  is  expected  that  the  great  mass  will  form  an  accession  to  the 
Republican  party.  They  will  not  be  able  to  undo  all  which  the  two  preceding 
Legislatures,  ahd  especially  the  first,  have  done.  Public  faith  and  right  will  oppose 
this.  But  some  parts  of  the  system  may  be  rightfully  reformed,  a  liberation  from 
the  rest  unremittingly  pursued  as  fast  as  right  will  permit,  and  the  door  shut  in 
future  against  similar  commitments  of  the  nation.  Should  the  next  Legislature 
take  this  course,  it  will  draw  upon  them  the  whole  monarchical  and  paper  interest ; 
but  the  latter,  I  think,  will  not  go  all  lengths  with  the  former,  because  creditors 
will  never,  of  their  own  accord,  fly  off  entirely  from  their  debtors ;  therefore  this 
is  the  alternative  least  likely  to  produce  convulsion.  But  should  the  majority  of 
the  new  members  be  still  in  the  same  principles  with  the  present,  and  show  that  we 
have  nothing  to  expect  but  a  continuance  of  the  same  practices,  it  is  not  easy  to 
conjecture  what  would  be  the  result,  nor  what  means  would  be  resorted  to  for  cor 
rection  of  the  evil.  True  wisdom  would  direct  that  they  should  be  temperate  and 
peaceable  ;  but  the  division  of  sentiment  and  interest  happens  unfortunately  to  be 
BO  geographical,  that  no  mortal  can  say  that  what  is  most  wise  and  temperate  would 
prevail  against  what  is  most  easy  and  obvious?  I  can  scarcely  contemplate  a  more 
incalculable  evil  than  the  breaking  of  the  Union  into  two  or  more  parts.  Yet  when 
we  consider  the  mass  which  opposed  the  original  coalescence ;  when  we  consider 
that  it  lay  chiefly  in  the  southern  quarter:  that  the  Legislature  have  availed  them 
selves  of  no  occasion  of  allaying  it,  but  on  the  contrary,  whenever  northern  and 
southern  prejudices  have  come  into  conflict,  the  latter  have  been  sacrificed  and  the 
former  soothed  ;  that  the  owners  of  the  debt  are  in  the  southern,  and  the  holders 

1  This  word  (in)  is  erroneously  printed  "  by"  in  the  Congress  edition  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
.son's  Works. 

a  Tliis  word  (none)  is  erroneously  printed  'more"  in  the  Congress  edition.  (Sec 
^"»py  from  original  in  Sp arks' s  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  506.) 


(>±  DISSUADES.  PRESIDENT   FROM   RETIRING.  [CHAP.  II. 

of  it  in  the  Northern  division  ;  that  the  Anti-Federal  champions  are  now  strength 
ened  in  argument  by  the  fulfillment  of  their  predictions;  that  this  has  been  brought 
about  by  the  monarchical  Federalists  themselves,  who,  having  been  for  the  new 
government  merely  as  a  stepping-stone  to  monarchy,  have  themselves  adopted  the 
very  constructions  of  the  Constitution,  of  which,  when  advocating  its  acceptance 
before  the  tribunal  of  the  people,  they  declared  it  unsusceptible;  that  the  Repub 
lican-Federalists  who  espoused  the  same  government  for  its  intrinsic  merits,  are 
disarmed  of  their  weapons;  that  which  they  denied  as  prophecy,  having  now 
become  true  history,  who  can  be  sure  that  these  things  may  not  proselyte  the 
small  number  which  was  wanting  to  place  the  majority  on  the  other  side  ?  And 
this  is  the  event  at  which  I  tremble,  and  to  prevent  which  I  consider  your  continu 
ing  at  the  head  of  affairs  as  of  the  last  importance.  The  confidence  of  the  whole 
Union  is  centred  in  you.  Your  being  at  the  helm  will  be  more  than  an  answer  to 
every  argument  which  can  be  used  to  alarm  and  lead  the  people  :n  any  quarter, 
into  violence  and  secession.  North  and  South  will  hang  together  >f  they  have  you 
to  hang  on ;  and  if  the  first  correction  of  a  numerous  representation  should  fail  in 
its  effect,  your  presence  will  give  time  for  trying  others,  not  inconsistent  with  the 
union  and  peace  of  the  States. 

I  am  perfectly  aware  of  the  oppression  under  which  your  present  office  lays 
your  mind,  and  of  the  ardor  with  which  you  pant  for  domestic  life.  But  there  is 
sometimes  an  eminence  of  character  on  which  society  have  such  peculiar  claims  as 
to  control  the  predilections  of  the  individual  for  a  particular  walk  of  happiness,  and 
restrain  him  to  that  alone  arising  from  the  present  and  future  benedictions  of 
mankind.  This  seems  to  be  your  condition,  and  the  law  imposed  on  you  by  Provi 
dence  in  forming  your  character,  and  fashioning  the  events  on  which  it  was  to 
operate  ;  and  it  is  to  motives  like  these,  and  not  to  personal  anxieties  of -mine  or 
others  who  have  no  right  to  call  on  you  for  sacrifices,  that  I  appeal,  and  urge  a 
revisal  of  it,  on  the  ground  of  change  in  the  aspect  of  things.  Should  an  honest 
majority  result  from  the  new  and  enlarged  representation ;  should  those  acquiesce 
whose  principles  or  interest  they  may  control,  your  wishes  for  retirement  would  be 
gratified  with  less  danger,  as  soon  as  that  shall  be  manifest,  without  awaiting  the 
completion  of  the  second  period  of  four  years.  One  or  two  sessions  will  determine 
the  crisis ;  and  I  cannot  but  hope  that  you  can  resolve  to  add  more  to  the  many 
years  you  have  already  sacrificed  to  the  good  of  mankind. 

The  fear  of  suspicion  that  any  selfish  motive  of  continuance  in  office  may 
enter  into  this  solicitation  on  my  part,  obliges  me  to  declare  that  no  such  motive 
exists.  It  is  a  thing  of  mere  indifference  to  the  public  whether  I  retain  or  relin 
quish  my  purpose  of  closing  my  tour  with  the  first  periodical  renovation  of  the 
Government.  I  know  my  own  measure  too  well  to  suppose  that  my  services  contri 
bute  anything  to  the  public  confidence,  or  the  public  utility.  Multitudes  can  fill 
the  office  in  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  place  me,  as  much  to  their  advantage 
and  satisfaction.  I  have,  therefore,  no  motive  to  consult  but  my  own  inclination, 
which  is  bent  irresistibly  on  the  tranquil  enjoyment  of  my  family,  my  farm,  and  my 
books.  I  should  repose  among  them,  it  is  true,  in  far  greater  security,  if  I  were  to 
know  that  you  remained  at  the  watch  ;  and  I  hope  it  will  be  so.  To  the  induce 
ments  urged  from  a  view  of  our  domestic  affairs,  I  will  add  a  bare  mention,  of 
what  indeed  need  only  to  be  mentioned,  that  weighty  motives  for  your  continu 
ance  are  to  be  found  in  our  foreign  affairs.  I  think  it  probable  that  both  the 
Spanish  and  English  negotiations,  if  not  completed  before  your  purpose  is  known, 
will  be  suspended  from  the  moment  it  is  known,  and  that  the  latter  nation  will 


CHAP,  ii.]  WASHINGTON'S  ANSWER.  65 

then  use  double  diligence  in  fomenting  the  Indian  War.  With  my  wishes  for  the 
future,  I  shall  at  the  same  time  express  my  gratitude  for  the  past,  at  least  my 
portion  of  it;  and  beg  permission  to  follow  you,  whether  in  public  or  private  life, 
with  those  sentiments  of  sincere  attachment  and  respect,  with  which  I  am  unalter 
ably,  dear  sir,  your  affectionate  friend  and  humble  servant. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  Secretary  of  State,  speaking 
decorously  in  the  third  person  (telling  what  the  Republicans 
think  and  say),  makes  as  unsparing  an  assault  on  the  Treasury 
measures  of  Hamilton — on  their  expediency — on  their  designed 

1  «/  » 

and  successful  tendency  to  corrupt  Congress — on  their  ultimate 
object  to  change  the  government  into  a  monarchy — on  the 
general  desires  and  designs  of  the  Federal  leaders  in  the  same 
direction — as  is  to  be  found  in  the  Ana.  And  where  he  dis 
tinctly  asserts  that  monarchical  government  "  was  contemplated 
in  the  Convention  [of  1787]  is  no  secret,  because  its  partisans 
have  made  none  of  it " — and  that  "  they  are  still  eager  after 
their  object" — no  one  will  doubt  that  he  intended  to  be  under 
stood,  and  was  understood  by  General  Washington,  as  referring, 
among  others,  directly  to  some  of  his  colleagues  in  the  Cabinet. 
The  President's  verbal  reply  to  this  communication  is  given 
in  the  Ana,  and  his  dissent  from  many  of  the  writer's  propo 
sitions  is  stated  with  a  frankness  and  clearness  which  are 
equally  admirable.  It  is  doubtful  whether  so  many  of  General 
Washington's  views  on  personal  subjects,  and  on  the  important 
questions  then  agitating  parties,  are  "anywhere  so  unreservedly 
given  by  him — at  least  on  a  single  occasion.  The  following  is 
the  entry  : 

"July  the  Wth,  1792.— My  letter  of to  the  President,  directed  to  him  at 

Mount  Vernon,  had  not  found  him  there,  but  came  to  him  here.  He  told  me  of 
this,  and  that  he  would  take  an  occasion  of  speaking  with  me  on  the  subject.  He 
did  so  this  day.  He  began  by  observing  that  he  had  put  it  off  from  day  to  day, 
because  the  subject  was  painful ;  to  wit,  his  remaining  in  office,  which  that  letter 
solicited  He  said  that  the  declaration  he  had  made  when  he  quitted  his  military 
command,  of  never  again  entering  into  public  life,  was  sincere.  That,  however, 
when  he  was  called  on  to  come  forward  to  set  the  present  government  in  motion,  it 
appeared  to  him  that  circumstances  were  so  changed  as  to  justify  a  change  in  his 
resolution  :  he  was  made  to  believe  that  in  two  years  all  would  be  well  in  motion, 
arid  he  might  retire.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  found  some  things  still  to  be  done. 
At  the  end  of  the  third  year,  he  thought  it  was  not  worth  while  to  disturb  the 
course  of  things,  as  in  one  year  more  his  office  would  expire,  and  he  was  decided 
then  to  retire.  Now  he  was  told  there  would  still  be  danger  in  it.  Certainly,  if  he 
thought  so,  he  would  conquer  his  longing  for  retirement.  But  he  feared  it  would 
oe  said  his  former  professions  of  retirement  had  been  mere  affectation,  and  that  he 

VOL   II  — 5 


[CHAP.  n. 

was  like  other  men,  when  once  in  office  he  could  not  quit  it.  He  was  sensible,  too 
of  a  decay  of  his  hearing,  perhaps  his  other  faculties  might  fall  off  and  he  not  be 
sensible  of  it.  That  with  respect  to  the  existing  causes  of  uneasiness,  he  thought 
there  were  suspicions  against  a  particular  party,  which  had  been  carried  a  great 
deal  too  far :  there  might  be  desires,  but  he  did  not  believe  there  were  designs  to 
change  the  form  of  government  into  a  monarchy  :  that  there  might  be  a  few  who 
wished  it  in  the  higher  walks  of  life,  particularly  in  the  great  cities  ;  but  that  the 
main  body  of  the  people  in  the  eastern  States  were  as  steadily  for  republicanism  as 
in  the  southern.  That  the  pieces  lately  published,  and  particularly  in  Freneau's 
paper,  seemed  to  have  in  view  the  exciting  opposiiion  to  the  Government.  That 
this  had  taken  place  in  Pennsylvania  as  to  the  Excise  Law,  according  to  infor 
mation  he  had  received  from  General  Hand.  That  they  tended  to  produce  a  sepa 
ration  of  the  Union,  the  most  dreadful  of  all  calamities,  and  that  whatever  tended 
to  produce  anarchy,  tended,  of  course,  to  produce  a  resort  to  monarchical  govern 
ment.  He  considered  those  papers  as  attacking  him  directly,  for  he  must  be  a  fool 
indeed  to  swallow  the  little  sugar-plums  here  and  there  thrown  out  to  him.  That 
in  condemning  the  administration  of  the  Government,  they  condemned  him,  for  if 
they  thought  there  were  measures  pursued  contrary  to  his  sentiments,  they  must 
conceive  him  too  careless  to  attend  to  them,  or  too  stupid  to  understand  them. 
That  though,  indeed,  he  had  signed  many  acts  which  he  did  not  approve  in  all  their 
parts,  yet  he  had  never  put  his  name  to  one  which  he  did  not  think,  on  the  whole, 
was  eligible.  That  as  to  the  Bank,  which  had  been  an  act  of  so  much  complaint, 
until  there  was  some  infallible  criterion  of  reason,  a  difference  of  opinion  must  be 
tolerated.  He  did  not  believe  the  discontents  extended  far  from  the  seat  of  govern 
ment.  He  had  seen  and  spoken  with  many  people  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  in  his 
late  journey.  He  found  the  people  contented  and  happy.  He  wished,  howevei,  to 
be  better  informed  on  this  head.  If  the  discontents  were  more  extensive  than  he 
supposed,  it  might  be  that  the  desire  that  he  should  remain  in  the  Government  was 
not  general. 

"  My  observations  to  him  tended  principally  to  enforce  the  topics  of  my  letter. 
I  will  not,  therefore,  repeat  them,  except  where  they  produced  observations  from 
him.  I  said  that  the  two  great  complaints  were,  that  the  national  debt  was  unne 
cessarily  increased,  and  that  it  had  furnished  the  means  of  corrupting  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature;  that  he  must  know,  and  everybody  knew,  there  was  a  consider 
able  squadron  in  both,  whose  votes  were  devoted  to  the  paper  and  stock-jobbing 
interest,  that  the  names  of  a  weighty  number  were  known,  and  several  others 
suspected  on  good  grounds  That  on  examining  the  votes  of  these  men,  they  would 
be  found  uniformly  for  every  Treasury  measure,  and  that  as  most  of  these  measures 
had  been  carried  by  small  majorities,  they  were  carried  by  these  very  votes.  That, 
therefore,  it  was  a  cause  of  just  uneasiness,  when  we  saw  a  Legislature  legislating  for 
their  own  interests,  in  opposition  to  those  of  the  people.  He  said  not  a  word  on  the 
corruption  of  the  Legislature,  but  took  up  the  other  point,  defended  the  Assump 
tion,  and  argued  that  it  had  not  increased  the  debt,  for  that  all  of  it  was  honest 
debt.  He  justified  the  Excise  Law,  as  one  of  the  best  laws  which  could  be  passed, 
as  nobody  would  pay  the  tax  who  did  not  choose  to  do  it.  With  respect  to  the 
increase  of  the  debt  by  the  Assumption,  I  observed  to  him,  that  what  was  meant 
and  objected  to  was,  that  it  increased  the  debt  of  the  General  Government,  and 
carried  it  beyond  the  possibility  of  payment.  That  if  the  balances  had  been  settled, 
and  the  debtor  States  directed  to  pay  their  deficiencies  to  the  creditor  States,  they 
•vould  have  done  it  easily,  and  by  resources  of  taxation  in  their  power,  aud 


»;HAP.  u.]  DEATH  OF  PAUL  JONES.  67 

acceptable  to  the  people;  by  a  direct  tax  in  the  South,  and  an  excise  in  the  North. 
Still,  he  said,  it  would  be  paid  by  the  people.  Finding  him  decided,  I  avoided 
entering  into  argument  with  him  on  those  points." 

On  the  1st  of  June,  the  Secretary  of  State  wrote  Admiral 
John  Paul  Jones,  notifying  him  of  his  appointment  as  a  secret 
commissioner  to  negotiate  for  the  ransom  of  the  American 
prisoners  in  Algiers,  with  the  commission  of  Consul  until  the 
next  session  of  Congress,  and  with  the  intimation  that  he  would 
then  be  nominated  to  the  position  permanently,  if  he  chose  to 
accept  it.  The  Secretary's  letter  was  sent  out  by  Mr.  Pinck- 
ney,  but  before  it  reached  its  destination,  the  wild  and  varied 
life-cruise  of  the  daring  mariner  was  over.  This  man  of 
many  follies,  but  of  a  more  than  compensating  genius — this 
naval  commander,  holding  a  midway  position  between  a  great 
admiral  and  one  of  those  fierce  ancient  ocean-rovers,  who  sought 
victory  in  wild  and  desperate  hand-to-hand  encounters  on  the 
decks  of  grappled  ships — this  wandering  adventurer  through 
many  climes,  now  consorting  with  princes,  and  now  reduced  to 
the  verge  of  absolute  want — had  at  last,  with  his  visions  of  glory 
all  faded,  died  obscurely,  but  not,  as  it  has  been  often  alleged, 
in  destitution,  in  Paris,  on  the  18th  of  July,  1792.  The  National 
Assembly  of  France  passed  resolutions  in  his  honor,  and  deputed 
a  delegation  from  their  number  to  attend  his  remains  with  every 
circumstance  of  respect  to  the  grave.  It  is  not,  probably, 
to  be  doubted  that  Jones  received  his  last  American  commis 
sion  at  the  instance  of  Jefferson  ;  and  we  confess  it  has  given 
us  sincere  pleasure  to  be  enabled  to  record  that  all  of  Jeffer 
son's  deportment  towards  him,  while  acting  as  French  Minister, 
and  while  Secretary  of  State,  was  most  respectful  and  kind, 
indicating  admiration  of  his  talents,  and  perfect  confidence  in 
his  integrity  and  discretion.1  Again  and  again  he  confided  trust? 
to  Jones,  which  imperatively  demanded  these  qualifications,  and 
he  never  had  occasion  to  regret  his  confidence.  He  always 
looked  to  him  as  the  man  who  was  destined  to  lead  our  navy  in 
that  u  clearing-up  storm  "  of  war  which  he  believed  must  come 
with  England — and  Jones  himself  refused  an  Admiral's  com 
mission  in  the  fleets  of  Russia,  except  on  the  condition  that  he 
might  at  any  time  be  permitted  to  retire  at  the  call  of  his 

1  A  bust  of  Jones  always  occupied  an  honorable  place  among  those  of  other  patriot* 
and  heroes  at  Honticello.    We  think  it  was  the  gift  of  Jones  himself. 


68  PAKTIE8   FULLY   FORMED.  [CHAP.  II. 

adopted  country.     He  died  at  heart,  as  he  described  himself  in 
his  will,  *'  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  of  America  !" 
Jefferson  wrote  to  General  Lafayette,  June  16th : 

"  Behold  you,  then,  my  dear  friend,  at  the  head  of  a  great  army  establishing 
the  liberties  of  your  country  against  a  foreign  enemy.  May  Heaven  favor  your 
cause,  and  make  you  the  channel  through  which  it  may  pour  its  favors.  While 
you  are  estimating 1  the  monster  Aristocracy,  and  pulling  out  the  teeth  and  fangs  of 
its  associate,  Monarchy,  a  contrary  tendency  is  discovered  in  some  here.  A  sect 
has  shown  itself  a-mong  us,  who  declare  they  espoused  our  new  Constitution  not  as 
a  good  and  sufficient  thing  in  itself,  but  only  as  a  step  to  an  English  Constitution, 
the  only  thing  good  and  sufficient  in  itself,  in  their  eye.  It  is  happy  for  us  that  these 
are  preachers  without  followers,  and  that  our  people  are  firm  and  constant  in  their 
republican  purity.  You  will  wonder  to  be  told  that  it  is  from  the  eastward  chiefly  that 
these  champions  for  a  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  come.  They  get  some  important 
associates  from  New  York,  and  are  puffed  up  by  a  tribe  of  Agioteurs  which  have  been 
hatched  in  a  bed  of  corruption  made  up  after  the  model  of  their  beloved  England. 
Too  many  of  these  stock-jobbers  and  king-jobbers  have  come  into  our  Legislature, 
or  rather  too  many  of  our  Legislature  have  become  stock-jobbers  and  king-jobbers. 
However,  the  voice  of  the  people  is  beginning  to  make  itself  heard,  and  will 
probably  cleanse  their  seats  at  the  ensuing  election." 

He  wrote. three  or  four  days  afterwards  to  Joel  Barlow,  who 
had  been  for  some  time  in  France : 

"Though  I  am  in  hopes  you  are  now  on  the  ocean,  home-bound,  yet  I  cannot 
omit  the  chance  of  my  thanks  reaching  you,  for  your  u  Conspiracy  of  Kings  "  and 
advice  to  the  privileged  orders,  the  second  part  of  which  I  am  in  hopes  is  out  by 
this  time.  Be  assured  that  your  endeavors  to  bring  the  trans-Atlantic  world  into 
the  road  of  reason,  are  not  without  their  effect  here.  Some  here  are  disposed  to 
move  retrograde, .and  to  take  their  stand  in  the  rear  of  Europe,  now  advancing  to 
the  high  ground  of  natural  right.  *  *  *  God  send  that  all  the  nations  who 
join  in  attacking  the  liberties  of  France  may  end  in  the  attainment  of  their  own." 

The  flames  of  partisan  feeling  now  burned  brightly  through 
out  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  United  States.  There 
was  not  probably  a  neighborhood  so  remote  from  the  centres  of 
population,  so  isolated  by  surrounding  wildernesses,  that  the 
people  were  not  arrayed,  or  were  not  arraying  themselves,  on 
the  side  of  the  Federalists  or  Republicans.  In  the  eastern 
States  the  former  had  almost  exclusive  control — in  the  southern, 
the  latter.  The  middle  States  were  the  debatable  ground.  The 
Federalists,  led  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  had  hitherto 
maintained  undisputed  ascendency  in  Congress.  The  Treasury 
schemes  had  continued  to  receive  new  "  props,"  and  an  attempt 

1  Misprint  doubtless  for  "  extirpating  " 


TRAP.  IT.]  HAMILTON'S  ATTACKS  ox  JEFFERSON.  69 

to  prevent  this  department  from  assuming  the  origination  of 
nearly  all  the  important  interior  measures  of  the  Government — 
under  the  name  of  reporting  plans  for  the  improvement  ana 
management  of  the  revenue,  and  for  the  support  of  the  public 
credit — had  been  defeated.  Hamilton's  influence,  supported  by 
the  overwhelming  popularity  of  the  President's  name,  was  com 
pletely  paramount  in  Congress. 

In  July,  a  series  of  published  attacks  was  commenced  on 
Mr.  Jefferson  in  the  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  the  leading 
Federal  paper  in  Philadelphia.  The  first  was  a  short  article 
over  the  signature  of  T.  L.,  asking  whether  the  editor  of  the 
National  Gazette  (Philip  Freneau — Translating-Clerk  in  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  of  State)  received  a  salary  for  translations,  or 
for  publications,  "the  design  of  which  was  to  vilify  those  to 
whom  the  voice  of  the  people  had  committed  the  administration 
of  our  public  affairs — to  oppose  the  measures  of  Government, 
and,  by  false  insinuations,  to  disturb  the  public  peace  ?"  The 
article  further  remarked,  that  "  in  common  life  it  was  thought 
ungrateful  for  a  man  to  bite  the  hand  that  put  bread  in  his 
mouth  ;  but  if  the  man  was  hired  to  do  it,  the  case  was 
altered."  A  second  article  soon  after  (August  4th)  appeared, 
over  the  signature  of  "  An  American,"  explicitly  charging  that 
"  a  paper  more  devoted  to  the  views  of  a  certain  party,  of  which 
Mr.  Jefferson  was  the  head,  than  any  to  be  found  in  "  Phila 
delphia,  "  was  wanted  " — that  u  Mr.  Freneau  was  thought  a  fit 
instrument" — that  a  negotiation  was  opened  with  him — that  he 
"  came  here  [Philadelphia]  at  once  editor  of  the  National 
Gazette  and  clerk  for  foreign  languages  in  the  department  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  Secretary  of  State  "  that  it  was  a  new  experiment 
"  in  the  history  of  political  manoeuvres  in  this  country,"  to  have 
"  a  newspaper  instituted  by  a  public  officer,  and  the  editor  of  it 
regularly  pensioned  with  the  public  money  in  the  disposal  of 
that  officer  " — that  Freneau  was  not  an  independent  editor,  but 
"  the  faithful  and  devoted  servant  of  the  head  of  a  party,  from 
whose  hands  he  received  the  boon  " — that  "  the  whole  complex 
ion  of  his  paper  exhibited  a  decisive  internal  evidence  of  the 
influence  of  that  patronage  under  which  he  acted."  A  position 
is  then  assumed  by  "  An  American,"  which  we  will  transcribe 
entire,  as  it  has  furnished  the  text  for  never-ending  paraphrases, 

1  flee  Hamilton's  Works  for  the  article,  vol.  vii  p.  5. 


70  HAMILTON'S  ATTACKS  ox  JEFFERSON.  [CHAP.  n. 

and  as  it  presents  a  point  against  Mr.  Jefferson  which,  unless 
the  circumstances  are  weighed  with  something  more  than  ordi 
nary  care,  may  seem  to  be  well  taken.  It  is  as  follows  : 

"But  it  may  be  asked — is  it  possible  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  head  of  a  principal 
department  of  the  Government,  can  be  the  patron  of  a  paper,  the  evident  object 
of  which  is  to  decry  the  Government  and  its  measures?  If  he  disapproves  of  the 
Government  itself,  and  thinks  it  deserving  of  his  opposition,  can  he  reconcile  it,  to 
his  own  personal  dignity,  and  the  principles  of  probity,  to  hold  an  office  under  it, 
and  employ  the  means  of  official  influence  in  that  opposition  ?  If  he  disapproves 
of  the  leading  measures  which  have  been  adopted  in  the  course  of  its  administra 
tion,  can  he  reconcile  it  with  the  principles  of  delicacy  and  propriety,  to  hold  a 
place  in  that  administration,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  instrumental  in  vilifying 
measures  which  have  been  adopted  by  majorities  of  botli  branches  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  ait,d  sa/tctioiitd  by  Lite  cltlif  nmyistrutc  of  the  Vuion?"  l 

The  paper  then  specifically  alleges  that  "  while  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States  was  depending  before  the  people  of 
this  country,"  Mr.  Jefferson  "  was  opposed  to  it  in  some  of  its 
most  important  features,  and  wrote  his  objections  to  some  of  his 
friends  in  Virginia" — that  "he  at  first  went  so  far  as  to  dis 
countenance  its  adoption,  though  he  afterwards  recommended  it, 
on  the  ground  of  expediency  in  certain  contingencies."  2d. 
That  he  was  the  "  declared  opponent  of  almost  all  the  impor 
tant  measures  which  have  been  devised  by  the  Government," 
including  the  provision  "  made  for  the  public  debt,  the  United 
States  Bank,"  and  "  such  other  measures  as  related  to  the  pub 
lic  credit,  and  the  finances  of  the  United  States."  An  eloquent 
appeal  is  then  made  to  the  American  people  to  know  whether  they 
will  sustain  their  existing  institutions  and  laws — "  their  present 
Constitution."  the  "national  union,"  etc.,  or  whether  they  are 
willing  to  see  it  all  "  frittered  away," — whether  they  are  per 
suaded  "  that  nations  are  under  no  ties  of  moral  obligation,  that 
public  credit  is  useless  or  something  worse — that  public  debts 
may  be  paid  or  cancelled  at  pleasure  " — and  "  that  when  a  pro 
vision  is  not  likely  to  be  made  for  them  [the  public  debts]  the 
discontent  •  to  be  expected  from  the  omission  may  honestly  be 
transferred  from  a  government  able  to  vindicate  its  rights  to 
the  breasts  of  individuals  who  may  first  be  encouraged  to  be 
come  the  substitutes  to  the  original  creditors,  and  may  after 
wards  be  defrauded  without  danger.8  It  is  then  remarked  in  a 

I  Italicized  in  original. 

II  This  charge  of  an  attempt  to  transfer  the  debt  due  to  France  to  private  holders  la 


CHAP.  IT.]  HAMILTON'S  ATTACKS  ON  JEFFEKSON.  71 

note  :  "  such  was  the  advice  given  to  Congress  by  Mr.  Jefferson, 
when  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the.  Court  of  France,  respect 
ing  the  debt  due  to  the  French  nation.  "  An  American  "  adds  : 

"  If  to  national  union,  national  respectability,  public  .order,  and  public  credit, 
they  are  willing  to  substitute  national  disunion,  national  insignificance,  public  dis 
order  and  discredit,  then  let  them  unite  their  acclamations  and  plaudits  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Jefferson  ;  let  him  be  the  toast  of  every  political  club,  and  the  theme  of  every 
popular  huzza  ;  for  to  those  points,  without  examining  his  motives,  do  the  real  or 
pretended  political  tenets  of  that  gentleman  most  assuredly  tend. 

"•  These  strictures  are  made  from  a  conviction  that  it  is  important  to  the  people 
to  know  the  characters  intrusted  with  their  public  affairs.  i 

"  As  Mr.  Jefferson  is  emulous  of  being  the  head  of  a  party  whose  politics  have 
ever  aimed  at  depressing  the  national  authority,  let  him  enjoy  all  the  glory  and  all 
the  advantage  of  it.  But  let  it  at  the  same  time  be  understood  by  those  who  are 
persuaded  that  the  real  and  permanent  welfare  of  the  country  is  to  be  promoted  by 
other  means,  that  such  are  the  views  by  which  he  is  actuated."  1 

Upon  the  appearance  of  this,  Freneau  published  an  affida 
vit  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Jefferson  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
establishment  of  his  paper,  or  with  his  coming  to  Philadelphia 
—that  he  had  nothing  to  do  whatever  with  the  management  of 
the  paper,  and  had  neither  influenced  nor  attempted  to  influ 
ence  it — and  that  he  had  never  directly  or  indirectly  written, 
dictated,  or  composed  a  single  line  for  it.2 

"An  American  "  published  a  second  article  (August  llth). 
He  wholly  discredited  Freneau's  oath — declaring  that  "  facts 
spoke  louder  than  words,  and  under  certain  circumstances  louder 
than  oaths," — that  "  the  editor  of  the  National  Gazette  must 
not  think  to  swear  away  their  efficacy  " — that  "if  he  was  truly, 
as  they  announced,  the  pensioned  tool  of  the  public  character 
who  had  been  named,  no  violation  of  truth  in  any  shape  ought  to 
astonish  /  equivocations  and  mental  reservations  were  the  too 
common  refuge  of  minds  struggling  to  escape  from  disgraceful 
imputations."  An  argument  is  then  gone  into  to  show  that 
Jefferson  did  really  establish  the  National  Gazette  through  a 
'•particular  friend,"  and  that  the  "  inference "  which  sustains 
this  fact  is  "  irresistible."  Among  the  other  proofs  offered  of 
this  is  the  one,  that  '*  to  every  man  who  approached  that 

Holland,  so  that  the  latter  may  be  "defrauded  without  danger,"  is  not  very  clearly 
expressed,  but  we  have  preferred  to  adhere  to  the  phraseology  in  which  Hamilton  first 
publicly  brought  forward  this  allegation  against  Jefferson. 

1  For  the  article  entire,  see  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  5. 

;  The  affidavit  is  not  before  us.  We  take  these  statements  from  Hamilton's  answer 
to  them. 


72  HAMILTON'S  ATTACKS  ON  JEFFERSON.  [CHAP,  n, 

officer  "  "  he  arraigned  the  principal  measures  of  the  Govern 
ment  "  with  "  indiscreet,  jf  not  indecent  warmth."  The  article 
closes  with  the  explicit  avowal  that  "its  strictures,  though  in 
volving  Mr.  Freneau,  it  should  be  confessed,  had  been  drawn 
forth  principally  with  a  view  to  a  character  of  greater  impor 
tance  to  the  community,"  that  "  they  aimed  at  explaining  a  pub 
lic  officer,  who  had  too  little  scruples  to  embarrass  and  disparage 
the  Government  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  who  had  been 
the  prompter,  open  or  secret,  of  unwarrantable  aspersions  on 
men,"  l  etc. 

On  Freneau's  declining  further  to  answer  these  attacks,  on 
the  ground  that  they  were  mere  '•  personal  charges,"  "An 
American  "  declared  this  "  a  mere  subterfuge  "  to  escape  from 
accusations  "  substantiated  by  facts."  2 

After  a  lull  in  this  storm  of  invective  for  a  few  weeks,  the 
same  writer  returned  to  the  assault  on  Mr.  Jefferson  in  a  series 
of  much  more  elaborate  articles  than  those  already  noticed. 
They  were  published  in  the  (Philadelphia)  Gazette  of  the 
United  States,  over  the  signature  of  "Catullus,"  were  six  in 
number,  and  extended  to  the  close  of  the  year.  They  appeared 
formally,  as  an  answer  to  a  writer  who  signed  himself  Aristides, 
and  who  undertook  to  defend  the  Secretary  of  State. 

The  first  of  these,  published  September  loth,  recapitulated 
and  reiterated  all  the  former  charges  of  "An  American."  The 
second  (September  19th),  undertook,  at  great  length,  to  demon 
strate  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  originally,  avowedly,  and  con 
tinued  substantially,  opposed  to  the  Constitution.  The  third 
(September  2^th)  specified  what  were  Mr.  Jefferson's  "unwar 
rantable  aspersions,"  by  referring  to  his  note  to  J.  B.  Smith,  pre 
fixed  to  the  "Rights  of  Man."  It  assumed  that  "the  op 
portunity  was  eagerly  seized  to  answer  the  double  purpose 
of  wounding  a  competitor,  and  of  laying  in  an  additional  slock 
of  popularity  " — that  "  the  javelin  went  directly  to  its  destina 
tion  " — that  it  being,  however,  "  quickly  perceived  that  dis 
cerning  and  respectable  men  disapproved  the  step,"  "  protesta 
tions  and  excuses  as  frivolous  as  awkward  were  multiplied  tc 
veil  the  real  design."  The  following  are  passages  from  the 
paper : 

1  For  the  article  entire,  see  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  10. 

2  This  paper  was  dated  August  18th.     See  ibid.  vol.  vii.  p.  15. 


ii.]          HAMILTON'S  ATTACKS  ON  JEFFERSON.  73 

"  Does  all  this  ['  persecution '  of  Mr.  Adams]  proceed  from  motives  purely  dis 
interested  and  patriotic  ?  Can  none  of  a  different  complexion  be  imagined,  that 
may  at  least  have  operated  to  give  a  stimulus  to  patriotic  zeal  ? 

"  No.  Mr.  Jefferson  has  hitherto  been  distinguished  as  the  quiet,  modest, 
retiring  philosopher  ;  as  the  plain,  simple,  unambitious  Republican.  He  shall  not 
now,  for  the  first  time,  be  regarded  as  the  intriguing  incendiary,  the  aspiring  tur 
bulent  competitor. 

"  How  long  it  is  since  that  gentleman's  real  character  may  have  been  divined, 
or  whether  this  is  only  the  first  time,  that  the  secret  has  been  disclosed,  I  am  not 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  history  of  his  political  life  to  determine  ;  but  there 
is  always  a  'first  time'  when  characters  studious  of  artful  disguises  are  unveiled; 
when  the  visor  of  stoicism  is  plucked  from  the  brow  of  the  epicurean  ;  when  the 
plain  garb  of  quaker  simplicity  is  stripped  from  the  concealed  voluptuary  ;  when 
Caesar,  coyly  refusing  the  proffered  diadem,  is  seen  to  be  Caesar  rejecting  the  trap 
pings,  but  tenaciously  grasping  the  substance  of  imperial  domination." 

The  fourth  and  sixth  articles  of  "  Catullus,"  1  press  and  give 
circumstantiality  to  the .  charge  that  Mr.  Jefferson  sought,  in 
substance,  to  defraud  a  company  of  Hollanders  in  regard  to  the 
French  debt ;  and  the  "turpitude  of  the  advice"  he  gave  his 
Government  on  that  occasion  is  assumed  to  be  demonstrated, 
and  the  defence  offered  by  Aristides  is  pronounced  a  "  wretched 
apology."  Nearly  all  of  Catullus's  articles  repeat  and  ring 
changes  on  all  his  allegations.  The  replies  of  Aristides  are  not 
before  us,  nor  have  we  supposed  them  of  any  consequence,  in 
the  present  connection,  inasmuch  as  nobody  pretends  they  emi- 
nated  from  Mr.  Jefferson. 

It  will  be  observed  these  charges  involve  falsehood,  treach 
ery  to  the  administration,  a  desire  to  repudiate  the  public 
obligations,  and  intentional  and  contrived  turpitude  in  a  busi 
ness  transaction.  The  direct  or  implied  charge  of  falsehood  is 
again  and  again  repeated.  An  intimation  that  Mr.  Jefferson 
will  be  afforded  satisfaction  on  a  different  field  than  the  news 
papers,  should  he  desire  it,  would  appear  to  be  not  obscurely 
hinted.2 

Colonel  Hamilton  was  at  once  generally  understood  to  be 
the  author  of  these  attacks ;  and  they  are  now  published  as  his 

1  October  17th ;  December  26th.     (The  5th  appeared  November  24th.) 
3  In  "  Catullus's"  first  article,  in  addressing  himself  to  Aristides,  he  said  : 
"  The  discussion  will  be  taken  up  and  pursued  by  one,  who  is  willing  to  be  responsible 
for  the  allegations  he  shall  make,  and  who  consequently  will  not  refuse  to  be  kiwwn  on 
p?oper  terms,  TO  THE  OFFICER  CONCERNED.     It  is,  however,  not  meant  to  invite  inquiry  on 
that  head.     It  is  most  advisable  that  none  should  be  made.    For  any  public  purpose, 
none  will  be  requisite.    For  any  personal  one,  none  will  be  proper,    What  shall  be  said, 
will  merely  apply  to  public  conduct,  and  will  be  supported  by  proof  and  argument.' 
Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  34. 


74  MADISON'S  AVOWAL.  [CHAP,  n, 

own  in  the  authorized  collection  of  his  writings.  His  contem 
poraneous  private  correspondence  shows  that  he  made  strenuous 
exertions  to  find  something  like  proof  of  his  bold  allegation  that 
Philip  Freneau  swore  to  a  falsehood,  when  he  swore  that  Jeffer 
son  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  establishment  of  his  paper.  To 
Elislui  Boudinot  and  Jonathan  Dayton — who  appear  to  have 
been  his  principal  informants  in  the  transaction — he  wrote  for 
proofs  to  "  confound  and  put  down  a  man  (Jeiferson)  who 
was  continually  machinating  against  the  public  happiness."  ! 
Neither  attempted  to  furnish  any  such  proofs ;  and  the  only 
information  of  importance  he  obtained  in  regard  to  establishing 
the  paper,  was  from  Dayton,  who  received  it  from  one  of  the 
publishers  of  the  paper,  that  Mr.  Madison  had  negotiated  with 
Freneau  to  establish  and  conduct  it.  So  far  as  we  can  now  dis 
cover,  this  is  the  only  circumstance  on  which  Hamilton  felt 
himself  authorized  publicly  to  assume  that  Freneau  had  been 
instigated  by  a  "public  character"  to  commit,  and  had  actually 
committed  a  perjury.  He  appeal's  to  have  supposed  that  Mr. 
Madison,  as  well  as  Freneau,  must  have  necessarily  acted  in  the 
capacity  of  "  a  tool." 

Professor  Tucker  gives  a  statement,3  authorized  by  Mr. 
Madison,  of  the  establishment  of  the  National  Gazette,  which 
coincides  with  the  following  from  Mr.  Trist's  memoranda : 


"  MONTPELLIEB,  Friday,  May  25M,  1827. 

"  Mr.  Madison  said  :  '  Freneau's  paper  was  another  cause  of  soreness  in  General 
Washington.  Among  its  different  contributors,  some  were  actuated  by  overheated 
zeal,  and  some,  perhaps,  by  malignity.  Every  effort  was  made  in  Fenno's  paper, 
and  by  those  immediately  around  him  (Washington)  to  impress  on  his  mind  a 
belief  that  this  paper  had  been  got  up  by  Mr  Jefferson  to  injure  him  and  oppose 
the  measures  of  his  administration.  Freneau  himself  was  an  old  college  mate  of 
mine,  a  poet  and  man  of  literary  and  retired  tastes,  knowing  nothing  of  the  world. 
He  was  a  French  scholar,  and  employed  at  first  as  translator.  Henry  Lee,  who  was 
also  his  college  mate,  and  had  also  a  friendly  feeling  for  him,  was  the  more  imme 
diate  cause  of  his  establishing  a  paper.  Our  main  object  in  encouraging  it,  was  to 
provide  an  antidote  against  Fenno's  paper,  which  was  devoted  to  monarchy,  and 
had  begun  to  publish  extracts  from  Mr.  Adams's  book.  I  used  occasionally  to 
throw  in  an  article,  all  of  which  I  have  marked,  and  some  of  which  I  have  shown 
you,  with  a  view  chiefly  to  counteract  the  monarchical  spirit  and  partisanship  of 

1  Hamilton's  letter   to    Boudinot  was  dated  August  13th,   and    Boudinot'&  reply, 
August  16th.     Dayton's  reply  (Hamilton's  letter  to  him  is  not  given)  is  dated  Aug.  26tL 
All  these  are  given  in  the  5th  vol.  of  Hamilton's  Works. 

2  Life  of  Jefferson,  vol.  i.  p.  393 — note. 


CHAP.  H.]  HENRY  LEE — FRENEAF.  75 

the  British  Government  which  characterized  Fenno's  paper.     I  never  engaged  in 
the  party  criminations.' 

"  The  foregoing  (writes  Mr.  Trist)  is  written  immediately  after  the  conversation, 
which  has  not  lasted  half  an  hour.  Mr.  Madison  having  stepped  out,  and  I  taking 
advantage  of  this  interruption  to  retire  to  my  room  and  commit  the  substance  to 
paper.  The  very  words  I  have  retained  as  near  as  I  could.  In  many  instances 
(where  I  have  run  a  line  over  the  words),  I  have  done  this  exactly." 

The  Henry  Lee  here  referred  to  was  General  H.  Lee,  then 
Governor  of  Virginia,  afterwards  a  violent  Federalist — and  who 
always  avowed  particular  friendship  lor  General  Washington, 
and  always  showed  anything  but  friendship  for  Mr.  Jefferson. 
He  was  the  author  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern 
Department,  the  statements  of  which,  in  regard  to  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  we  have  had  occasion  to  notice. 

Freneau,  all  will  understand,  is  the  American  poet  of  that 
name,  whose  Revolutionary  and  other  ballads  once  had  consid 
erable  notoriety.  He  was  always  a  warm,  and  after  the  period 
of  which  we  write,  became  a  violent  partisan.  It  is  but  justice 
to  his  memory,  however,  to  say  that  his  honor  and  his  veracity 
as  a  man  were  never  questioned  by  those  who  knew  him,  and 
that  his  reputation  in  these  particulars  is  now  as  free  from  all 
taint  of  suspicion  as  is  that  of  any  of  the  distinguished  gentlemen 
whose  names  were  associated  with  his  in  the  controversy  we  are 
recording. 

Jefferson  was  in  Virginia  wrhen  this  series  of  attacks  on 
him  began,  and  until  they  approached  their  completion.  He 
set  out  for  home  on  the  13th  of  July,  and  did  not  return  to 
Philadelphia  until  the  5th  of  October. 

Here  are  such  portions  of  his  family  correspondence,  since 
his  preceding  visit  home,  as  are  in  our  possession : 

To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  January  15^,  1792. 
MY  DEAR  MARTHA  : 

Having  no  particular  subject  for  a  letter,  I  find  none  more  soothing  to  my 
mind  than  to  indulge  itself  in  expressions  of  the  love  I  bear  you,  and  the  delight  with 
which  I  recall  the  various  scenes  through  which  we  have  passed  together  in  our  wan 
derings  over  the  world.  These  reveries  alleviate  the  toils  and  inquietudes  of  my 
present  situation,  and  leave  me  always  impressed  with  the  desire  of  being  at  home 
once  more,  and  of  exchanging  labor,  envy  and  malice,  for  ease,  domestic  occupation 
and  domestic  love  and  society  ;  where  I  may  once  more  be  happy  with  you,  with  Mr. 
Randolph,  and  dear  little  Anne,  with  whom  even  Socrates  might  ride  on  a  stick  with 
out  being  ridiculous.  Indeed  it  is  with  difficulty  that  my  resolution  will  bear  me 
through  what  yet  lies  between  the  present  day  and  that  which,  on  mature  considera 


76  JEFFERSON   TO   HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

tion  of  all  circumstances  respecting  myself  and  others,  my  mind  has  determined  to  be 
the  proper  one  for  relinquishing  my  office.  Though  not  very  distant,  it  is  not  near 
enough  for  my  wishes.  The  ardor  of  these,  however,  would  be  abated,  if  I  thought 
that  on  coming  home  I  should  be  left  alone.  On  the  contrary,  I  hope  that  Mr. 
Randolph  will  find  a  convenience  in  making  only  leisurely  preparations  for  a  settle 
ment,  and  that  I  shall  be  able  to  make  you  both  happier  than  you  have  been  at 
Monticello,  and  relieve  you  of  desagremens  to  which  I  have  been  sensible  you  were 
exposed,  without  the  power  in  myself  to  prevent  it,  but  by  my  own  presence. 
Remember  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Randolph,  and  be  assured  of  the  tender  love  of 

Yours, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  February  26,  1792. 
MY  DEAR  MARTHA  : 

We  are  in  daily  expectation  of  hearing  of  your  safe  return  to  Monticello, 
and  all  in  good  health.  The  season  is  now  coming  on  when  I  shall  envy  you  your 
occupations  in  the  fields  and  garden,  while  I  am  shut  up  drudging  within  four 
walls.  Maria  is  well  and  lazy,  therefore  does  not  write.  Your  friends  Mrs.  Tri st 
and  Mrs.  Waters  are  well  also,  and  often  inquire  after  you.  We  have  nothing  new 
and  interesting  from  Europe  for  Mr.  Randolph.  He  will  perceive  bv  the  papers 
that  the  English  are  beaten  off  the  ground  by  Tippo  Saib.  The  Leyden  Gazette 
hssures  that  they  were  saved  only  by  the  unexpected  arrival  of  the  Mahrattas,  who 
were  suing  to  Tippo  Saib  for  peace  for  Lord  Cornwallis.  My  best  esteem  to  Mr. 
Randolph,  and  am,  my  dear  Martha, 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  June  22rf,  1792. 
M"?  DEAR  MARTHA  : 

Yours  of  May  27th  came  to  hand  on  the  very  day  of  my  last  to  you,  but 
after  it  was  gone  off.  That  of  June  11  was  received  yesterday.  Both  made  us 
happy  in  informing  us  you  were  all  well.  The  rebuke  to  Maria  produced  the 
inclosed  letter.  The  time  of  my  departure  for  Monticello  is  not  yet  known.  I 
shall,  within  a  week  from  this  time,  send  off  my  stores  as  usual,  that  they  may 
arrive  before  me.  So  that  should  any  wagons  be  going  down  from  the  neighbor 
hood,  it  would  be  well  to  desire  them  to  call  on  Mr.  Brown  in  order  to  take  up  the 
stores  should  they  be  arrived.  I  suspect,  by  the  account  you  give  me  of  your  gar 
den,  that  you  mean  a  surprise,  as  good  singers  always  preface  their  performances 
by  complaints  of  cold,  hoarseness,  etc.  Maria  is  still  with  me.  I  am  endeavoring 
to  find  a  good  lady  to  put  her  with  if  possible.  If  not,  I  shall  send  her  to  Mrs. 
Brodeaux,  as  the  last  shift.  Old  Mrs.  Hopkinson  is  living  in  town,  but  does  not 
keep  house.  I  am  in  hopes  you  have  visited  young  Mrs.  Lewis,  and  borne  with  the 
old  one,  so  as  to  keep  on  visiting  terms.  Sacrifices  and  suppressions  of  feeling  in 
this  way  cost  much  less  pain  than  open  separation.  The  former  are  soon  over  :  the 
latter  haunt  the  peace  of  every  day  of  one's  life,  be  that  ever  so  long.  Adieu,  my 
dear,  with  my  best  affections  to  Mr.  Randolph.  Anne  enjoys  them  without  valuing 
them 

TH.  JKKFERSON. 


CHAP.  II.]         WASHINGTON    SEEKS    TO   RECONCILE  CABINET.  77 

As  already  remarked,  the  paternity  of  Hamilton's  anonymous 
attacks  on  Jefferson,  in  the  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  was  at 
once  understood.  An  open  feud  in  his  Cabinet,  carried  to  such 
extraordinary  lengths,  gave  great  mortification,  not  to  say 
political  alarm,  to  the  President.  He  wrote  Jefferson  a  long 
business  letter  on  the  23d  of  August,  containing  the  following 
passages  on  personal  topics  : 

"  How  unfortunate,  and  how  much  to  be  regretted  is  it,  then,  that  while  we  are 
encompassed  on  all  sides  with  avowed  enemies,  and  insidious  friends,  internal  dis 
sensions  should  be  harrowing  and  tearing  our  vitals.  The  latter  to  me  is  the  most 
serious,  the  most  alarming,  and  the  most  afflicting  of  the  two  ;  and  without  more 
charity  for  the  opinions  and  acts  of  one  another  in  governmental  matters,  or  some 
more  infallible  criterion  by  which  the  truth  of  speculative  opinions,  before  they 
have  undergone  the  test  of  experience,  are  to  be  forejudged,  than  has  yet  fallen  to 
the  lot  of  fallibility,  I  believe  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impracticable,  to  manage  the 
reins  of  government,  or  to  keep  the  parts  of  it  together ;  for  if  instead  of  laying 
our  shoulders  to  the  machine  after  measures  are  decided  on,  one  pulls  this  way  and 
another  that,  before  the  utility  of  the  thing  is  fairly  tried,  it  must  inevitably  be 
torn  asunder  ;  and  in  my  opinion  the  fairest  prospect  of  happiness  and  prosperity 
that  ever  was  presented  to  man,  will  be  lost,  perhaps,  forever. 

"  My  earnest  wish,  and  my  fondest  hope,  therefore,  is,  that  instead  of  wounding 
suspicions  and  irritating  charges,  there  may  be  liberal  allowances,  mutual  forbear 
ances,  and  temporizing  yieldings  on  all  sides.  Under  the  exercise  of  these,  mat 
ters  will  go  on  smoothly,  and,  if  possible,  more  prosperously.  Without  them  every 
thing  must  rub  ;  the  wheels  of  government  will  clog ;  our  enemies  will  triumph, 
and,  by  throwing  their  weight  into  the  disaffected  scale,  may  accomplish  the  ruin 
of  the  goodly  fabric  we  have  been  erecting. 

"  I  do  not  mean  to  apply  this  advice  or  these  observations  to  any  particular  per 
son  or  character.  I  have  given  them  in  the  same  general  terms  to  other  officers  of 
*he  Government ;  because  the  disagreements,  which  have  arisen  from  difference  of 
opinions,  and  the  attacks  which  have  been  made  upon  almost  all  the  measures  of 
Government,  and  most  of  its  executive  officers,  have  for  a  long  time  past  filled  me 
with  painful  sensations,  and  cannot  fail,  I  think,  of  producing  unhappy  consequences 
at  home  and  abroad." 

Three  days  afterwards,  the  President  wrote  Hamilton  to  the 
same  general  purpose,  but  a  little  more  pointedly ;  and  in  the 
following  paragraph  reference  would  seem  to  be  distinctly 
enough  had  to  the  articles  of  "An  American,"  which  had  just 
made  their  appearance  : 

"  Having  premised  these  things,  I  would  fain  hope  that  liberal  allowance  will 
be  made  for  the  political  opinions  of  each  other;  and  instead  of  those  wounding 
suspicions  and  irritating  charges,  with  which  some  of  our  Gazettes  are  so  strongly 
impregnated,  and  which  cannot  fail,  if  persevered  in,  of  pushing  matters  to 
extremity,  and  thereby  tearing  the  machine  asunder,  that  there  may  be  nmtuaJ 
forbearance  and  temporizing  yielding  on  all  sides." 


78  JEFFERSON'S  REPLY.  [CHAP.  n. 

On  the  9th  of  September,  Mr.  Jefferson  replied  to  the  Presi 
dent  from  Monticello  : 


"  I  now  take  the  liberty  of  proceeding  to  that  part  of  your  letter  wherein  you 
notice  the  internal  dissensions  which  have  taken  place  within  our  government,  and 
their  disagreeable  effect  on  its  movements.  That  such  dissensions  have  taken  place 
is  certain,  and  even  among  those  who  are  nearest  to  you  in  the  administration. 
To  no  one  have  they  given  deeper  concern  than  myself;  to  no  one  equal  mortifica 
tion  at  being  myself  a  part  of  them.  Though  I  take  to  myself  no  more  than 
my  share  of  the  general  observations  of  your  letter,  yet  I  am  so  desirous  ever  that 
you  should  know  the  whole  truth,  and  believe  no  more  than  the  truth,  that  I  am 
glad  to  seize  every  occasion  of  developing  to  you  whatever  I  do  or  think  relative 
to  the  Government;  and  shall,  therefore,  ask  permission  to  be  more  lengthy  now 
than  the  occasion  particularly  calls  for,  or  could  otherwise  perhaps  justify. 

44  When  I  embarked  in  the  Government,  it  was  with  a  determination  to  inter 
meddle  not  at  all  with  the  Legislature,  and  as  little  as  possible  with  my  co-depart 
ments.  The  first  and  only  instance  of  variance  from  the  former  part  of  my 
resolution,  I  was  duped  into  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  made  a  tool  for 
forwarding  his  schemes,  not  then  sufficiently  understood  by  me  ;  and  of  all  the 
errors  of  my  political  life,  this  has  occasioned  me  the  deepest  regret.1  It  has  ever 
been  my  purpose  to  explain  this  to  you,  when,  from  being  actors  on  the  scene,  we 
shall  have  become  uninterested  spectators  only.  The  second  part  of  my  resolution 
has  been  religiously  observed  with  the  War  department ;  and  as  to  that  of  the 
Treasury,  has  never  been  further  swerved  from  than  by  the  mere  enunciation  of 
my  sentiments  in  conversation,  and  chiefly  among  those  who,  expressing  the  same 
sentiments,  drew  mine  from  me.  If  it  has  been  supposed  that  I  have  ever  intrigued 
among  the  members  of  the  Legislature  to  defeat  the  plans  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  it  is  contrary  to  all  truth.  As  I  never  had  the  desire  to  influence  the 
members,  so  neither  had  I  any  other  means  than  my  friendships,  which  I  valued 
too  highly  to  risk  by  usurpation  on  their  freedom  of  judgment,  and  the  conscien 
tious  pursuit  of  their  own  sense  of  duty.  That  I  have  utterly,  in  my  private  con 
versations,  disapproved  of  the  system  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  I  acknow 
ledge  and  avow  ;  and  this  was  not  merely  a  speculative  difference.  His  system 
flowed  from  principles  adverse  to  liberty,  and  was  calculated  to  undermine  arid 
demolish  the  Republic,  by  creating  an  influence  of  his  department  over  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature.  I  saw  this  influence  actually  produced,  and  its  first  fruits 
to  be  the  establishment  of  the  great  outlines  of  his  project  by  the  votes  of  the  very 
persons  who,  having  swallowed  his  bait,  were  laying  themselves  out  to  profit  by  his 
plans;  and  that  had  these  persons  withdrawn,  as  those  interested  in  a  questKN 
ever  should,  the  vote  of  the  disinterested  majority  was  clearly  the  reverse  of  what 
they  made  it.  These  were  no  longer  the  votes,  then,  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  but  of  deserters  from  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people  ;  and  it  was 
impossible  to  consider  their  decisions,  which  had  nothing  in  view  but  to  enrich 
themselves,  as  the  measures  of  the  fair  majority,  which  ought  always  to  be 
respected.  If  what  was  actually  doing  begot  uneasiness  in  those  who  wished  for 
virtuous  government,  what  was  further  proposed  was  not  less  threatening  to  the 
friends  of  the  Constitution.  For,  in  a  report  on  the  subject  of  manufactures  (still 

1  The  Assumption  is  here  referred  to ;  see  vol.  i.  p.  609. 


CHAP,  ii.]  JEFFERSON'S   REPLY.  79 

to  be  acted  on),  it  was  expressly  assumed  that  the  General  Government  nas  a  right 
to  exercise  all  powers  which  may  be  for  the  general  welfare,  that  is  to  say,  all  the 
legitimate  powers  of  government ;  since  no  government  has  a  legitimate  right,  to 
do  what  is  not  for  the  welfare  of  the  governed.  There  was,  indeed,  a  sham  limita 
tion  of  the  universality  of  this  power  to  cases  where  money  is  to  be  employed.  But 
about  what  is  it  that  money  cannot  be  employed  ?  Thus  the  object  of  these  plans, 
taken  together,  is  to  draw  all  the  powers  of  government  into  the  hands  of  the  gene 
ral  Legislature,  to  establish  means  for  corrupting  a  sufficient  corps  in  that  Legisla 
ture  to  divide  the  honest  votes,  and  preponderate,  by  their  own,  the  scale  which 
suited,  and  to  have  the  corps  under  the  command  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
for  the  purpose  of  subverting,  step  by  step,  the  principles  of  the  Constitution, 
which  he  has  so  often  declared  to  be  a  thing  of  nothing,  which  must  be  changed. 
Such  views  might  have  justified  something  more  than  mere  expressions  of  dissent, 
beyond  which,  nevertheless,  I  never  went.  Has  abstinence  from  the  department 
committed  to  me,  been  equally  observed  by  him  ?  To  say  nothing  of  other  inter 
ferences  equally  known,  in  the  case  of  the  two  nations  with  which  we  have  the 
most  intimate  connections,  France  and  England,  my  system  was  to  give  some  satis 
factory  distinctions  to  the  former,  of  little  cost  to  us,  in  return  for  the  solid  advan 
tages  yielded  us  by  them ;  and  to  have  met  the  English  with  some  restrictions 
which  might  induce  them  to  abate  their  severities  against  our  commerce.  I  have 
always  supposed  this  coincided  with  your  sentiments.  Yet  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  by  his  cabals  with  members  of  the  Legislature,  and  by  high-toned  decla 
mations  on  other  occasions,  has  forced  down  his  own  system,  which  was  exactly 
the  reverse.  He  undertook,  of  his  own  authority,  the  conferences  with  the  minis 
ters  of  those  two  nations,  and  was,  on  every  consultation,  provided  with  some 
report  of  a  conversation  with  the  one  or  the  other  of  them,  adapted  to  his  views. 
These  views,  thus  made  to  prevail,  their  execution  fell,  of  course,  to  me  ;  and  I  qan 
safely  appeal  to  you,  who  have  seen  all  my  letters  and  proceedings,  whether  I  have 
not  carried  them  into  execution  as  sincerely  as  if  they  had  been  my  own,  though  I 
ever  considered  them  as  inconsistent  with  the  honor  and  interest  of  our  country. 
That  they  have  been  inconsistent  with  our  interest  is  but  too  fatally  proved  by  the 
stab  to  our  navigation  given  by  the  French.  So  that  if  the  question  be,  by  whose 
fault  is  it  that  Colonel  Hamilton  and  myself  have  not  drawn  together  ?  the  answer 
will  depend  on  that  to  two  other  questions,  whose  principles  of  administration  best 
justify,  by  their  purity,  conscientious  adherence  ?  and  which  of  us  has,  notwith 
standing,  stepped  farthest  into  the  control  of  the  department  of  the  other? 

"To  this  justification  of  opinions,  expressed  in  the  way  of  conversation,  agaiust 
the  views  of  Colonel  Hamilton,  I  beg  leave  to  add  some  notice  of  his  late  charges 
against  me  in  Fenno's  Gazette  ;  for  neither  the  style,  matter,  nor  venom  of  the 
pieces  alluded  to,  can  leave  a  doubt  of  their  author.  Spelling  my  name  and  charac 
ter  at  full  length  to  the  public,  while  he  conceals  his  own  under  the  signature  of 
4  An  American/  he  charges  me,  1st.  With  having  written  letters  from  Europe  to 
my  friends  to  oppose  the  present  Constitution,  while  depending.  2d.  With  a  desire 
of  not  paying  the  public  debt.  3d.  With  setting  up  a  paper  to  decry  and  slander 
the  Government.  1st.  The  first  charge  is  most  false.  No  man  in  the  United 
States,  I  suppose,  approved  of  every  tittle  in  the  Constitution  :  no  one,  I  believe, 
approved  more  of  it  than  I  did,  and  more  of  it  was  certainly  disapproved  by  my 
accuser  than  by  me,  and  of  its  parts  most  vitally  republican.  Of  this  the  few  let 
ters  I  wrote  on  the  subject  (not  half  a  dozen,  I  believe)  will  be  a  proof;  and  foi 
my  own  satisfaction  and  justification,  I  must  tax  you  with  the  reading  of  then: 


80  JEFFEKSON'S   REPLY.  [CHAP.  IL 

when  I  return  to  where  they  are.  You  will  there  see  that  my  objection  to  the 
Constitution  was,  that  it  wanted  a  bill  of  rights  securing  freedom  of  religion,  free 
dom  of  the  press,  freedom  from  standing  armies,  trial  by  jury,  and  a  constant 
habeas  corpus  act.  Colonel  Hamilton's  was,  that  it  wanted  a  king  and  house  of 
lords.  The  sense  of  America  has  approved  my  objection  and  added  the  bill  of  rights, 
not  the  king  and  lords.  I  also  thought  a  longer  term  of  service,  insusceptible  of 
renewal,  would  have  made  a  President  more  independent.  My  country  has  thought 
otherwise,  I  have  acquiesced  implicitly.  He  wishes  the  General  Government  should 
have  power  to  make  laws  binding  the  States  in  all  cases  whatsoever.  Our  country 
has  thought  otherwise  :  has  he  acquiesced  ?  Notwithstanding  my  wish  for  a  bill  of 
rights,  my  letters  strongly  urged  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  by  nine  States 
at  least,  to  secure  the  good  it  contained.  I  at  first  thoughfthat  the  best  method 
of  securing  the  bill  of  rights  would  be  for  four  States  to  hold  off  till  such  a  bill 
ehould  be  agreed  to.  But  the  moment  I  saw  Mr.  Hancock's  proposition  to  pass  the 
Constitution  as  it  stood,  and  give  perpetual  instructions  to  the  representatives  of 
every  State  to  insist  on  a  bill  of  rights,  I  acknowledged  the  superiority  of  his  plan, 
and  advocated  universal  adoption.  2d.  The  second  charge  is  equally  untrue.  My 
whole  correspondence  while  in  France,  and  every  word,  letter  and  act  on  the  sub 
ject  since  my  return,  prove  that  no  man  is  more  ardently  intent  to  see  the  public 
debt  soon  and  sacredly  paid  off  than  I  am.  This  exactly  marks  the  difference 
between  Colonel  Hamilton's  views  and  mine,  that  I  would  wish  the  debt  paid  to 
morrow  ;  he  wishes  it  never  to  be  paid,  but  always  to  be  a  thing  wherewith  to  cor 
rupt  and  manage  the  Legislature.  3d.  I  have  never  inquired  what  number  of  sons, 
relatives  and  friends  of  Senators,  Representatives,  printers  or  other  useful  partisans 
Colonel  Hamilton  has  provided  for  among  the  hundred  clerks  of  his  department, 
the  thousand  excisemen,  at  his  nod,  and  spread  over  the  Union  ;  nor  could  ever 
have  imagined  that  the  man  who  has  the  shuffling  of  millions  backwards  and  for 
wards  from  paper  into  money  and  money  into  paper,  from  Europe  to  America  and 
America  to  Europe,  the  dealing  out  of  treasury  secrets  among  his  friends  in  what 
time  and  measure  he  pleases,  and  who  never  slips  an  occasion  of  making  friends 
with  his  means,  that  such  an  one,  I  say,  would  have  brought  forward  a  charge 
against  me  for  having  appointed  the  poet,  Freneau,  translating  clerk  to  my  office, 
with  a  salary  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year.  That  fact  stands  thus. 
While  the  Government  was  at  New  York  I  was  applied  to  on  behalf  of  Freneau  to 
know  if  there  was  any  place  within  my  department  to  which  he  could  be  appointed. 
I  answered  there  were  but  four  clerkships,  all  of  which  I  found  full,  and  continued 
without  any  change.  When  we  removed  to  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Pintard,  the  trans 
lating  clerk,  did  not  choose  to  remove  with  us.  His  office  then  became  vacant. 
I  was  again  applied  to  there  for  Freneau,  and  had  no  hesitation  to  promise  the 
clerkship  for  him.  I  cannot  recollect  whether  it  was  at  the  same  time,  or  after 
wards,  that  I  was  told  he  had  a  thought  of  setting  up  a  newspaper  there  But 
whether  then,  or  afterwards,  I  considered  it  a  circumstance  of  some  value,  as  it 
might  enable  me  to  do,  what  I  had  long  wished  to  have  done,  that  is,  to  have 
the  material  parts  of  the  Leyden  Gazette  brought  under  your  eye,  and  that  of  the 
public,  in  order  to  possess  yourself  and  them  of  a  juster  view  of  the  affairs  of 
Europe  than  could  be  obtained  from  any  other  public  source.  This  1  had  ineffec 
tually  attempted  through  the  press  of  Mr.  Fenno,  while  in  New  York,  selecting  and 
translating  passages  myself  at  first,  then  having  it  done  by  Mr.  Pintard,  the  trans 
lating  clerk,  but  they  found  their  way  too  slowly  into  Mr.  Fenno's  papers.  Mr. 
Bache  essayed  it  for  me  in  Philadelphia,  but  his  being  a  daily  paper,  did  not  ch-cu- 


CHAP,  ii.]  JEFFERSON'S  REPLY.  81 


. 


late  sufficiently  in  the  other  States.  He  even  tried,  at  my  request,  the  plan  of  a 
weekly  paper  of  recapitulation  from  his  daily  paper,  in  hopes  that  that  might  go 
into  the  other  States,  but  in  this  too  we  failed.  Freneau,  as  translating  clerk,  and 
the  printer  of  a  periodical  paper  likely  to  circulate  through  the  States  (uniting  in 
one  person  the  parts  of  Pintard  arid  Fenno),  revived  my  hopes  that  the  thing  could 
at  length  be  effected.  On  the  establishment  of  his  paper,  therefore,  I  furnished 
him  with  the  Leyden  Gazettes,  with  an  expression  of  my  wish  that  he  could  always 
translate  and  publish  the  material  intelligence  they  contained,  and  have  continued 
to  furnish  them  from  time  to  time,  as  regularly  as  I  received  them.  But  as  to  any 
Other  direction  or  indication  of  my  wish  how  his  press  should  be  conducted,  what 
sort  of  intelligence  he  should  give,  what  essays  encourage,  I  can  protest,  in  the 
presence  of  Heaven,  that  I  never  did  by  myself,  or  any  other,  or  indirectly,  say  a 
syllable,  nor  attempt  any  kind  of  influence.  I  can  further  protest,  in  the  same 
awful  presence,  that  I  never  did,  by  myself,  or  any  other,  directly  or  ir  directly, 
write,  dictate  or  procure  any  one  sentence  or  sentiment  to  be  inserted  in  his,  or  any 
other  gazette,  to  which  my  name  was  not  affixed,  or  that  of  my  office.  I  surely  need 
not  except  here  a  thing  so  foreign  to  the  present  subject  as  a  little  paragraph  about 
our  Algerine  captives,  which  I  put  once  into  Fenno's  paper.  Freneau's  proposition 
to  publish  a  paper,  having  been  about  the  time  that  the  writings  of  Publicola,  and 
the  discourses  on  Davila,  had  a  good  deal  excited  the  public  attention,  I  took  for 
granted  from  Freneau's  character,  which  had  been  marked  as  that  of  a  good  Whig, 
that  he  would  give  free  place  to  pieces  written  against  the  aristocratical  and 
monarchical  principles  these  papers  had  inculcated.  This  having  been  in  my  mind, 
it  is  likely  enough  I  may  have  expressed  it  in  conversation  with  others,  though  I 
do  not  recollect  that  I  did.  To  Freneau  I  think  1  could  not,  because  I  had  still  seen 
him  but  once,  and  that  was  at  a  public  table,  at  breakfast,  at  Mrs.  Elsworth's,  as  I 
passed  through  New  York  the  last  year.  And  I  can  safely  declare  that  my  expec 
tations  looked  only  to  the  chastisement  of  the  aristocratical  and  monarchical  wri 
ters,  and  not  to  any  criticisms  on  the  proceedings  of  Government.  Colonel  Hamil 
ton  can  see  no  motive  for  any  appointment,  but  that  of  making  a  convenient  parti 
san.  But  you,  sir,  who  have  received  from  me  recommendations  of  a  Rittenhouse, 
Barlow,  Paine,  will  believe  that  talents  and  science  are  sufficient  motives  with  me 
in  appointments  to  which  they  are  fitted  ;  and  that  Freneau,  as  a  man  of  genius, 
might  find  a  preference  in  my  eye  to  be  a  translating  clerk,  and  make  good  title  to 
the  little  aids  I  could  give  him  as  the  editor  of  a  gazette,  by  procuring  subscriptions 
to  his  paper,  as  I  did  some  before  it  appeared,1  and  as  I  have  with  pleasure  done  for 
the  labors  of  other  men  of  genius.  I  hold  it  to  be  one  of  the  distinguishing  excel 
lences  of  elective  over  hereditary  successions,  that  the  talents  which  nature  has 
provided  in  sufficient  proportion,  should  be  selected  by  the  society  for  the  govern 
ment  of  their  affairs,  rather  than  that  this  should  be  transmitted  through  the  loins 
of  knaves  and  fools,  passing  from  the  debauches  of  the  table  to  those  of  the  bed. 
Colonel  Hamilton,  alias  '  Plain  Facts,'  says,  that  Freneau's  salary  began  before  he 
resided  in  Philadelphia.  I  do  not  know  what  quibble  he  may  have  in  reserve  on 
the  word  '  residence.'  He  may  mean  to  include  under  that  idea  the  removal  of  his 
family  ;  for  I  believe  he  removed  himself  before  his  family  did,  to  Philadelphia. 
But  no  act  of  mine  gave  commencement  to  his  salary  before  he  so  far  look  up  his 
abode  in  Philadelphia,  as  to  be  sufficiently  in  readiness  for  the  duties  of  the  office. 

1  The  pocket  account-book  shows  the  names  of  a  few  and  probably  all  of  the  sub 
scribers  thus  obtained.  They  were  Mr.  Jefferson's  neighbors  in  Alhemarle  county,  Vir 
ginia.  The  number  extends,  perhaps,  to  a  dozen  or  two. 

VOL.  II. — 6 


82  JEFFERSON'S  REPLY.  [CHAP.  n. 

As  to  the  merits  or  demerits  of  his  paper,  they  certainly  concern  me  not.  He  and 
Fenno  are  rivals  for  the  public  favor.  The  one  courts  them  by  flattery,  the  other 
by  censure,  and  I  believe  it  will  be  admitted  that  the  one  has  been  as  servile,  as 
the  other  severe.  But  is  not  the  dignity,  and  even  decency  of  Government  com 
mitted,  when  one  of  its  principal  ministers  enlists  himself  as  an  anonymous  writer 
or  paragraphist  for  either  the  one  or  the  other  of  them  ?  No  government  ought  to 
be  irithout  censors  ;  and  where  the  press  is  free,  no  one  ever  will.  If  virtuous,  it 
need  not  fear  the  fair  operation  of  attack  and  defence.  Nature  has  given  to  man 
no  other  means  of  sifting  out  the  truth,  either  in  religion,  law,  or  politics.  I  think 
it  as  honorable  to  the  Government  neither  to  know,  nor  notice,  its  sycophants  or 
censors,  as  it  would  be  undignified  and  criminal  to  pamper  the  former  and  perse 
cute  the  latter.  So  much  for  the  past,  a  word  now  of  the  future. 

'u  When  I  came  into  this  office,  it  was  with  a  resolution  to  retire  from  it  as  soon 
as  I  could  with  decency.  It  pretty  early  appeared  to  me  that  the  proper  moment 
would  be  the  first  of  those  epochs  at  which  the  Constitution  seems  to  have  contem 
plated  a  periodical  change  or  renewal  of  the  public  servants.  In  this  I  was 
vonfirmed  by  your  resolution  respecting  the  same  period ;  from  which,  however,  I 
am  happy  in  hoping  you  have  departed.  I  look  to  that  period  with  the  longing  of 
a  wave-worn  mariner,  who  has  at  length  the  land  in  view,  and  shall  count  the  days 
and  hours  which  still  lie  between  me  and  it.  In  the  meanwhile,  my  main  object 
will  be  to  wind  up  the  business  of  my  office,  avoiding  as  much  as  possible  all  new 
enterprise.  With  the  affairs  of  the  Legislature,  as  I  never  did  intermeddle,  so  I 
certainly  shall  not  now  begin.  I  am  more  desirous  to  predispose  everything  for  the 
repose  to  which  I  am  withdrawing,  than  expose  it  to  be  disturbed  by  newspaper 
contests  If  these,  however,  cannot  be  avoided  altogether,  yet  a  regard  for  your 
quiet  will  be  a  sufficient  motive  for  my  deferring  it  till  I  become  merely  a  private 
citizen,  when  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  what  I  may  say  or  do,  may  fall  on 
myself  alone.  I  may  then,  too,  avoid  the  charge  of  misapplying  that  time  which 
now,  belonging  to  those  who  employ  me,  should  be  wholly  devoted  to  their  service. 
If  my  own  justification,  or  the  interests  of  the  republic,  shall  require  it,  I  reserve 
to  myself  the  right  of  then  appealing  to  my  country,  subscribing  my  name  to 
whatever  I  write,  and  using  with  freedom  and  truth  the  facts  and  names  necessary 
to  place  the  cause  and  its  just  form  before  that  tribunal.  To  a  thorough  disregard 
of  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office,  I  join  as  great  a  value  for  the  esteem  of 
my  countrymen,  and  conscious  of  having  merited  it  by  an  integrity  which  cannot 
be  reproached,  and  by  an  enthusiastic  devotion  to  their  rights  and  liberty,  I  will 
not  suffer  my  retirement  to  be  clouded  by  the  slanders  of  a  man  whose  history,  from 
the  moment  at  which  history  can  stoop  to  notice  him,  is  a  tissue  of  machinations 
against  the  liberty  of  the  country  which  has  not  only  received  and  given  him  bread, 
but  heaped  its  honors  on  his  head.  Still,  however,  I  repeat  the  hope  that  it  will 
not  be  necessary  to  make  such  an  appeal.  Though  little  known  to  the  people  of 
America,  I  believe,  that  as  far  as  I  am  known,  it  is  not  as  an  enemy  to  the  republic, 
nor  an  intriguer  against  it,  nor  a  waster  of  its  revenue,  nor  prostitutor  of  it  to  the 
purposes  of  corruption,  as  the  '  American '  represents  me ;  and  I  confide  that  your 
self  are  satisfied  that  as  to  dissensions  in  the  newspapers,  not  a  syllable  of  them  has 
ever  proceeded  from  me,  and  that  no  cabals  or  intrigues  of  mine  have  produced 
those  in  the  Legislature,  and  I  hope  I  may  promise  both  to  you  and  myself,  that 
none  will  receive  aliment  from  me  during  the  short  space  I  have  to  remain  in  office, 
which  will  find  ample  employment  in  closing  the  present  business  of  the  depart- 


CHAP,  ii.]  HAMILTON'S  REPLY.  83 

Hamilton's  reply  to  General  Washington's  letter  has  often 
been  compared  with  the  preceding,  and  the  more  magnanimous 
spirit  it  has  been  supposed  to  evince,  has  been  the  theme  of 
much  panegyric.  He  professed  great  regret  at  the  President's 
"uneasy  sensations" — an  "anxious  wish  to  smooth  the  path  of 
his  administration" — his  determination,  "  if  any  prospect  should 
open  of  healing  or  terminating  the  differences  which  existed." 
to  "most  cheerfully  embrace  it,  though  he  considered  himself 
the  deeply  injured  party."  He  applauded  the  President's 
endeavors  to  restore  harmony  to  his  Cabinet,  and  if  they  should 
prove  unsuccessful,  "  did  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  in  his  opinion 
the  period  was  not  remote  when  the  public  good  would  require 
substitutes  for  the  differing  members  of  the  administration." 
"  On  his  part,  there  would  be  a  most  cheerful  acquiescence  in 
such  a  result."  He  proceeded  : 

"  I  trust,  sir,  that  the  greatest  frankness  has  always  marked,  and  will  always 
mark,  every  step  of  my  conduct  towards  you.  In  this  disposition  I  cannot  conceal 
from  you  that  I  have  had  some  instrumentality  of  late  in  the  retaliations  which  have 
fallen  upon  certain  public  characters,  and  that  I  find  myself  placed  in  a  situation  not 
to  be  able  to  recede  for  the  present.'1'1 1 

He  then  states,  that  although  Mr.  Jefferson  had  made  him 
an  object  of  "  uniform  opposition  "  since  his  first  taking  a  seat 
in  the  Cabinet — that  although  he  had  made  "  unkind  whispers 
and  insinuations "  against  him — that  although  he  could  not 
doubt  that  he  had  established  the  National  Gazette  for  political 
purposes,  and  to  render  him  and  the  measures  of  his  department 
"  aS'Odious  as  possible,"  he  had,  notwithstanding,  never,  except 
to  confidential  friends,  made  or  countenanced  any  retaliations 
until  very  recently.  He  had  even  prevented  attacks  from  being 
made  on  Mr.  Jefferson  in  consequence  "  of  the  persecution  he 
brought  on  the  Vice-President  by  his  indiscreet  and  light 
letter  "  to  J  B.  Smith.  He  had  remained  "  a  silent,  sufferer  " 
as  long  as  he  saw  "no  danger  to  the  Government  from  the 
machinations  which  were  going  on."  But  when  he  discovered 
"  a  formed  party  deliberately  bent  upon  the  subversion  of  the 
measures,  which  in  its  consequences  would  subvert  the  Govern 
ment  " — when  he  saw  "  the  undoing  of  the  funding  system  in 
particular"  *  *  *  "was  an  avowed  object  of  the  party,"  etc., 

1  Italicized  as  in  original. 


84:  HAMILTON'S  EEPLT.  [CHAP.  n. 

"  he  considered  it  a  duty  to  endeavor  to  resist  the  torrent,  and, 
as  an  effectual  means  to  this  end,  to  draw  aside  the  veil  from 
the  principal  actors."  "To  this  decided  conviction  he  had 
yielded  •*'  bnt  he  added: 

"  Nevertheless,  1  pledge  my  honor  to  you.  sir,  that  if  you  shall  hereafter  form  a 
plan  to  reunite  the  members  of  your  administration  upon  some  steady  principle  of 
cooperation,  I  will  faithfully  concur  in  executing  it  during  my  continuance  in  office. 
And  I  will  not  directly  or  indirectly  say  or  do  a  thing  that  shall  endanger  a 
feud."  l 

•  This  letter  would  seem  to  imply  a  disposition  to  make  great 
personal  sacrifices  to  "smooth  the  path"  of  General  Washing 
ton's  administration — to  embrace  the  first  opportunity  to  heal 
and  terminate  differences.  Except  that  it  takes  the  freedom  of 
proposing  that  both  the  differing  parties  should  retire  from  the 
Cabinet,  whereas  Jefferson  more  modestly  insisted  merely  on  his 
own,  without  suggesting  any  conditions,  or  offering  any  advice, 
touching  the  retention  of  his  opponent,  Hamilton's  letter  has^ 
been  perhaps  justly  regarded  as  exhibiting  more  liberality  and 
less  implacability  of  purpose  than  Jefferson's.  He  holds  forth 
the  idea  that  a  "  steady  principle  of  cooperation "  may  be 
found  to  reunite  the  Cabinet;  and  that  he  would  gladly 
concur  in  executing  it — whereas  Jefferson  abates  nothing  of  his 
former  charges  against  Hamilton's  political  measures  and 
objects,  evidently  looks  for  no  change  in  them,  opens  no  door 
to  compromise,  and  reavows  his  settled  and  inflexible  hostility 
to  them. 

So  far  as  principle  was  concerned,  perhaps  the  apparent  dif 
ference  in  the  yieldingness  of  the  two  men  was  real,  and  flowed 
from  their  systems.  We  should  expect  no  personal  departure 
from  the  cardinal  tenets  of  his  political  faith  by  Hamilton,  but 
his  system  was  based  on  the  idea  that  men  are  weak  and  cor 
rupt,  and  must  be  controlled  by  force,  or  through  means 
adapted  to  reach  their  motives.  We  cannot  doubt  that  almost 
any  concessions,  or  seeming  concessions  for  the  time,  would 
have  been  made  to  secure  Jefferson's  adhesion  to  a  few  of  the 
great  leading  and  characterizing  measures  of  the  Federal  policy. 
Jefferson,  always  a  liberal  compromiser  to  those  of  the  same,  or 

1  See  the  letter  entire  in  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.,  Appendix,  p.  615 ;  also  its 
Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  303. 


CHAP.  II.]  THE    REPLIES    COMPARED.  85 

essentially  affiliated,  principles — an  uncommonly  liberal  com 
promiser  in  mere  practical  details — bad  not.  as  we  bave-  agaii 
and  again  had  occasion  to  remark,  a  particle  of  concession  in  bis 
heart  or  in  bis  practice,  to  what  be  regarded  as  radically  false 
and  dangerous  systems.  And  recognizing  the  good  as  the 
dominant  principle  in  the  bosoms  of  men,  he  saw  as  little  policy 
as  propriety  in  appealing  to,  or  tampering  with,  the  bad,  to 
secure  tbat  triumph  of  the  right,  which  he  considered  as  sure 
without  any  such  appliance,  provided  an  enlightened  popular 
judgment  was  allowed  fairly  to  decide.  Willing  to  sustain  the 
Chief  Magistrate,  though  he  thought  he  had  officially  approved 
of  some  objectionable  measures,  because  be  believed  him  a 
sincere  friend  of  republican  government,  because  he  believed 
him  pure,  discreet,  and  aiming  at  impartiality,  he  could  not 
carry  complaisance  so  far  as  to  give  his  private  assent  to 
3chemes  which  his  conscience  condemned,  proscribe  others  for 
not  doing  so,  or  enter  into  any  unnatural  coalitions  with  hostile 
creeds,  or  with  men  who,  whatever  may  have  been  their  per 
sonal  disinterestedness,  he  believed  made  it  a  part  of  their 
system  *o  appeal  to  the  worst  principles  of  human  nature,  to 
effect  their  objects. 

Colonel  Hamilton's  letter  has  been  thought  also  to  show 
more  deference  than  Jefferson's  to  the  personal  feelings  of  the 
President — more  love  and  respect  for  him.  Judged  by  profes 
sions,  this  is  perhaps  true.  Judged  by  the  entire  purport  and 
spirit  of  the  two  letters,  we  confess  we  draw  an  opposite  infer 
ence.  Judged  by  subsequent  acts,  a  still  more  decisive  test 
would  seem  to  be  furnished.  Hamilton,  with  protestations  on 
his  lips  of  warm  respect,  and  of  his  anxiety  to  gratify  the  Presi 
dent's  wishes,  and  relieve  him  from  "uneasy  sensations" — with 
his  pledge  u  of  honor  "  that  he  will  sacredly  respect  some  cordon 
of  amity  hereafter  to  be  formed — just  six  days  after  writing  the 
President,  published  the  first  number  of  "  Catullus,"  and  con 
tinued  this  series  of  most  vehement  and  virulent  political  and 
personal  assaults  on  Jefferson  for  the  four  succeeding  months,  and 
throughout  the  entire  year!  If  that  reconciliation  which  the 
President  so  ardently  desired,  could  have  before  been  possible, 
these  articles,  of  course,  put  it  wholly  out  of  the  question  !  Jef 
ferson,  on  the  other  hand,  returned  to  his  official  duties  to  sub- 


8»J  THE  PRESIDENT'S  VIEWS.  [CHAP,  n 

niit,  as  hitherto,  to  this  badgering,  without  offering  any  resist 
ance.1 

On  Mr.  Jefferson's  return  route  from  Monticello  to  the  seat 
of  Government,  he  reached  Mount  Yernon  on  the  30th  of  Sep 
tember,  and  remained  until  after  breakfast  the  next  morning. 
A  conversation  there  took  place  between  him  and  the  President, 
whicli  stands  in  the  light  of  an  answer  to  a  part  of  his  letter  to 
the  latter  of  September  9th,  and  as  such  possesses  much  interest. 
It  was  recorded  in  the  Ana,  on  the  same  day  it  took  place,  at 
Bladensburgh,  where  Mr.  Jefferson  stopped  over  night.  After 
giving  some  preliminary  conversation,  in  which  the  President 
very  strongly  expressed  his  regret  ar  the  proposed  retirement  of 
the  Secretary  of  State,  and  declared  his  own  reluctance  to  re 
main  in  office,  but  his  determination  "to  make  the  sacrifice  of 
a  longer  continuance,"  "if  his  aid  was  thought  necessary  to  save 
the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life  principally,"  the  re 
cord  proceeds : 

"  He  [the  President]  then  expressed  his  concern  at  the  difference  which  he 
found  to  subsist  between  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  myself,  of  which  he 
said  he  had  not  been  aware.  He  knew,  indeed,  that  there  was  a  marked  difference 
in  our  political  sentiments,  but  he  had  never  suspected  it  had  gone  so  far  in  produc 
ing  a  personal  difference,  and  he  wished  he  could  be  the  mediator  to  put  an  end  to 
it.  That  he  thought  it  important  to  preserve  the  check  of  my  opinions  in  the 
administration,  in  order  to  keep  things  in  their  proper  channel,  and  prevent  them 
from  going  too  far.  That  as  to  the  idea  of  transforming  this  Government  into  a 
monarchy,  he  did  not  belieVe  there  were  ten  men  in  the  United  States  whose 
opinions  were  worth  attention,  who  entertained  such  a  thought.  I  told  him  there 
were  many  more  than  he  imagined.  I  recalled  to  his  memory  a  dispute  at  his  own 
table,  a  little  before  we  left  Philadelphia,  between  General  Schuyler  on  one  side, 
and  Pinckney  and  myself  on  the  other,  wherein  the  former  maintained  the  position 
that  hereditary  descent  was  as  likely  to  produce  good  magistrates  as  election.  I 
told  him,  that  though  the  people  were  sound,  there  were  a  numerous  sect  who  had 
monarchy  in  contemplation ;  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  one  of  these. 
That  I  had  heard  him  say  that  this  Constitution  was  a  shilly  shally  thing,  of  mere 
milk  and  water,  which  could  not  last,  and  was  only  good  as  a  step  to  something 

1  Mr.  Jefferson  found  defenders,  however,  in  the  newspapers,  and  "Catullus" 
brought  a  storm  of  missiles  round  the  head  of  the  real  author.  Perhaps  these  counter 
attacks  greatly  increased  the  violence  of  "Catullus."  We  are  quite  willing  to  believe 
so.  But  he  who  attacks  a  popular  and  prominent  man,  must  always  expect  retorts;  nor 
is  the  party  first  assailed  in  the  least  responsible  for  them,  unless  their  authorship  or 
instigation  can  be  distinctly  traced  to  him.  It  is  convenient  for  an  enraged  assailant  to 
assume  that  the  retorts  he  provokes  from  friends,  emanate  from  the  person  assailed,  for 
this  gives  an  excuse  to  say  more,  and  to  gradually  "  make  a  clean  breast  of  it;"  but  the<se 
assumptions  are  not  very  good  testimony  in  a  court  of  conscience,  or  in  one  of  trve 
honor 


CHAP.  II.]  HE    UliGEB    JEFFERSON   NOT   TO   RETIRE.  S7 

better.  That  when  we  reflected,  that  he  had  endeavored  in  the  Convention,  to  makt 
an  English  Constitution  of  it,  and  when  failing  in  that,  we  saw  all  his  measures 
tending  to  bring  it  to  the  same  thing,  it  was  natural  for  us  to  be  jealous  ;  and  par 
ticularly  when  we  saw  that  these  measures  had  established  corruption  in  the  Legis 
lature,  where  there  was  a  squadron  devoted  to  the  nod  of  the  Treasury,  doing 
whatever  he  had  directed,  and  ready  t<^  do  what  he  should  direct.  That  if  the 
equilibrium  of  the  three  great  bodies,  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary,  could  be 
preserved  ;  if  the  Legislature  could  be  kept  independent,  I  should  never  fear  the 
result  of  such  a  government;  but  that  I  could  not  but  be  uneasy,  when  I  saw  that  the 
Executive  hud  swallowed  up  the  legislative  branch.  He  said,  that  as  to  that  inte 
rested  spirit  in  the  Legislature,  it  was  what  could  not  be  avoided  in  any  government, 
unless  we  were  to  exclude  particular  descriptions  of  men,  such  as  the  holders  of  the 
funds,  from  all  office.  I  told  him  there  was  great  difference  between  the  little 
accidental  schemes  of  self-interest,  which  would  take  place  in  every  body  of  men, 
and  influence  their  votes,  and  a  regular  system  for  forming  a  corps  of  interested 
persons,  who  should  be  steadily  at  the  orders  of  the  Treasury.  He  touched  on  the 
merits  of  the  funding  system,  observed  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion  about  it, 
some  thinking  it  very  bad,  others  very  good ;  that  experience  was  the  only  crite 
rion  of  right  which  he  knew,  and  this  alone  would  decide  which  opinion  was  right. 
That  for  himself,  he  had  seen  our  affairs  desperate  and  our  credit  lost,  and  that  thia 
was  in  a  sudden  and  extraordinary  degree  raised  to  the  highest  pitch.  I  told  him 
all  that  was  ever  necessary  to  establish  our  credit,  was  an  efficient  government  and 
an  honest  one,  declaring  it  would  sacredly  pay  our  debts,  laying  taxes  for  this 
purpose,  and  applying  them  to  it.  I  avoided  going  further  into  the  subject.  He 
finished  by  another  exhortation  to  me  not  to  decide  too  positively  on  retirement, 
and  here  we  were  called  to  breakfast." 


It  did  not  need  these  declarations  to  convince  every  intelli 
gent  American  that  General  Washington,  in  giving  his  official 
sanction  to  the  Treasury  schemes  of  Hamilton,  had  not  the  most 
remote  idea  of  favoring  those  political  schemes  which  Jefferson 
and  the  Republican  party  attributed  to  Hamilton,  and  which 
they  supposed  to  be  the  object,  as  well  as  the  necessary  result 
of  his  measures. 

General  Washington's  "  exhortation  "  to  Jefferson  not  to  re 
tire  (to  be  again  and  again  subsequently  repeated) — his  avowal 
"  that  he  thought  it  important  to  preserve  the  check  of  his  opi 
nions  in  the  administration,  in  order  to  keep  things  in  their  pro 
per  channel,  and  prevent  them  from  going  too  far" — would  be 
a  sufficient  answer,  if  any  were  needed,  to  Hamilton's  taunt  that 
there  was  impropriety  or  indelicacy  in  Jefferson's  "holding  an 
office  under  "  a  government,  "  if  he  disapproved  of  the  leading 
measures  which  had  been  adopted  d urine?  the  course  of  its  ad 
ministration."  It  is  certain  that  Jefferson's  continued  and 
thorough  disapprobation  of  the  Treasury  measures,  after  tlu-j 


88  THE  PRESIDENT'S  RESPONSIBILITY.  [CHAP.  n. 

were  "  adopted  by  majorities  of  both  branches  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  and  sanctioned  by  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Union," 
was  well  known  to  General  Washington,  and  had  been  recently 
emphatically  reiterated  to  him  in  Jefferson's  letters  of  May 
23d  and  September  9th.  Nay,  k  was  one  of  Hamilton's  charges 
against  Jefferson,  that  "  to  every  man  who  approached  him,"  he 
arraigned  the  "principal  measures"  of  the  Government,  with 
u  indiscreet  if  not  indecent  warmth."  If  General  Washington, 
with  as  full  a  knowledge  of  Jefferson's  political  sentiments  and 
course  as  Hamilton  possessed — with  a  personal  knowledge  of 
him  which  ought  to  have  been  much  better,  because  obtained 
in  an  official  and  personal  intercourse  uf  vastly  longer  standing 
arid  greater  intimacy — still  desired  and  urged  Jefferson  to  re 
main  in  his  Cabinet,  it  will  hardly  be  claimed  that  he  was  not 
as  good  a  judge,  and  as  much  entitled  to  judge,  who  could  with 
due  regard  to  delicacy  and  propriety  remain  there,  as  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  or  any  other  person,  then  or  since. 

If  it  was  improper  for  a  head  of  department  to  differ  perma 
nently  from  another,  and  even  from  the  President,  in  regard  to 
certain  executive  measures,  then  it  was  manifestly  improper  for 
the  President  purposely  to  establish  a  politically  balanced  Cabi 
net,  unless  we  adopt  the  absurd  hypothesis  that  the  minority  of 
it,  on  finding  themselves  voted  down,  were  bound  to  sacrifice 
their  conscience  and  their  principles  to  the  will  of  the  majority. 
It  has  been  only  from  a  want  of  due  consideration  of  this  fact 
— from  an  unreflecting  comparison  of  this  case  with  that  of  the 
ordinary  ones,  where  Cabinet  officers  are  selected  from  one  party 
and  to  represent  one  party — that  such  gross  misconceptions  in 
regard  to  Jefferson's  course  have  been  instilled  into  the  public 
mind.  It  was  natural  enough  that  uncompromising  opponents 
should  desire  him  to  retire,  even  if  they  supposed  his  place  might 
be  tilled  by  a  less  powerful  man  of  the  same  political  school.  It 
was,  perhaps,  their  object  to  drive  him  to  retire.  If  so,  it  ap 
pears  they  would  have  succeeded  if  his  own  inclinations  had 
alone  been  consulted. 

In  his  newspaper  attacks  and  in  his  letter  to  General  Wash 
ington  of  September  9th,  Hamilton  charges  Jefferson  indirectly 
with  seeking  to  subvert  the  funding  system,  and  other  measures 
of  Government  already  carried  into  effect  or  in  course  of  execu 
tion.  Jefferson  denies  all  such  allegations  in  his  letter  to  the 


CHAP.  II.]  MERITS    OF   THE    CONTROVERSY.  89 

President  of  the  same  date,  and  confidently  appeals  to  the  know, 
ledge  of  the  facts  possessed  by  the  latter.  His  private  and  pub 
lic  correspondence,  and  his  subsequent  history,  leave  no  doubt 
of  the  full  accuracy  of  his  statements  in  this  particular. 

Hamilton's  allegations  in  regard  to  the  employment  of  Fre- 
neau  to  assail  the  Government,  are  sufficiently  answered  in  Jef 
ferson's  letter  to  the  President  of  the  9th  of  September.  He 
had  no  concern  in  establishing  or  conducting  the  paper.  He 
appointed  Freneau  a  clerk  before  his  strictures  on  Hamilton's 
measures  commenced.  Would  it  have  been  right  or  manly  in 
Mr.  Jefferson  to  remove  a  clerk  from  office  for  advocating  just 
such  views  as  he  himself  entertained  and  expressed  ?  Supposing 
(what  is  no  doubt  true)  that  Freneau  afterwards,  in  the  press  of 
the  battle,  sometimes  forgot  his  decorum — sometimes  expressed 
views  which  Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  entertain,  or  made  expres 
sions  which  he  regretted — was  it  therefore  the  duty  of  the  latter 
to  affix  a  public  mark  of  censure  on,  or  aid  in  putting  down,  a  re 
publican  pi-ess  which  was,  at  a  critical  time,  most  zealously  and 
ably  battling  for  the  general  principles  which  he  professed  ?  Did 
decorum  permit  a  federal  Cabinet  officer  to  heap  on  a  colleague 
the  language  of  personal  insult  for  months  in  a  newspaper,  and 
then  require  the  latter  to  remove  a  clerk  for  merely  warmly 
supporting  opposing  political  views  in  a  newspaper? 

It  may  be  said  that  Freneau's  attack  on  Hamilton's  measures 
began  before  Hamilton  entered  the  newspapers  as  "  An  Ameri 
can."  "  Catullus,"  etc.  A  file  of  the  National  Gazette  is  not  at 
this  moment  before  us.  We  believe,  however,  that  it  will  be 
found,  on  examination,  that  direct  insulting  personal  attacks,  like 
specific  accusations  of  fraud  and  falsehood,  were  begun  by 
Hamilton.  If  Freneau  before  that  (and  before  being  himself 
publicly  accused  of  perjury  by  Hamilton)  only  complained  of 
the  character  and  effect  of  Hamilton's  public  measures,  he  did  no 
more  than  Jefferson  himself  did  in  the  Cabinet,  and,  if  we  may 
credit  Hamilton's  assertions,  did  warmly  to  all  who  approached 
him.  Why  then  was  this  issue  taken  with  Freneau,  or  with 
Mr.  Jefferson  for  employing  his  pen  ?  Was  it  not  obviously  to 
present  the  issue  to  the  public  eye,  not  merely  as  between  Jef 
ferson  and  the  Treasury  schemes,  but  as  between  Jefferson  and 
General  Washington? 

Hamilton  was  repeatedly,  as  we  shall  see,  voted  down  not 


90  MERITS    OF   THE    CONTROVERSY.  [CHAP.  II, 

only  on  incidental  questions  in  the  Cabinet,  but  on  systems  of 
measures,  wherein  Jefferson  and  the  President  concurred.  Jef 
ferson's  most  important  departmental  measures  were  often  sus 
tained  by  the  latter,  against  the  vote  and  active  exertions  of 
Hamilton.  Did  Hamilton  consider  it  necessary  thenceforth  to 
abandon  or  cease  to  press  his  own  views  in  and  out  of  the  Cabi 
net  ?  Did  newspapers  which  received  his  official  patronage 
and  which  were  the  organs  of  his  party,  thenceforth  carefully 
square  their  views  and  recommendations  to  the  President!*. 
sanction  ?  Every  one  familiar  with  the  facts  knows  that  both  oi 
these  questions  are  to  be  answered  in  the  negatha.  Jefferson's 
opposition  to  the  Treasury  policy  was  an  opposition  to  the 
Government,  or  to  the  President,  just  so  far  and  no  farther  than 
Hamilton's  opposition  to  Jefferson's  foreign  policy,  on  a  numbei 
of  important  points,  was  an  opposition  to  the  Government  or  to 
the  President. 

These  oppositions  on  both  sides  were  the  inevitable  result  of 
a  politically  divided  Cabinet,  provided  the  individuals  com 
posing  it  were  upright  and  independent  men.  General  Wash 
ington's  feelings  were  occasionally  disturbed  by  the  excesses  of 
both  sides,  but  he  acted  firmly  and  consistently  on  his  own 
theory.  He  accepted  Jefferson's  explanation  in  regard  to 
Freneau,  and  long  after  that,  and  after  Freneau's  greatest  ex 
cesses,  he  again  and  again  earnestly  dissuaded  Jefferson  from 
offering  an  intended  resignation.  He  could  not  have  done  this 
consistently  with  self  respect  had  he  considered  Freneau's 
retention  in  his  clerkship  really  an  act  of  disrespect  to  his 
administration  or  himself.  Jefferson  has  on  one  occasion  re 
corded  that  he  thought  the  President  would  have  been  glad  to 
have  him  remove  Freneau.  If  his  supposition  was  correct,  it 
but  places  in  stronger  relief  the  broad  principle  of  no-partyism 
under  which  the  President  acted,  and  which  induced  him,  not 
withstanding  momentary  resentments  at  the  follies  of  the  parties, 
to  practically  tolerate  freedom  of  action  on  both  sides.  We 
have  had  a  still  more  conspicuous  instance  of  his  lenity  in  this 
particular.  He  had  a  Secretary  of  State  of  his  own  choice — hip 
first  choice  out  of  the  entire  population  of  the  republic.  He  was 
satisfied  with  that  officer,  and  was  wholly  unwilling  to  allow 
him  to  retire.  This  necessarily  implied  a  conviction  that  the 
subordinate  was  capable,  honest,  a  gentleman  in  conduct,  and 


CHAP.  IT.]         JEFFERSON'S  NOTICE  OF  THE  ATTACKS.  91 

not  deficient  in  proper  respect  towards  himself.  Yet  another 
subordinate,  mainly  under  the  pretext  that  a  disrespect  had 
been  offered  to  "  the  Government,"  entered  the  newspapers  to 
stigmatize  the  first  in  terms  very  rarely  heard  among  gentlemen! 
The  President  distinctly  hinted  the  pain  which  the  circumstance 
gave  him.  Immediately  afterwards  the  assault  was  reopened, 
redoubled  in  violence,  and  continued  for  months.  Yet  the 
President  tolerated  this  conduct. 

The  only  contemporaneous  notice  of  Hamilton's  attacks  on 
him  which  we  find  in  Jefferson's  private  correspondence,  was 
contained  in  a  letter  (September  17th)  to  another  colleague, 
Randolph  ;  and  it  was  drawn  out  by  the  latter  forwarding  to 
him  (in  Virginia)  a  copy  of  the  attacks.  Its  tenor  is  worthy  of 
notice  : 

"  I  thank  you  sincerely  for  what  respects  myself.  Though  I  see  the  pen  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  plainly  in  the  attack  on  me,  yet,  since  he  has  not  chosen 
to  put  his  name  to  it,  I  am  not  free  to  notice  it  as  his.  I  have  preserved  through 
life  a  resolution,  set  in  a  very  early  part  of  it,  never  to  write  in  a  public  paper 
without  subscribing  my  name,  and  to  engage  openly  an  adversary  who  does  not  4e' 
himself  be  seen,  is  staking  all  against  nothing.  The  indecency,  too,  of  newspaper 
squabbling  between  two  public  ministers,  besides  my  own  sense  of  it,  has  drawn 
something  like  an  injunction  from  another  quarter.  Every  fact  alleged  under  the 
signature  of  "  An  American  "  as  to  myself,  is  false,  and  can  be  proved  so ;  and 
perhaps  will  be  one  day.  But  for  the  present,  lying  and  scribbling  must  be  free  to 
those  mean  enough  to  deal  in  them,  and  in  the  dark.  I  should  have  been  setting 
out  to  Philadelphia  within  a  day  or  two ;  but  the  addition  of  a  grandson  and  indis 
position  of  my  daughter,  will  probably  detain  me  here  a  week  longer." 

It  would  appear  from  this,  that  if  Jefferson  had  made  no 
liberal  display  of  professions  to  the  President,  he  intended  to  act 
on  his  implied  "  injunction." 

One  of  his  first  steps  after  his  return  to  the  seat  of  Govern 
ment  was,  in  pursuance  of  his  recent  promise,  to  forward  the 
President  extracts  from  his  letters  written  pending  the  adoption 
of  the  federal  Constitution,  to  show  the  views  he  then  took  of 
that  instrument — in  reply  to  the  anonymous  strictures  and  asser 
tions  of  Hamilton.  He  seems  to  have  readily  satisfied  General 
Washington  that  he  was  not  one  of  those  who  constantly  lauded 
:t  in  public,  making  its  name  the  sanction  of  all  their  views — • 
who  attacked  other  persons  for  questioning  any  of  its  provisions 
even  before  its  adoption,  while  denouncing  it  in  secret  as  a 
"frail  and  worthless  fabric !"  The  General  replied: 


WASHING  TON'S    VIEWS.  [CHAP.  U. 


To  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

(Private.) 

18th  October,  1792. 
Mr  DEAR  SIR  : 

I  did  not  require  the  evidence  of  the  extracts,  which  you  inclosed  to  me,  to 
convince  me  of  your  attachment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  your 
disposition  to  promote  the  general  welfare  of  this  country  ;  but  I  regret,  deeply 
regret,  the  difference  in  opinions  which  have  arisen  and  divided  you  and  another 
principal  officer  of  the  Government  ;  and  I  wish  devoutly  there  could  be  an  accom 
modation  of  them  by  mutual  yieldings.  *  *  *  *  I  will  frankly  and 
solemnly  declare,  that  I  believe  the  views  of  both  of  you  to  be  pure  and  well 
meant,  and  that  experience  only  will  decide,  with  respect  to  the  salutariness  of  the 
measures  which  are  the  subjects  of  dispute.  *  *  *  I  'am  persuaded 
there  is  no  discordance  in  your  views.1  I  have  a  great,  a  sincere  esteem  and 
regard  for  you  both,  and  ardently  wish  that  some  line  may  be  marked  out  by  which 
both  of  you  could  walk.2 

The  rest  of  the  letter  is  filled  with  the  same  delicate  and 
affectionate  efforts  to  produce  a  compromise  between  his  Secre 
taries.  General  Washington's  mind  was  so  calmly  and  impar 
tially  attempered,  so  little  disposed  was  it  to  seek  extremes,  that 
he  seems  to  have  constantly  entertained  that  golden-age  dream, 
that  honest  men  could  be  brought  to  think  or  act  alike,  if  they 
would  only  come  together  and,  in  a  spirit  of  "  mutual  yielding," 
fairly  make  the  effort  !  He  evidently  thought  that  the 
organization  of  opposing  parties  was  unnecessary,  and,  in  our 
country,  unsafe.  This  is  a  fancy  which  is  apt  to  impress  itself 
on  the  minds  of  good  men  disinclined  to  extremes,  and  unversed 
in  party  action.  General  Washington  looked  back  into  history, 
and  found  that  parties  had  wrecked  most  ancient  free  govern 
ments.  But  if  he  had  looked  into  the  human  heart  as  it  is,  he 
would  have  found,  what  he  later  sadly  learned  in  practice,  that 
parties  are  the  inevitable  evils  as  well  as  benefits  of  all  organi 
zations  under  which  the  human  mind  is  left  free  ;  and  that  quiet 
from  their  agitations  is  only  to  be  found  under  the  death-like 
torpor  of  despotism. 

The  best  and  noblest  have  often  differed  radically  in  their 
political,  their  religious,  in  all  their  systems  but  their  moral 
ones.  Among  this  class  —  more  among  this  class  than  elsewhere  — 

1  This,  to  be  made  consistent  with  the  context,  and  with  other  declarations  of  the 
President,  must  be  construed  to  mean  that  he  thought  there  was  no  discordance  in  their 
views,  so  far  as  the  real  good  of  their  country  was  concerned  ;  and  this  was  undoubtedly 
his  meaning. 

2  For  the  letter  entire,  see  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  306. 


CHAP.  II.]  DISCONTENT   IN   PENNSYLVANIA.  93 

are  found  men  to  whom  the  fires  of  martyrdom  would  be  more 
welcome  than  the  abjuration  or  voluntary  sacrifice  of  a  prin 
ciple.  The  uncompromising  spirits  fill  as  necessary  a  place  in 
social  organization  as  the  middle  men.  They  are  the  centripetal 
and  centrifugal  forces  which  keep  society  in  its  just  orbit.  That 
free  state  is  perhaps  in  the  safest  condition  which  has  distinctly 
marked  progressive  and  conservative  parties — the  former  to 
keep  up  with  the  advance  of  human  knowledge,  and  cull  the 
good  from  every  new  field  of  human  exploration — the  latter  to 
prevent  progress  from  degenerating  into  mere  fickleness  and  rage 
for  innovation.  In  the  combat  between  them  everything  is 
thoughtfully  weighed.  The  fct  resultant  "  is  a  steadier  and  safer 
line,  and  more  coincident  with  fixed  principles,  than  would 
accrue  from  the  action  of  a  single  party.  In  the  latter  case 
there  would  be  comparatively  little  watchfulness  or  investiga 
tion.  The  want  of  divisions  on  principle  would  lead  to  indiffer 
ence,  or  activity  would  exhibit  itself  principally  in  personal 
rivalries.  With  two  parties  running  in  parallel  directions — as 
for  instance,  two  progressive  or  two  conservative  parties — both 
catering  to  the  same  class  of  inclinations,  in  commercial  phrase, 
both  bidding  in  the  same  market — the  salutary  check  of  oppo 
sition  would  be  thrown  away,  and  extreme  action  be  the  inevi 
table  consequence. 

During  Mr.  Jefferson's  absence  in  Virginia,  the  discontents 
in  western  Pennsylvania,  on  the  subject  of  the  excise  law,  had 
advanced  to  a  point  where  they  were  supposed  to  require  the 
interposition  of  the  federal  Government.  The  immediate  occa 
sion  of  its  interference  is  thus  stated  by  Judge  Marshall : 


"  A  meeting  was  again  convened  at  Pittsburg,  in  which,  among  other  very 
exceptionable  resolutions,  committees  were  established  to  correspond  with  any 
committees  of  a  similar  nature  that  might  be  appointed  in  other  parts  of  the  United 
States.  By  this  meeting  it  was  declared,  that  they  would  persist  in  every  legal 
measure  to  obstruct  the  execution  of  the  law,  and  would  consider  those  who  held 
offices  for  the  collection  of  the  duty  as  unworthy  of  their  friendship;  that  they 
would  have  no  intercourse  or  dealings  with  them  ;  would  withdraw  from  them 
every  assistance,  and  would  withhold  all  the  comforts  of  life  which  depend  upon 
those  duties  which,  as  men  and  fellow-citizens,  they  owed  to  each  other;  and  would 
upon  all  occasions  treat  them  with  contempt.  It  was  at  the  same  time  earnestly 
•ofonjmeuded  to  the  people  at  large  to  adopt  tLe  same  line  of  conduct."1 

1  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  237. 


94  CABINET   ACTION.  [CHAP.  H 

The  President  was  in  Virginia,  and  Hamilton  (who,  with  the 
Attorney-General  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  was  at  the  seat  of 
Government)  immediately  directed  the  supervisor  of  the  revenue 
in  the  western  district  of  Pennsylvania  to  repair  thither,  "  col 
lect  evidences  in  regard  to  the  violences  which  had  been  com 
mitted,  in  order  to  a  prosecution  of  the  offenders ;"  to  ascertain 
the  particulars  of  the  meeting  at  Pittsburg;  to  encourage  the 
perseverance  of  the  officers,  etc.  He  also  submitted  the  ques 
tion  to  the  Attorney-General,  for  his  opinion,  whether  "  an 
indictable  offence  had  not  been  committed  by  the  persons  who 
were  assembled  at  Pittsburg,"  with  a  view,  if  judged  expedient 
by  the  President,  that  their  proceedings  be  brought  under  the 
notice  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  about  to  sit  at  York- 
town.  He  expressed  the  conviction  "  that  it  was  indispensable, 
if  competent  evidence  could  be  obtained,  to  exert  the  full  force 
of  the  law  against  the  offenders,"  and  if  the  "processes  of  the 
courts  were  resisted,  as  was  rather  to  be  expected,  to  employ 
those  means  which,  in  the  last  resort,  were  put  in  the  power  of 
the  Executive."  He  thought  "moderation  enough  had  been 
shown ;  [that]  it  was  time  to  assume  a  different  tone."  "  The 
well-disposed  part  of  the  community  would  begin  to  think  the 
Executive  wanting  in  decision  and  vigor."  x 

General  Washington  (September  7th)  acquiesced  in  Hamil 
ton's  propositions,  and  declared  "  if  the  evidence  was  clear 
and  unequivocal,  that  he  should,  however  reluctantly  he  exer 
cised  them,  exert  all  the  legal  powers  with  which  the  Executive 
was  invested  to  check  so  daring  and  unwarrantable  a  spirit."1 

Randolph  was  opposed  to  a  prosecution  "  at  that  moment, 
when  the  malignant  spirit  had  not  developed  itself  in  acts  so 
specific,  and  so  manifestly  infringing  the  peace,  as  obviously  to 
expose  the  culpable  persons  to  the  censures  of  the  law."  He 
declared  that  he  had  at  first  thought  an  Executive  Proclamation 
(a  draft  of  which  Hamilton  had  sent  him)  objectionable,  but 
finally,  after  proposing  some  changes  in  it,  he  assented.* 

Hamilton,  rejecting  some  of  Randolph's  proposed  amend 
ments  as  "unnecessarily  diminishing  the  force  of  the  instru 
ment,"  but  submitting  them  to  the  President,  wrote  the  latter 

i  Hamilton  to  Washington,  September  1.    Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  284. 
*  For  letter  entire,  see  ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  286. 
8  See  his  letters  entire  in  ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  288. 


CHAP.  II.]  CABINET    ACTION.  95 

September  9th),  stating  "  the  result  of  further  and  mature 
deliberation  was,  that  it  would  be  expedient  for  the  President  to 
issue  a  proclamation,  adverting  in  general  terms  to  the  irregular 
proceedings,  and  manifesting  an  intention  to  put  the  laws  in 
force  against  offenders."  He  assigned  a  number  of  reasons  for 
this  step,  and  "begged  leave  to  add,  that  in  his  judgment,  it 
was  not  only  advisable  but  necessary  ;"  stated  that  "  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  and  Attorney-General  agreed  with  him  in  opinion, 
on  the  expediency  of  a  proclamation ;"  and  submitted  the  draft 
"  framed  in  concert  with  the  latter." 

On  the  llth,  Hamilton  inclosed  to  the  President  an  official 
letter,  submitting  the  draft  of  the  Proclamation.  He  remarked 
that  a  former  instrument  of  this  kind  had  been  countersigned 
by  the  Secretary  of  State — that  if  it  was  a  new  question  he 
should  doubt  whether  it  ought  to  be  under  the  seal  of  the 
United  States  (so  as  to  call  for  the  attestation  of  the  Secretary 
of  State)  instead  of  being  simply  attested  by  the  President,  but 
the  practice  being  begun,  there  were  many  reasons  which,  in 
this  instance,  recommended  an  adherence  to  it.  But  if  the 
Secretary  of  State  was  so  far  out  of  the  way  as  to  involve  the 
probability  of  considerable  delay  in  obtaining  his  signature,  he 
thought  it  best  to  depart  from  the  precedent.  He  remarked, 
"  every  day's  delay  would  render  the  act  less  impressive,  and 
defeat  part  of  its  object."  He  said  that  if  the  "  manner  and 
matter  "  of  the  Proclamation  should  be  criticised,  it  could  not 
be  matter  of  surprise  "  to  any  one  who  was  aware  of  the  lengths 
to  which  a  certain  party  was  prepared  to  go." 

On  the  15th,  the  President  dispatched  an  express  from 
Mount  Yernon  direct  to  Monticello,  inclosing  the  Proclamation 
for  the  Secretary  of  State's  signature.  He  mentioned  that  three 
members  of  the  Cabinet  had  concurred  in  its  expediency,  and 
speaks  of  it  throughout  as  a  measure  already  decided  on,  except 
that  a  few  words  were  underscored,  to  ask  the  Secretary's  advice 
as  to  their  retention  or  omission.1 

The  President,  on  the  16th,  wrote  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  mentioning  that  he  had  forwarded  the  paper  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  to  be  countersigned  by  him,  because  it  had 
been  the  precedent,  "  and  for  another  [reason]  which  had  some 
weight  in  his  mind."  What  that  other  reason  was  is  not  stated 

1  Bee  Sparks's  Washington,  yol.  x.  p.  295. 


96  PEESIDENT'S   PBOCLAMATION  [CHAP,  n 

He  also  said,  that  "  as  the  effect  proposed  might  not  be  answered 
by  it,  it  would  be  necessary  to  look  forward  in  time  to  ulterior 
arrangements.  And  here  [he  continued]  not  only  the  Constitu 
tion  and  laws  must  strictly  govern,  but  the  employing  of  the 
regular  troops  be  avoided,  if  it  was  possible  to  effect  order  wirh- 
out  their  aid ;  otherwise  there  would  be  a  cry  at  once,  'The  cat 
is  let  out ;  we  now  see  for  what  purpose  an  army  was  raised,' " 
etc.1 

Jefferson  immediately  returned  the  Proclamation  counter 
signed,  with  a  short  note,  expressing  the  opinion  that  the 
underscored  words  (the  same  originally  objected  to  by  Ran 
dolph  and  retained  by  Hamilton),  which  went  to  imply  the 
President's  affirmation  of  the  expediency  of  the  excise  law,  be 
stricken  out.2  He  regretted  the  proceedings  in  Pennsylvania, 
hoped  the  Proclamation  would  have  the  effect  "  to  lead  the  per 
sons  concerned  into  a  regular  line  of  application,  which  might 
end  either  in  an  amendment  of  the  law  if  it  needed  it,  or  in  their 
conviction  that  it  was  right."  But  he  expressed  no  opinion  as 
to  the  expediency  of  the  Proclamation.8 

Jefferson's  proposed  amendment  was  adopted,  and  the  Pro 
clamation,  as  drawn  up  by  Hamilton,  was  issued  as  soon  as 
returned,  bearing  date  the  15th  of  September. 

We  have  felt  it  necessary  to  enter  into  these  particulars  to 
show  that  Jefferson  had  no  share  whatever,  beyond  the  mere 
formal  one  of  countersigning  an  official  paper,  at  the  request 
(equivalent,  under  the  circumstances,  to  a  direction)  of  the  Pre 
sident,  in  initiating  that  course  of  proceedings,  later  steps  in 
which  we  shall  find  him  most  decidedly  condemning. 

Judge  Marshall,  if  we  correctly  gather  his  meaning,  throws 
the  President  pretty  decidedly  into  the  foreground  in  the  initia 
tion  of  these  measures.  The  preceding  facts  lead  us  to  a  some 
what  different  conclusion. 

On  the  12th  of  October,  the  Secretary  of  State  addressed 
complaints  to  the  British  Government,  on  the  subject  of  the 
impressment  of  sailors  from  American  merchant  vessels,  an  in 
stance  of  this  having  recently  occurred  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
He  wrote  to  Mr.  Pinckney : 

1  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p  297. 

*  He  proposed  instead  of  the  words  "to  render  laws  dictated  by  weighty  reasons  of 
public  exigency  and  policy  as  acceptable  as  possiblo  "  the  following,  "to  render  the  laws 
as  acceptable  as  possible." 

8  See  his  letter  of  Sept.  18. 


CHAP,  n.]  SPANISH   RELATIONS.  97 

"  So  many  instances  of  this  kind  have  happened,  that  it  is  quite  neeessary  that 
meir  Government  should  explain  themselves  on  the  subject,  and  be  led  to  disavow 
and  punish  such  conduct.  I  leave  to  your  discretion  to  endeavor  to  obtain  this 
satisfaction  by  such  friendly  discussions  as  may  be  most  likely  to  produce  the 
desired  effect,  and  secure  to  our  commerce  that  protection  against  British  violence 
which  it  has  never  experienced  from  any  other  nation.  No  law  forbids  the  seaman. 
of  any  country  to  engage  in  time  of  peace  on  board  a  foreign  vessel ;  no  law 
authorizes  such  seaman  to  break  his  contract,  nor  the  armed  vessels  of  his  nation 
to  interpose  force  for  his  rescue." 

On  the  14th  of  the  same  month,  he  instructed  Messrs.  Car- 
michael  and  Short,  to  lay  the  fact  before  the  Spanish  Govern 
ment,  that  the  Baron  de  Carondelet,  Governor  of  Louisiana,  had, 
through  the  resident  Spanish  agents,  incited  the  Creek  Indians 
to  war  on  the  United  States — had  furnished  them  with  arms  and 
ammunition,  arid  promised  them  as  much  more  as  should  be 
necessary.  The  Commissioners  were  directed  to  press  the  with 
drawal  of  all  agents  kept  by  Spain  among  the  Indians  within 
the  limits  of  the  United  States.  These  instructions  were 
scarcely  issued,  before  two  commissioners  (Messrs.  Viar  and 
Jaudennes)  arrived  from  Spain  to  remonstrate  with  the  United 
States  for  k*  menacing  the  Creek  Nation  with  destruction,"  and 
proposing  to  refer  the  discussion  of  the  interests  which  the 
United  States  or  Spain  had  in  the  proceedings  of  each  other 
towards  the  Indians,  to  the  negotiations  to  be  opened  at  Madrid. 
The  Secretary  of  State  at  once  denied  the  charge  in  respect  to 
the  Creeks,  and  gave  the  consent  of  his  Government  to  the  pro 
posed  reference.  On  the  2d  and  3d  of  November,  he  wrote 
Messrs.  Carmichael  and  Short  that  they  would  soon  receive  the 
proper  information  and  instructions,  and  in  the  meantime, 
directing  them  to  press  the  recall  of  Carondelet. 

The  President  had  called  a  Cabinet  consultation  on  the  31st 
of  October,  in  regard  to  our  Spanish  relations,  and  had  pro 
pounded  in  it  two  important  questions.  Jefferson  thus  gives 
particulars  in  his  Ana  : 

"  October  the  31.s£,  1792. — I  had  sent  to  the  President,  Viar  and  Jaudennes's 
letter  of  the  29th  instant,  whereupon  he  desired  a  consultation  of  Hamilton,  Knox, 
E.  Randolph,  and  myself,  on  these  points:  1.  'What  notice  was  to  be  taken  hereof 
to  Spain?  2.  Whether  it  should  make  part  of  the  communication  to  the  Legisla 
ture  ?  I  delivered  my  opinion,  that  it  ought  to  be  communicated  to  both  houses, 
Decause  the  communications  intended  to  be  made,  being  to  bring  on  the  question, 
whether  they  would  declare  war  against  any,  arid  which,  of  the  nations  or  parts  of 
the  nations  of  Indians  to  the  south,  it  would  be  proper  this  information  should  be 

VOL.   II. — 7 


98  HAMILTON    URGES    AN    ENGLISH    ALLIANCE.          [CHAP.  II. 

before  them,  that  they  might  know  how  far  such  a  declaration  would  lead  them. 
There  might  be  some  who  would  be  for  war  against  the  Indians,  if  it  were  to  stop 
there,  but  who  would  not  be  for  it,  if  it  were  to  lead  to  a  war  against  Spain.  1 
thought  it  should  be  laid  before  both  houses,  because  it  concerned  the  question  of 
declaring  war,  which  was  the  function  equally  of  both  houses.  I  thought  a  simple 
acknowledgment  of  the  receipt  of  the  letter  should  be  made  by  me  to  the  Spanish 
Charges,  expressing  that  it  contained  some  things  very  unexpected  to  us,  but  that 
we  should  refer  the  whole,  as  they  had  proposed,  to  the  negotiators  at  Madrid. 
This  would  secure  to  us  a  continuation  of  the  suspension  of  Indian  hostilities, 
which  ttie  Governor  of  New  Orleans  said  he  had  brought  about  till  the  result  of  the 
negotiation  at  Madrid  should  be  known  ;  would  not  commit  us  as  to  running  or  not 
running  the  line,  or  imply  any  admission  of  doubt  about  our  territorial  right;  and 
would  avoid  a  rupture  with  Spain,  which  was  much  to  be  desired,  while  we  had 
similar  points  to  discuss  with  Great  Britain. 

"  Hamilton  declared  himself  the  advocate  for  peace.  War  would  derange  our 
affairs  greatly ;  throw  us  back  many  years  in  the  march  towards  prosperity;  be 
difficult  for  us  to  pursue,  our  countrymen  not  being  disposed  to  become  soldiers;  a 
part  of  the  Union,  feeling  no  interest  in  the  war,  would  with  difficulty  be  brought 
to  exert  itself;  and  we  had  no  navy.  He  was  for  everything  which  would  procras 
tinate  the  event.  A  year,  even,  was  a  great  gain  to  a  nation  strengthening  MS  we 
were.  It  laid  open  to  us,  too,  the  chapter  of  accidents,  which,  in  the  present  state 
of  Europe,  was  a  very  pregnant  one.  That  while,  however,  he  was  for  delaying 
the  event  of  war.  he  had  no  doubt  it  was  to  take  place  between  us  for  the  object 
in  question  ;  that  jealousy  and  perseverance  were  remarkable  features  in  the 
character  of  the  Spanish  government,  with  respect  to  their  American  possessions; 
that,  so  far  from  receding  as  to  their  claims  against  us,  they  had  been  strengthening 
themselves  in  them.  He  had  no  doubt  the  present  communication  was  by  autho 
rity  from  the  court.  Under  this  impression,  he  thought  we  should  be  looking  for 
ward  to  the  day  of  rupture,  and  preparing  for  it.  That  if  we  were  unequal  to  the 
contest  ourselves,  it  behoved  us  to  provide  allies  for  our  aid.  That  in  this  view, 
but  two  nations  could  be  named,  France  and  England.  France  was  too  intimately 
connected  with  Spain  in  other  points,  and  of  too  great  mutual  value,  ever  to  sepa 
rate  for  us.  Her  affairs,  too,  were  such,  that  whatever  issue  they  had.  she  could 
not  be  in  a  situation  to  make  a  respectable  mediation  for  us.  England  alone,  then 
remained.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  effect  it  with  her;  however,  he  was  for  trying 
it,  and  for  sounding  them  on  the  proposition  of  a  defensive  treaty  of  alliance 
The  inducements  to  such  a  treaty,  on  their  part,  might  be:  ].  The  d»,sire  of  break 
ing  up  our  former  connections,  which  we  knew  they  had  long  wished.  '2.  A  contin 
uance  of  the  statu  quo  in  commerce  for  ten  years,  which  he  believed  would  IK 
desirable  to  them.  3.  An  admission  to  some  navigable  part  of  the  Mississippi  by 
some  line  drawn  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  such  navigable  part.  He  had  not, 
he  said,  examined  the  map  to  see  how  such  a  line  might  be  run,  so  as  not  to  makt 
too  great  a  sacrifice.  The  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  being  a  joint  possession, 
we  might  then  take  measures  in  concert  for  the  joint  security  of  it.  He  was, 
therefore,  for  immediately  sounding  them  on  this  subject  through  our  minister  at 
London  ;  yet  so  as  to  keep  ourselves  unengaged  as  long  as  possible,  in  hopes  a 
favorable  issue  with  Spain  might  be  otherwise  effected.  But  he  was  for  sounding 
immediately,  and  for  not  letting  slip  an  opportunity  of  securing  our  object. 

1  E.  Randolph  concurred,  in  general,  with  me.  He  objected  that  such  an 
allianc"  could  not  be  effected  without  pecuniary  consideration  probaMy,  which  we 


CHAP.  II.]  HE    OPPOSED    GOVERNMENT    MEASURES.  Of* 

could  not  give.  And  what  was  to  be  their  aid?  If  men,  our  citizens  would  see 
their  armies  get  foothold  in  the  United  States  with  great  jealousy ;  it  would  be 
difficult  to  protect  them.  Even  the  French,  during  the  distresses  of  the  late  war, 
excited  some  jealous  sentiments. 

"  Hamilton  said,  money  was  often,  but  not  always  demanded,  and  the  aid  be 
should  propose  to  stipulate  would  be  in  ships.  Knox  non  dissentiente. 

"  The  President  said  the  remedy  would  be  worse  than  the  disease,  and  stated 
some  of  the  disagreeable  circumstances  which  would  attend  our  making  such 
overtures." 


ISo  Hamilton's  proposition  for  a  defensive  alliance  with  Eng 
land — to  purchase  that  alliance  by,  amongst  other  things,  giv 
ing  England  a  foothold  on  the  Upper  Mississippi  and  the  com 
mon  navigation  of  that  river — was  defeated  by  the  emphatically 
declared  casting  vote  of  the  President!  Here  was  a  proper 
following  up  of  that  theoretical  u  entering  wedge,"  inserted  in 
the  argument  in  Lord  Dorchester's  case,  and  a  proper  condem 
nation  of  the  object  when  it  stood  openly  revealed.  We  have 
here  also  a  case  in  point,  where  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
had  no  horror  of  a  Cabinet  officer's  continuing  to  oppose 
u  Government  measures"  when  they  chanced  to  be  Government 
measures  disconnected  with  the  Treasury.  There  was  not  a  more 
often  adjudged  and  firm  principle  of  General  Washington's  ad 
ministration  than  that  he  desired  to  observe  a  genuine  neutrality 
between  all  European  powers,  and  specially  between  England 
and  France.  While  he  partook  of  none  of  those  prejudices 
which  made  him  in  the  least  indifferent  to  avoiding  a  war  with 
England,  just  as  clearly  and  decidedly  was  he  opposed  to  being 
drawn  into  any  direct  or  indirect  arrangement  which  savored 
of  such  an  indifference  in  regard  to  France — or  which  even  car- 
ried  the  appearance  of  choosing  a  contest  with  France  rather 
than  with  England. 

Hamilton  never  failed  to  take  the  opposite  ground  where 
circumstances  opened  the  most  remote  prospect  to  success  or 
partial  success.  His  habitual  conversation  and  correspondence 
exhibited  a  different  feeling  and  theory.  His  followers  and  the 
presses  under  his  influence,  soon  advocated  a  totally  different 
policy  in  this  particular  from  what  he  knew  to  be  the  settled 
one  of  Washington.  We  shall  find  him,  before  his  public 
career  closed,  entering  into  schemes  for  the  overthrow  of  that 
policy — entering  into  them  on  one  important  occasion  where 


100  THEORY    AND    PRACTICE    COMPARED.  [CHAP    II. 

there  are  good  reasons  for  believing  his  objects  were  as  carefully 
concealed  from  the  eye  of  Washington  as  they  were  from  the 
public.1  Surely  we  need  not  again  recur  to  the  question 
whether  Hamilton's  charge  against  Jefferson,  of  indelicately  and 
improperly  (not  to  say  treacherously),  opposing  the  measures  of 
a  government  of  which  he  was  a  member,  was  sincerely  made,  or 
whether  it  was  a  convenient  pretence  to  disable  a  powerful 
opponent. 

1  On  the  occasion  here  referred  to,  however,  Washington  was  out  of  office ;  and  this 
produces  a  difference  in  circumstances  in  favor  of  Hamilton,  which  every  reader  will 
know  how  to  make  due  allowance  for. 


CHAPTER    III. 

1792—1793. 

Second  Presidential  Election — Republican  Triumph  in  the  Congressional  Elections — Closing 
Session  of  the  preceding  Congress — It  refuses  to  hear  Heads  of  Departments  on  the  Floor 
— References  to  Heads  of  Departments  sustained — Political  Letters — French  Relations 
— The  President's  Views  on  them — Loan  to  United  States  Bank  defeated — "  The  Catho 
lic  principle  of  Republicanism  " — Partisan  partialities  towards  France  and  England — 
— Jefferson's  strong  Letter  to  Short — Republican  Opposition  to  Jefferson's  Retirement 
— His  disagreeable  Position — Letter  to  his  Daughter  on  the  Subject — Defers  his  Retire 
ment — Refuses  to  form  a  Coalition  with  Hamilton- -Additional  Assumption  defeated  by 
the  President — W.  S.  Smith's  Communications  from  the  French  Government — The 
President  urges  Jefferson  to  accept  the  French  Mission,  when  he  retires  from  the  Ca 
binet — De  Ternant's  application  for  Prepayment  granted — Prepayment  of  entire  French 
Debt  refused — Proceedings  in  Congress — Inquiry  into  the  Conduct  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury — Hamilton's  Replies  to  the  House — Resolutions  of  Censure  defeated — 
Their  Propriety  considered — War  between  France  and  England — How  regarded  in  the 
United  States — Cabinet  Proceedings  in  reference  to  Reception  of  French  Minister, 
and  to  the  Bindingness  of  French  Treaties — President's  Proclamation — Jefferson's 
View  of  Randolph's  Draft — President  decides  to  receive  French  Minister,  and  that 
the  French  Treaties  are  binding — Jefferson  refuses  to  remove  Freneau  from  Office — His 
language  and  Motives  considered — His  Idea  of  a  Casus  Belli  with  the  European  Powers — 
Morris  instructed  to  respect  the  de  facto  Government  of  France — Jefferson's  Ideas  on 
Public  Officers  embarking  in  Speculations — Citizen  Genet,  the  new  French  Minister — 
His  Arrival  in  the  United  States — English  Vessels  captured — The  Popular  Feeling— Ca 
binet  Deliberations  on  Neutrality  Laws — Instructions  to  Pinckney — Jefferson's  Descrip 
tion  of  the  Views  of  the  Cabinet — Hamilton's  proposed  Circular  to  the  Collectors — Jef 
ferson's  Reply  to  Complaints  of  Hammond — Complains  to  Hamilton  of  his  Intrusions 
on  his  Department — Cabinet  divide  on  Propriety  of  restoring  Prizes  to  England — Po 
sitions  of  the  Several  Members — President  concurs  with  the  Secretary  of  State — 
Genet's  Arrival  and  Reception  in  Philadelphia — His  Reception  by  the  President — 
His  Waiver  of  the  American  Guaranty  of  the  French  West  Indies — Its  Effect  on  the 
Public  Mind— Relations  with  Spain — Its  hostile  Deportment  towards  United  States — 
Instructions  to  American  Commissioners  in  Spain — Cabinet  Meetings  in  regard  to 
Southern  Indians—  Decisive  Dispatches  to  Spain — Forwarded  without  a  Cabinet  Con- 
saltation — War  considered  imminent — Federal  Hostility  to  the  French  Republic  con 
sidered — General  Washington's  Attitude  on  this  Subject — His  perfect  Understanding 
with  the  Secretary  of  State — Leaves  the  latter  to  decide  whether  an  immediate  Call 
shall  be  made  on  England  to  surrender  the  Northern  Posts — Jefferson's  Call  on  Ham 
mond — The  contemplated  Consequences  of  this  Step — The  Anglo-Spanish  Alliance — 
The  President's  greater  Confidence  in  Jefferson  than  in  the  other  Members  of  his 
Cabinet,  in  regard  to  Foreign  Affairs,  manifested. 

PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON  finally  consented  to  become  a  can- 

iidate  for  reelection.     He  met  with  no  opposition  and  received 

101 


102  PRESIDENTIAL    ELECTION.  [CHAP.  Ill, 

a  unanimous  vote  in  the  Electoral  College.      The    Federalists 

O 

supported  John  Adarns  for  the  Yice- Presidency,  and  the  Repub 
licans  George  Clinton,  of  New  York.  The  fonn-er  received 
seventy-seven  electoral  votes,  and  the  latter  fifty.1  But  several 
considerations  prevented  this  from  being  made  as  purely  a  test  of 
the  relative  strength  of  parties  as  that  which  took  place  in  the  con 
gressional  elections  under  the  new  Apportionment  Bill.8  The  Re 
publicans  carried  a  decided  majority  of  the  members.  Pre 
cisely  how  large  that  majority  was,  it  would  now  be  difficult  to 
say,  for  before  the  meeting  of  the  third  Congress,  events  took 
place  which  changed  the  partisan  relations  of  some  of  the  mem 
bers.  The  Republicans  lost  considerably  in  this  way,  yet  on 
the  vote  on  the  Speakership  they  still  had  a  majority  of  ten. 

But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  the  second  Congress,  which 
convened  pending  some  of  the  events  described  in  the  last  chap 
ter.  The  second  session  commenced  on  the  5th  of  November, 
1792.  On  the  16th,  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  wrote  his  son-in-law, 
Mr.  Randolph  : 

DEAR  SIR  : 

Congress  have  not  yet  entered  into  any  important  business.  An  attempt  has 
been  made  to  give  further  extent  to  the  influence  of  the  Executive  over  the  Legis 
lature,  by  permitting  the  heads  of  departments  to  attend  the  House  and  explain  their 
measures  viva  voce.  But  it  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  thirty-five  to  eleven, 
which  gives  us  some  hope  of  the  increase  of  the  Republican  vote.  However,  no 
trying  question  enables  us  yet  to  judge,  nor  indeed  is  there  reason  to  expect  from 
this  Congress  many  instances  of  conversion,  though  some  will  probably  have  been 
effected  by  the  expression  of  the  public  sentiment  in  the  late  election.  For,  as  far 
as  we  have  heard,  the  event  has  been  generally  in  favor  of  Republican,  and  against 
the  aristocratical  candidates.  In  this  State  the  election  has  been  triumphantly  car 
ried  by  the  Republicans  ;  their  antagonists  having  got  but  two  out  of  eleven  mem 
bers,  and  the  vote  of  this  State  can  generally  turn  the  balance.  Freneau's  paper  is 
getting  into  Massachusetts,  under  the  patronage  of  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams  ; 
and  Mr.  Ames,  the  colossus  of  the  Monocrats  and  paper  men,  will  either  be  left  out 
or  hard  run.  The  people  of  that  State  are  Republican  ;  but  hitherto  they  have 
heard  nothing  but  the  hymns  and  lauds  chanted  by  Fenno.  My  love  to  my  dear 
Martha,  and  am,  dear  sir,  yours  affectionately. 

The  vote  here  alluded  to  respecting  permitting  heads* of  de- 

1  The  vote   stood  for  Mr.  Adams :  New  Hampshire,  6  ;  Massachusetts,  16 ;  Rhode 
Island,  4;  Connecticut,  9;  Vermont,  3;  New  Jersey,  7;  Pennsylvania,  14:  Delaware,  3  ; 
Maryland,  8  ;  South  Carolina,  7.     For  Mr.  Clinton  :  New  York,  12  ;  Pennsylvania,  1 ;  Vir 
ginia,  21 ;  North  Carolina,  12 ;  Georgia,  4.    Mr.  Jefferson  received  the  4  votes  o."  Kentucky. 
Aaron  Burr  received  1  vote  from  South  Carolina. 

2  For  example,    in    Pennsylvania,  where  the   Republicans  were   decidedly  in  the 
ascendant,  and  elected  nearly  all  their  members  of  Congress,  Mr.  Adams  received  all  the 
electoral  votes  but  one  ;  and  these  alone  were  sufficient  to  turn  the  scale. 


CHAP.  III.]  LAST    SESSION    OF    SECOND   CONGRESS.  103 

partments  personally  to  address  Congress  on  its  floor,  arose 
during  the  debate  on  the  report  of  a  committee  on  General  St. 
Glair's  defeat.  This  was  thought  by  implication  to  cast  censure 
on  the  War  and  Treasury  departments ;  and  Dayton  moved 
(November  13th)  that  the  secretaries  of  those  departments  be 
directed  to  attend  the  House,  and  give  information.  This  was 
warmly  resisted  by  Madison,  Giles,  and  other  leading  Repub 
licans,  as  unconstitutional,  and  a  most  dangerous  precedent; 
and  was  supported  by  Ames,  Boudinot,  Smith,  of  South  Caro 
lina,  Gerry  and  others.  A  branch  of  the  Federalists,  headed  by 
Fitzsimmons,  Murray,  and  Liverrnore,  wras  not  prepared  to 
submit  Congress  to  this  species  of  influence,  and  consequently 
the  motion  failed  by  the  decisive  vote  recorded.1 

Another  exciting  debate  took  place  on  a  motion  made  by 
Fitzsimmons,  on  the  19th,  to  refer  a  portion  of  the  President's 
Message  relating  to  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt,  to  the  Se 
cretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  report  a  plan  for  such  redemption. 
The  Republicans,  anxious  to  reduce  the  continually  growing 
influence  of  the  Executive  over  the  Legislative  department, 
warmly  resisted  the  reference.  Madison,  Mercer,  Page,  and 
others  spoke  in  the  negative,  and  were  answered  by  Ames, 
Sedgwick,  Smith  of  South  Carolina,  Gerry,  and,  indeed,  nearly 
the  whole  Federal  strength  of  the  House.  The  motion  finally 
prevailed  by  a  vote  of  thirty-two  to  twenty-five;  and  another 
resolution  was  passed,  at  the  same  time  (November  21st),  direct 
ing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  report  a  plan  for  paying 
at  once  the  two  millions  advanced  by  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  to  offset  against  the  same  amount  subscribed  to  the 
stock  of  that  institution."  Mr.  Jefferson  wrrote  Mr.  Pinckney,  in 
England,  on  the  3d  of  December : 

"  The  elections  for  Congress  have  produced  a  decided  majority  in  favor  of  the 
Republican  interest.  They  complain,  you  know,  that  the  influence  and  patronage 
of  the  Executive  is  to  become  so  great  as  to  govern  the  Legislature.  They 
endeavored  a  few  days  ago  to  take  away  one  means  of  influence  by  condemning 
refeiences  to  the  heads  of  departments.  They  failed  by  a  majority  of  five  votes. 
They  were  more  successful  in  their  endeavor  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  a  new 
means  of  influence,  that  of  admitting  che  heads  of  department  to  deliberate  occa 
sionally  in  the  House  in  explanation  of  their  measures.  The  proposition  for  their 

i  Finally,  on  Madison's  motion,  the  matter  was  sent  back  to  the  Committee,  and  the 
secretaries  were  permitted  to  attend  before  the  Committee,  to  make  explanations. 

8  This,  by  the  conditions  of  the  loan,  was  payable  in  annual  installments  of  two  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars,  with  six  per  cent,  interest. 


104  AFFAIRS    IN    FRANCE.  [CHAP.  Ill 

admission  was  rejected  by  a  pretty  general  vote.  I  think  we  may  consider  the  tide 
of  this  government  as  now  at  the  fullest,  and  that  it  will,  from  the  commencement 
of  the  next  session  of  Congress,  retire  and  subside  into  the  true  principles  of  the 
Constitution.  An  alarm  has  been  endeavored  to  be  sounded  as  if  the  Republican 
interest  was  indisposed  to  the  payment  of  the  public  debt.  Besides  the  genera. 
object  of  the  calumny,  it  was  meant  to  answer  the  special  one  of  electioneering. 
Its  falsehood  was  so  notorious  that  it  produced  little  effect.  They  endeavored  with 
as  little  success  to  conjure  up  the  ghost  of  Anti-Federalism,  and  to  have  it  believou 
that  this  and  Republicanism  were  the  same,  and  that  both  were  Jacobinism.  BU: 
those  who  felt  themselves  Republicans  and  Federalists  too,  were  little  moved  by  tin.- 
artifice  ;  so  that  the  result  of  the  election  has  been  promising.  The  occasion  of 
electing  a  Vice-President  has  been  seized  as  a  proper  one  for  expressing  the  public 
sense  on  the  doctrines  of  the  Monocrats.  There  will  be  a  strong  vote  against  Mr. 
Adams,  but  the  strength  of  his  personal  worth  and  his  services  will,  I  think,  pre 
vail  over  the  demerit  of  his  political  creed."  1 

He  wrote  to  Dr.  Gilmer,  December  15th : 

"  We  have  just  received  the  glorious  news  of  the  Prussian  army  being  obliged 
to  retreat,  and  hope  it  will  be  followed  by  some  proper  catastrophe  on  them.  This 
news  has  given  wry  faces  to  our  Monoernts  here,  but  sincere  joy  to  the  great  body 
of  the  citizens.  It  arrive  1  only  in  the  afternoon  of  yesterday,  and  the  bells  were 
rung  and  some  illuminations  took  place  in  the  evening." 

Four  days  later,  lie  wrote  to  Mr.  Mercer: 

"  I  think  we  may  safely  rely  that  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  has  retreated,  aud 
it  is  certainly  possible  enough  that  between  famine,  disease,  and  a  country  abound 
ing  with  defiles,  he  may  suifer  some  considerable  catastrophe.  The  Monocrats  here 
still  affect  to  disbelieve  all  this,  while  the  Republicans  are  rejoicing  and  taking  tc 
themselves  the  name  of  Jacobins,  which  two  months  ago  was  fixed  on  them  by 
way  of  stigma." 

It  is  now  time  to  go  back  and  bring  down  the  narrative  of 
our  French  relations  from  the  point  where  it  was  left,  to  a  period 
when  those  relations  were  to  become  a  question  of  engrossing 
interest  throughout  the  United  States,  and  a  controlling  one  in 
the  direction  of  their  foreign  policy. 

The  intelligence  of  the  dethronement  of  the  King  of  Franc-; 
having  reached  the  American  Government,  Mr.  Jefferson  says 
a  consultation  was  held  at  the  President's,  about  the  first  week 
in  November,  on  the  expediency  of  suspending  payments  to 
France  under  the  present  situation.  He  thus  mentions  the 
heads  of  the  arguments,  and  the  result : 

1  It  would  seem  from  this  that  it  was  not  yet  known  definitely  how  the  electoral  vott 
would  stand  on  the  Vice-Presidential  candidates— indeed,  it  appears  bv  a  letter  o* 
Mr.  Ji.'3'erson's,  sixteen  days  later,  that  it  was  not  then  fully  known. 


CHAP.  HI.]  CABINET    CONSULTATION    THEREON.  lU5 

"  I  admitted  that  the  late  constitution  was  dissolved  by  the  dethronement  of  the 
King  ;  and  the  management  of  affairs  surviving  to  the  National  Assembly  only,  this 
was  not  an  integral  legislature,  and,  therefore,  not  competent  to  give  a  legitimate 
discharge  for  our  payments  :  that  I  thought,  consequently,  that  none  should  be 
made  till  some  legitimate  body  came  into  place  ;  and  that  I  should  consider  the 
National  Convention  called,  but  not  met  as  we  had  yet  heard,  to  be  a  legitimate 
body.  Hamilton  doubted  whether  it  would  be  a  legitimate  body,  and  whether,  if 
the  King  should  be  reestablished,  he  might  not  disallow  such  payments  on  good 
grounds.  Knox,  for  once,  dared  to  differ  from  Hamilton,  and  to  express,  very 
submissively,  an  opinion,  that  a  convention  named  by  the  whole  body  of  the  nation, 
would  be  competent  to  do  anything.  It  ended  by  agreeing,  that  I  should  write  to 
Governeur  Morris  to  suspend  payment  generally,  till  further  orders."  * 

He  mentions  a  subsequent  conversation,  in  which  Hamilton 
more  decidedly  expressed  his  doubts  whether  the  National  Con 
vention  could  establish  any  form  of  government,  omitting  the 
King,  which  the  United  States  could  safely  recognize  in  the  pay 
ment  of  money.2 

The  particulars  of  a  very  important  personal  interview  with 
the  President,  are  recorded  at  this  period,  showing  how  utterly 
the  latter  non-concurred  with  the  views  of  Hamilton  and  the 
Federalists  on  the  proper  policy  to  be  pursued  towards  France  : 

u  Thursday,  December  the  Zlth,  1792. — I  waited  on  the  President  on  some  cur 
rent  business.  After  this  was  over,  he  observed  to  me,  that  he  thought  it  was  time 
to  endeavor  to  effect  a  stricter  connection  with  France,  and  that  Governeur  Morris 
should  be  written  to  on  this  subject.  He  went  into  the  circumstances  of  dissatisfac 
tion  between  Spain  and  Great  Britain,  and  us,  and  observed,  there  was  no  nation 
on  whom  we  could  rely,  at  all  times,  but  France  ;  and  that,  if  we  did  not  prepare 
in  time  some  support,  in  the  event  of  rupture  with  Spain  and  England,  we 
might  be  charged  with  a  criminal  negligence.  [I  was  much  pleased  with  the  tone 
of  these  observations.  It  was  the  very  doctrine  which  had  been  my  polar  star,  and 
I  did  not  need  the  successes  of  the  republican  arms  in  France,  lately  announced  to 
us,  to  bring  me  to  these  sentiments.  For  it  is  to  be  noted,  that  on  Saturday  last 
(the  22d)  I  received  Mr.  Short's  letters  of  October  the  9th  and  12th,  with  the  Ley- 
den  Gazettes  to  October  the  13th,  giving  us  the  first  news  of  the  retreat  of  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  the  capture  of  Spires  and  Worms  by  Custine,  and  that  of 
Nice  by  Anselme.]  I  therefore  expressed  to  the  President  my  cordial  approbation 
of  these  ideas  ;  told  him,  I  had  meant  on  that  day  (as  an  opportunity  of  writing  by 
the  British  packet  would  occur  immediately),  to  take  his  orders  for  removing  the 
suspension  of  payments  to  France,  which  had  been  imposed  by  my  last  letter  to 
Governeur  Morris,  but  was  meant,  as  I  supposed,  only  for  the  interval  between  the 
abolition  of  the  late  constitution  by  the  dethronement  of  the  King,  and  the  meet 
ing  of  some  other  body,  invested  by  the  will  of  the  nation  with  powers  to  transact 
their  affairs  ;  that  I  considered  the  National  Convention,  then  assembled,  as  such 

1  Ana — note  to  entry.  November.  1792.    Jefferson's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  473. 
»  Tb.  p.  473. 


106  PRESIDENT'S  VIEWS.  [CHAP,  in 

a  body  ;  and  that,  therefore,  we  ought  to  go  on  with  the  payments  to  them,  or  to 
any  government  they  should  establish  :  that,  however,  I  had  learned  last  night, 
that  some  clause  in  the  bill  for  providing  reimbursement  of  the  loan  made  by  the 
Bank  to  the  United  States,  had  given  rise  to  a  question  before  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  yesterday,  which  might  affect  these  payments  ;  a  clause  in  that  bill  pro 
posing,  that  the  money  formerly  borrowed  in  Amsterdam,  to  pay  the  French  debt, 
and  appropriated  by  law  (1790,  August  4th,  c.  34,  s.  2)  to  that  purpose,  lying  dead 
as  was  suggested,  should  be  taken  to  pay  the  Bank,  and  i»\e  President  be  authorized 
to  borrow  two  millions  of  dollars  more,  out  of  which  it  should  be  replaced  :  and  if 
this  should  be  done,  the  removal  of  our  suspension  of  payments,  as  I  had  been 
about  to  propose,  would  be  premature.  He  expressed  his  disapprobation  of  the 
clause  above  mentioned  ;  thought  it  highly  improper  in  the  Legislature  to  change 
an  appropriation  once  made,  and  added,  that  no  one  could  tell  in  what  that  would 
end.  I  concurred,  but  observed,  that  on  a  division  of  the  House,  the  ayes  for 
striking  out  the  clause  were  twenty-seven,  the  noes  twenty-six ;  whereon  the 
Speaker  gave  his  vote  against  striking  out,  which  divides  the  House  ;  the  clause  for 
the  disappropriation  remained  of  course.  I  mentioned  suspicions,  that  the  whole 
of  this  was  a  trick  to  serve  the  Bank  under  a  great  existing  embarrassment ;  that 
the  debt  to  the  Bank  was  to  be  repaid  by  installments  ;  that  the  first  installment  was 
of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  only,  or  rather  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
dollars  (because  forty  thousand  of  the  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  would  be  the 
United  States'  own  dividend  of  the  installment)  Yet  here  were  two  millions  to  be 
paid  them  at  once,  and  to  be  taken  from  a  purpose  of  gratitude  and  honor,  to 
which  it  had  been  appropriated." 

The  latter  part  of  this  extract  will  be  better  understood  after 
reading  the  following  proceedings  in  Congress. 

The  committee  to  which  was  referred  Hamilton's  plan  for 
repaying  the  United  States  Bank  the  two  millions  of  dollars 
borrowed  of  it — only  two  hundred  thousand  of  which  were  due 
by  the  terms  of  the  loan1 — and  appropriating  to  this  object  the 
money  formerly  borrowed  in  Amsterdam  to  pay  the  French 
debt,  and  set  apart  by  law  for  that  purpose,  and  authorizing  the 
President  to  borrow  two  millions  to  replace  it — reported  a  bill 
based  on  the  Secretary's  recommendation,  on  the  24th  of  De 
cember.  Steele  moved  to  strike  out  the  enacting  clause.  Madi 
son  declared  in  the  debate  : 

"  With  respect  to  the  money  appropriated  and  now  lying  useless,  he  was  of 
opinion  that  it  ought  to  be  immediately  applied  to  the  original  purpose,  to  pay  ou* 
debt  to  France.  Now  was  the  time  to  discharge  our  obligations  to  that  country  ; 
and  so  far  from  considering  the  present  posture  of  affairs  in  France  as  a  reason 
for  withholding  payment,  he  would  rather  wish  that  the  sum  was  wafted  to  them 
on  the  wings  of  the  wind." 

1  In  reality  but  $160,000,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  has  just  shown. 


CHAP,  in.]         CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE    OF    REPUBLICANISM.  107 

Steele's  motion  was  lost  by  a  decisive  majority  ;  and  Madi 
son  then  moved  to  reduce  the  payment  to  the  Bank  to  two  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars,  the  sum  actually  due  it.  This  was  lost, 
as  Mr.  Jefferson  remarks,  only  by  the  casting  vote  of  the 
Speaker  ;  but  it  finally  prevailed  later  in  the  session.  The  de 
feat  of  the  Federalists  on  two  such  favorite  measures  as  assist 
ing  the  United  States  Bank  and  showing  their  hostility  to  the 
new  Government  of  France,  was  keenly  felt  by  them ;  and  it 
probably  gave  a  token  of  the  effect  of  "  the  expression  of  the 
public  sentiment  in  the  late  election." 

Three  days  after  the  last  named  interview  with  the  President, 
Mr.  Jefferson  drew  up  an  answer  to  a  letter  of  the  American 
Minister  in  London  of  September  19th.  In  this,  he  laid  down 
what  he  terms  "  the  catholic  principle  of  republicanism,"  as 
follows : 

"  You  express  a  wish  in  your  letter  to  be  generally  advised  as  to  the  tenor  of 
your  conduct,  in  consequence  of  the  late  revolution  in  France,  the  questions  rela 
tive  to  which,  you  observe,  incidentally  present  themselves  to  you.  It  is  impossi 
ble  to  foresee  the  particular  circumstances  which  may  require  you  to  decide  and 
act  on  that  question.  But,  principles  being  understood,  their  application  will  be 
less  embarrassing.  We  certainly  cannot  deny  to  other  nations  that  principle 
whereon  our  government  is  founded,  that  every  nation  has  a  right  to  govern  itself 
internally  under  what  forms  it  pleases,  and  to  change  these  forms  at  its  own  will , 
and  externally  to  transact  business  with  other  nations  through  whatever  organ  it 
chooses,  whether  that  be  a  King,  Convention,  Assembly,  Committee,  President,  or 
whatever  it  be.  The  only  thing  essential  is,  the  will  of  the  nation.  Taking  this 
as  your  polar  star,  you  can  hardly  err." 

He  says  he  was  induced  to  write  this  to  extract  the  Presi 
dent's  opinion  on  the  question  involved  (which  had  divided 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton  in  the  Cabinet  consultation  and  con 
versations  already  given),  and  should  it  be  favorable  to  his  own, 
"  to  place  the  principles  on  record  in  the  letter  books  of  his 
office."  The  President  returned  his  approbation  in  writing. 

The  partialities  of  the  Republicans  and  Federalists,  respect 
ively,  for  France  and  England,  now  burned  fiercely  throughout 
the  United  States.  The  bloody  events  of  the  second  and  third 
of  September  in  the  former,  had  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through 
Christendom  ;  and  when  the  National  Assembly  swore  *'  hatred 

1  The  Secretary  had  substantially  laid  down  the  same  principle  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Mor 
ris,  which  bears  date  November  7th.  He  appears  to  have  been  anxious  to  obtain  the 
President  s  written  approbation. 


108  LETTER   TO   MB.  SHORT.  [CHAP.  DL 

to  kings  and  royalty,  and  that  no  foreign  power  should  ever  be 
suffered  to  dictate  laws  to  the  French,"  the  frien-ds  of  strong 
government  throughout  the  earth  regarded  it  as  a  signal  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  social  fabric  in  that  devoted  country.  The 
American  Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  were  not  deterred  by 
the  atrocities  committed  by  maddened  mobs,  or  by  bodies  of  men 
of  any  kind,  during  the  birth  of  the  new  government,  from  re 
cognizing  the  principle  which  we  have  just  seen  sanctioned  by 
their  own  Executive.  When  the  "Republic,  one  and  indivis 
ible,"  rose  armed  with  the  energy  of  despair  against  a  coalition 
of  nearly  all  central  and  southern  Europe,  the  American  Re 
publicans  considered  it,  as  it  no  doubt  wras,  essentially  a  contest 
between  forms  of  government — between  legitimacy  and  the 
right  of  self-government — between  the  monocratic  and  demo 
cratic  principle.  Which  way  the  sympathies  of  the  friends 
of  popular  government  would  incline  in  such  a  struggle,  could 
not  be  a  matter  of  doubt.  They  find  an  earnest  and  almost  ter 
rible  expression  in  a  letter  (January  3d,  1793)  from  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  to  his  former  Secretary,  Mr.  Short,  then  Minister  in  Hol 
land  : 

"  The  tone  of  your  letters  had  for  some  time  given  me  pain,  on  account  of  the 
extreme  warmth  with  which  they  censured  the  proceedings  of  the  Jacobins 
of  France.  I  considered  that  sect  as  the  same  with  the  Republican  patriots,  and 
the  Feuillants  as  the  Monarchical  patriots,  well  known  in  the  early  part  of  the 
Revolution,  and  but  little  distant  in  their  views,  both  having  in  object  the  establish 
ment  of  a  free  constitution,  differing  only  on  the  question  whether  their  chief 
Executive  should  be  hereditary  or  no*.  The  Jacobins  (as  since  called)  yielded  to 
the  Feuillants,  and  tried  the  experiment  of  retaining  their  hereditary  Executive. 
The  experiment  failed  completely,  and  would  have  brought  on  the  reestablishment 
of  despotism  had  it  been  pursued.  The  Jacobins  knew  this,  and  that  the 
expunging  that  office  was  of  absolute  necessity.  And  the  nation  was  with  them  in 
opinion,  for  however  they  might  have  been  formerly  for  the  Constitution  framed 
by  the  first  Assembly,  they  were  come  over  from  their  hope  in  it,  and  were  now 
generally  Jacobins.  In  the  struggle  which  was  necessary,  many  guilty  persons  fell 
without  the  forms  of  trial,  and  with  them  some  innocent.  These  I  deplore  as  much 
as  anybody,  and  shall  deplore  some  of  them  to  the  day  of  my  death.  But  I 
deplore  them  as  I  should  have  done  had  they  fallen  in  battle.  It  was  necessary  to 
use  the  arm  of  the  people,  a  machine  not  quite  so  blind  as  balls  and  bombs,  but 
blind  to  a  certain  degree.  A  few  of  their  cordial  friends  met  at  their  hands  the 
fate  of  enemies.  But  time  and  truth  will  rescue  and  embalm  their  memories,  while 
their  posterity  will  be  enjoying  that  very  liberty  for  which  they  would  never  have 
hesitated  to  offer  up  their  lives.  The  liberty  of  the  whole  earth  was  depending  on 
the  issue  of  the  contest,  and  was  ever  such  a  prize  won  with  so  little  innocent 
blood?  My  own  affections  have  been  deeply  wounded  by  some  of  the  martyrs  TO 


CHAP.  III.]  POLITICAL    TONE    OF   THE    PERIOD.  10S 

this  cause,  but  rather  than  it  should  have  failed  I  would  have  seen  half  the  earth 
desolated  ;  were  there  hut  an  Adam  and  Eve  left  in  every  country,  and  left  free,  it 
would  be  better  than  it  now  is." 

This  is  expressive  enough  of  the  writer's  estimation  of  the 
value  of  human  liberty,  even  when  weighed  in  the  balance,  tern 
porarily,  against  all  other  human  interests!     It  seems  to  show, 
too,  that  he  had  surrendered  his  earlier  conservatism  in  regard 

'  O 

to  the  appropriate  aims  of  the  French  Revolution — or  else,  that 
inasmuch  as  France  had  advanced  to  the  Constitution  of  1791 
— the  anomalous  union  of  a  democracy  with  a  hereditary  execu 
tive — he  believed  her  safety  now  required  her  to  run  the  full 
course  of  the  democratic  experiment  she  had  entered  upon. 
The  last  is  undoubtedly  the  correct  solution. 

This  letter  is  characteristic  of  the  high  and  impassioned  tone 
of  feeling  at  that  remarkable  period.  The  politicians  of  that 
day,  not  only  in  the  United  States,  but  in  all  parts  of  Europe 
where  political  speculations  take  root,  appear  to  have  generally 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  was  one  of  those  great  crises 
in  the  world's  history  when  the  institutions  of  coming  centuries 
are  hanging  in  the  scales — when  the  event  of  a  pending  struggle 
will  give  their  direction  to  the  currents  of  human  civilization 
for  ages.  Nor  is  it,  perhaps,  altogether  certain  that  this  view 
was  an  erroneous  one.  But  whether  so  or  not,  the  impression 
rendered  men  more  indifferent  to  all  minor  questions  and  conse 
quences,  than  would  seem  possible  to  the  mind,  looking  out  from 
a  calm  epoch.  The  man  to  whose  heart  the  least  cry  of  human 
distress  sends  a  keen  pang,  when  he  is  surrounded  by  peace  and 
its  associations,  can  hardly  realize  that  in  an  army,  and  with  the 
fate  of  a  great  cause  hanging  on  its  success,  he  could  unshrink 
ingly  see  thousands  of  his  comrades,  as  well  as  his  enemies, 
devoted  to  a  violent  death,  or  to  physical  calamities  far  more 
appalling. 

Thus,  at  this  point,  the  friends  and  enemies  of  republicanism 
throughout  the  earth  looked  on  the  terrible  struggle  between 
France  and  the  Coalition.  The  enemies  of  republicanism  thought 
it  right  for  the  world  to  band  against  one  nation,  and  devote 
its  people  to  rapine  and  slaughter,  to  exterminate  an  obnoxious 
political  principle.  The  Republicans  thought  that  the  bloodshed 
and  excesses  attending  a  forcible  transition  to  national  freedom 
were  as  excusable  ae  those  with  which  despotism  was  generally 


110  JEFFERSON'S  DETERMINATION  TO  RETIRE.       [CHAP,  in 

founded,  and  which  it  never  ceased  from  time  to  time  to  inflict. 
As  the  great  struggle  advanced,  there  was  some  changing  of 
sides  on  account  of  particular  causes  calculated  to  influence  par 
ticular  minds  ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  was  an  ex 
tensive  falling  off  of  the  sympathizers  with  France,  by  reason 
of  the  succeeding  atrocities  developed  by  the  Revolution.  But 
while  the  liberals  of  Europe,  and  particularly  in  England,  aban 
doned  her  cause  with  disgust,  ind  while  many  did  so  in  the 
United  States  who  were  far  from  desiring  a  monarchy  at  home, 
few  of  the  decided  members  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  lat 
ter  ever  ceased  to  prefer  the  cause  of  the  French  Republic  to 
that  of  the  coalition  of  its  monarchical  foes. 

As  the  contest  went  on,  it  was  curious  to  see  how  just  and 
humane  men  on  both  sides  could  learn  apparently  to  overlook 
the  horrors  committed  or  caused  by  those  who  had  their  partial 
ities,  or  at  least  how  they  could  continue  to  feel  those  partialities 
for  the  perpetrators  of  such  crimes.  One  dreadful  event  seemed 
to  prepare  the  mind  for  another  and  more  dreadful  one,  till  both 
Bides  would  appear,  at  first  view,  looking  back  on  their  expressions 
at  this  day,  to  have  partly  sanctioned  enormities  which  should 
shock  civilized  men.  But,  in  reality,  it  was  with  good  men  on 
both  sides  a  choice  of  evils.  Or  rather  it  was  a  struggle  between 
certain  great  principles,  and  each  wished  success  to  his  principle, 
notwithstanding  the  path  to  it,  like  the  opposite  one,  should  be 
stained  by  crime  and  blood.  Jefferson's  letter  to  Short,  which 
we  have  quoted,  gives  a  most  vivid  picture  of  the  feelings  of  the 
day. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  determination  to  retire  from  the  Cabinet  at 
the  close  of  the  President's  first  term  of  office  (now  rapidly 
approaching)  had  become  known  to  a  few  intimate  friends  ;  and 
on  the  assembling  of  Congress  in  the  preceding  November,  it 
had  soon  spread  throughout  the  Republicans  of  that  body. 
Their  regret  was  universal,  and  they  earnestly  besought  him  to 
reconsider  his  determination.  Many  objections,  however,  stood  in 
the  way.  His  estate  had  suffered  greatly  by  his  long  absence  ; 
his  house  was  unfinished  and  in-door  and  out-door  repairs  and 
changes  of  all  kinds  were  needed  on  his  farms.  He  had  been 
only  a  transient  visitor  at  his  home  for  nearly  ten  years.  He 
had  been  actively  and  absorbingly  engaged,  during  that  peri  >d, 
in  public  life.  He  was  not  only  tired  of  its  constant  labors,  of 


CHAP.  III.]  HIS     REASONS.  Ill 

its  encroachments  on  all  those  enjoyments  which  his  feelings 
and  his  tastes  rendered  so  dear  to  him,  but  circumstances  had 
conspired  to  make  his  present  situation  especially,  and  posi 
tively,  irksome  to  him. 

The  ordinary  feverish  excitements  of  high  official  position — - 
which  ultimately  become,  of  themselves,  utterly  wearisome  to 
minds  leaning  towards  serene  and  contemplative  habits — were 
aggravated,  to  him,  by  the  peculiar  state  of  things  in  the  Cabi 
net.  It  was  the  theatre  of  a  perpetual  conflict,  distasteful  in  aL 
its  circumstances.  Jefferson  was  too  immovable  in  his  own  J 
opinions  to  have  any  disposition  to  combat  those  of  others.- 
Protracted  argumentation  was  disagreeable  to  him,  and  any 
thing  approaching  to  altercation,  positively  disgusting.  Hamil 
ton  had  none  of  this  passiveness,  or  rather  this  quietness  of 
demeanor.  Keen  to  carry  his  point — with  a  lawyer's  tenacity 
in  dispute — impetuous — oftentimes  imperious  in  his  language 
when  roused  by  contest  or  moved  by  personal  feeling — never 
yielding  any  point  however  often  settled,  without  a  new  struggle 
— a  man  of  resources  and  management — differing  radically  with 
Jefferson  on  almost  every  important  question — there  was  one 
incessant  battle  to  be  fought  with  him.  This  was  the  more 
necessary  because  the  President,  oppressed  with  duties,  and 
with  strength  abated  by  sharp  attacks  of  disease,  could  not  well 
bestow  the  labor  of  personally  investigating  the  original  facts 
and  the  authorities  in  every  case.  It  was  for  the  members  of 
the  Cabinet  to  do  this,  and  to  present  them — and  it  was,  ordi 
narily,  enough  for  the  President  to  hear  their  statements  and 
decide  between  them. 

Jefferson  could  not  rely  on  Randolph  as  a  good  supporter ; 
and  it  was  never  safe  to  trust  him  with  the  principal  manage 
ment  of  the  argument.  This  ingenious  gentleman  would  be 
likely  to  beat  himself,  on  some  of  his  own  important  positions, 
if  he  had  no  adversary  ;  and  he  would  be  sure,  on  the  strength 
of  some  wire-drawn  subtlety,  to  propose  a  compromise  before 
one  was  asked — unless  toned  up  by  the  more  powerful  intellect 
and  purpose  of  his  Republican  colleague — or  rather,  perhaps 
we  should  say,  unless  driven  to  choose  between  the  adverse 

1  Goethe  (in  Wilheim  Meister,  we  think)  says  of  one  of  his  characters:  "In  his  own 
impenetrable  firmness  of  character,  he  had  grown  into  the  habit  of  never  contradicting 
any  one  in  conversation." 


112  LETTER   TO    MRS.    RANDOLPH.  [CHAP.  III. 

positions  of  Lis  political  friend  and  political  antagonist.  "We 
can,  therefore,  readily  understand  what  Jefferson  meant  when 
he  afterwards  spoke  of  himself  and  Hamilton  as  being  constantly 
"  pitted,  like  cocks,"  against  each  other  during  their  common 
stay  in  the  Cabinet — and  the  feelings  of  disgust  implied  by  that 
comparison. 

But  we  have  not  enumerated  the  most  disagreeable  feature 
of  all.  Men  can  endure  sharp  opposition,  and  even  some  dip- 
tasteful  accessories  to  it,  from  friends,  or  from  those  whose  oppo 
sition  is  speculative,  or  confined  to  public  affairs.  Such  was 
not  the  case  here.  Pending  the  second  Presidential  election, 
and  for  a  considerable  period  afterwards — during  all  the  earlier 
portion  of  the  last  session  of  the  second  Congress — during  the 
entire  autumn  of  1792,  and  pending  the  later  Cabinet  discus 
sions  to  which  we  have  referred — Hamilton  was  notoriously, 
though  anonymously,  personally  attacking  the  character  of  his 
colleague  in  the  public  prints — stigmatizing  him  with  every 
degree  of  absolute  dishonesty,  every  shade  of  concealed  mean 
ness  in  public  and  private  life  !  ' 

The  very  means  which  were  resorted  to,  probably  with  the 
object  of  driving  Jefferson  out  of  the  Cabinet,  were  those  which 
weighed  most  strongly  in  preventing  him  from  carrying  his  pur 
pose  of  retirement  into  effect.  Hot,  overbearing  men  do  not 
always  duly  estimate  the  passive  courage,  which  puts  on  no  brist 
ling  airs,  and  cares  little  for  mere  revenge — but  which  always 
mounts  up  with  the  emergency,  and  is  always  precisely  pro 
portioned  to  the  demand.  We  anticipate,  in  the  presentation 
of  one  of  the  usual  family  letters,  because  it  gives  a  closer  pic 
ture  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  inner  feelings  at  this  moment,  than  can 
be  found  elsewhere  : 

To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  January  26, 1798. 
MY  PEAR  MARTHA  : 

I  received  two  days  ago  yours  of  the  16th.  fou  were  never  more  mistaken 
than  in  supposing  you  were  too  long  on  the  prattle,  etc.,  of  little  Anne.  I  read  it  with 
quite  as  much  pleasure  as  you  write  it.  I  sincerely  wish  I  could  hear  of  her  perfect 
reestablishrnent.  I  have  for  some  time  past  been  under  an  agitation  of  mind  whicli 
I  scarcely  ever  experienced  before,  produced  by  a  check  on  my  purpose  of  return 
ing  home  at  the  close  of  this  session  of  Congress.  My  operations  at  Monticello 

i  We  have  only  mentioned  Hamilton's  attacks  under  three  signatures.    He  made  their 
tinder  at  least  two  others. 


CHAP.  HI.]  INDUCED    TO    REMAIN    IN    OFFICE.  113 

had  been  all  made  to  bear  upon  that  point  of  time  ;  my  mind  was  fixed  on  it  with 
a  fondness  which  was  extreme,  the  purpose  firmly  declared  to  the  President,  when 
I  became  assailed  from  all  quarters  with  a  variety  of  objections.  Among  these  it 
was  urged  that  my  retiring  just  when  I  had  been  attacked  in  the  public  papers, 
would  injure  me  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  who  would  suppose  I  either  withdrew 
from  investigation,  or  because  I  had  not  tone  of  mind  sufficient  to  meet  slander. 
The  only  reward  I  ever  wished  on  my  retirement  was,  to  carry  with  me  nothing 
like  a  disapprobation  of  the  public.  These  representations  have  for  some  weeks 
past  shaken  a  determination  which  I  have  thought  the  whole  world  could  not  have ' 
shaken.  I  have  not  yet  finally  made  up  my  mind  on  the  subject,  nor  changed  my 
declaration  to  the  President.  But  having  perfect  reliance  in  the  disinterested 
friendship  of  some  of  those  who  have  counselled  and  urged  it  strongly  ;  believing 
they  can  see  and  judge  better  a  question  between  the  public  and  myself  than  I  can, 
I  feel  a  possibility  that  I  may  be  detained  here  into  the  summer.  A  few  days  \\ill 
decide.  In  the  meantime  I  have  permitted  my  house  to  be  rented  after  the  middle 
of  March,  have  sold  such  of  my  furniture  as  would  not  suit  Monticello,  and  am 
packing  up  the  rest  and  storing  it  ready  to  be  shipped  off  to  Richmond  as  soon  as 
the  season  of  good  sea  weather  comes  on.  A  circumstance  which  weighs  on  me 
next  to  the  weightiest  is  the  trouble  which,  I  foresee,  I  shall  be  constrained  to  ask 
Mr.  Randolph  to  undertake.  Having  taken  from  other  pursuits  a  number  of  hands  to 
execute  several  purposes  which  I  had  in  view  this  year,  I  cannot  abandon  those 
purposes  and  lose  their  labor  altogether.  I  must,  therefore,  select  the  most  impor 
tant  and  least  troublesome  of  them,  the  execution  of  my  canal,  and  (without 
embarrassing  him  with  any  details  which  Clarkson  and  George  are  equal  to)  get 
him  to  tell  them  always  what  is  to  be  done  and  how,  and  to  attend  to  the  levelling 
the  bottom  ;  but  on  this  I  shall  write  him  particularly  if  I  defer  my  departure.  I 
have  not  received  the  letter  which  Mr.  Carr  wrote  to  me  from  Richmond,  nor  any 
other  from  him  since  I  left  Monticello.  My  best  affections  to  him,  Mr.  Randolph, 
and  your  fireside,  and  am,  with  sincere  love,  my  dear  Martha,  yours. 

TH.  JKFFKRSON.1 

The  considerations  mentioned  in  this  letter  united  with  the 
continued  solicitations  of  his  friends  finally  prevailed.  The  fol 
lowing  particulars  of  his  communicating  his  change  of  mind  tc 
the  President  are  given  in  the  Ana : 

"  February  the  7£A,  1793. — I  waited  on  the  President  with  letters  and  papers 
from  Lisbon.  After  going  through  these,  I  told  him  that  I  had  for  some  time  sus 
pended  speaking  with  him  on  the  subject  of  my  going  out  of  office,  because  I  had 
understood  that  the  bill  for  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  was  likely  to  be 
rejected  by  the  Senate,  in  which  case,  the  remaining  business  of  the  department 
would  be  too  inconsiderable  to  make  it  worth  while  to  keep  it  up.  But  that  the 
bill  being  now  passed,  I  was  freed  from  the  considerations  of  propriety  which  had 
embarrassed  me.  That,  etc.  [nearly  in  the  words  of  a  letter  to  Mr.  T.  M.  Randolph, 
of  a  few  days  ago],  and  that  I  should  be  willing,  if  he  had  taken  no  arrangements 
to  the  contrary,  to  continue  somewhat  longer,  how  long  I  could  not  say,  oerhaps 
till  summer,  perhaps  autumn.  He  said,  so  far  from  taking  arrangements  on  the 

1  The  most  important  parts  of  this  letter  are  given  in  the  Congress  edition  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  Works,  directed  "to  Mrs.  Randolph"  (vol.  iii.  p.  506). 

VOL.  II. — 8 


WASHINGTON    URGES    A    COALITION.  [CHAP.  HI 

subject,  he  had  never  mentioned  to  any  mortal  the  design  of  retiring  which  I  had 
expressed  to  him,  till  yesterday,  when  having  heard  that  I  had  given  up  my  house, 
and  that  it  was  rented  by  another,  he  thereupon  mentioned  it  to  Mr.  E.  Randolph, 
and  asked  him,  as  he  knew  my  retirement  had  been  talked  of,  whether  he  had 
heard  any  persons  suggested  in  conversation  to  succeed  me.  He  expressed  his 
satisfaction  at  my  change  of  purpose,  and  his  apprehensions  that  my  retirement 
would  be  a  new  source  of  uneasiness  to  the  public."  1 

The  following  further  very  interesting   explanations  trans 
pired  in  the  same  conversation: 

"  He  said  Governor  Lee  had  that  day  informed  him  of  the  general  discontent 
prevailing  in  Virginia,  of  which  he  never  had  had  any  conception,  much  less  sound 
information.  That  it  appeared  to  him  very  alarming.  He  proceeded  to  express 
his  earnest  wish  that  Hamilton  and  myself  could  coalesce  in  the  measures  of  the 
Government,  and  urged  here  the  general  reasons  for  it  which  he  had  done  to  me  in 
two  former  conversations.  He  said  he  had  proposed  the  same  thing  to  Hamilton, 
who  expressed  his  readiness,  and  he  thought  our  coalition  would  secure  the  general 
acquiescence  of  the  public.  I  told  him  my  concurrence  was  of  much  less  impor 
tance  than  he  seemed  to  imagine  ;  that  I  kept  myself  aloof  from  all  cabal  and 
correspondence  on  the  subject  of  the  Government,  and  saw  and  spoke  with  as  few 
as  I  could.  That  as  to  a  coalition  with  Mr.  Hamilton,  if  by  that  was  meant  that 
either  was  to  sacrifice  his  general  system  to  the  other,  it  was  impossible.  We  had 
both,  no  doubt,  formed  our  conclusions  after  the  most  mature  consideration  ;  and 
principles,  conscientiously  adopted,  could  not  be  given  up  on  either  side.  My  wish 
was,  to  see  both  houses  of  Congress  cleansed  of  all  persons  interested  in  the  Bank 
or  public  stocks  :  and  that  a  pure  Legislature  being  given  us,  I  should  always 
be  ready  to  acquiesce  under  their  determinations,  even  if  contrary  to  my  own 
opinions ;  for  that  I  subscribe  to  the  principle,  that  the  will  of  the  majority, 
honestly  expressed,  should  give  law.  I  confirmed  him  in  the  fact  of  the  great  dis 
contents  to  the  South  ;  that  they  were  grounded  on  seeing  that  their  judgments 
and  interests  were  sacrificed  to  those  of  the  eastern  States  on  every  occasion,  and 
their  belief  that  it  was  the  effect  of  a  corrupt  squadron  of  voters  in  Congress,  at  the 

i  We  have  mentioned  that  Mr.  Jefferson's  private  affairs  at  home  were  Buffering  by  his 
absence.  The  following  hitherto  unpublished  letter  to  one  of  his  brothers-in-law, 
will  show  the  effect  of  holding  his  present  office  on  his  pecuniary  affairs,  in  another 
phase : 

To  Francis  Eppes,  Esq.,  Eppingtan. 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  February  27,  1798. 
"  DEAR  SIR: 

44  The  Commissioners  of  the  Indian  Treaty  will  not  leave  this  place  till  the  1st  of 
April,  which  gives  more  time  to  provide  for  Jack  [John  W.  Eppes,  then  a  student  in 
Philadelphia].  I  shall  not  return  home  as  soon  as  I  expected,  though  I  shall  not  extend 
the  term  of  my  service  long.  I  shall  ship  off  my  furniture  about  the  beginning  of  April ; 
and  find  in  fact  that  my  provision  for  winding  up  my  affairs  here,  removing  bag  and  bag 
gage,  will  fall  short  some  hundred  dollars.  If,  therefore,  Mr.  Carv's  executor  can  be 
pushed  to  make  good  his  promises,  some  part  of  my  portion  of  it  will  be  not  only 
seasonable,  but  necessary  to  me.  With  every  wish  for  the  health  and  happiness  of 
Mrs.  Eppes,  yourself  and  family, 

"  I  am,  dear  sir, 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  TH.  JEFFERSON." 

For  another  unpublished  letter,  to  the  same,  of  some  interest  in  the  same  connection 
see  APPENDIX,  No.  10. 


ASSUMPTION    BILL   DEFEATED.  115 

command  of  the  Treasury  ;  and  they  see  that  if  the  votes  of  those  members  who 
had  any  interest  distinct  from,  and  contrary  to  the  general  interest  of  their  con 
stituents,  had  been  withdrawn,  as  in  decency  and  honesty  they  should  have  been, 
the  laws  would  have  been  the  reverse  of  what  they  are  on  all  the  great  questions. 
I  instanced  the  new  Assumption  carried  in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  the 
Speaker's  vote.  On  this  subject  he  made  no  reply.  He  explained  his  remaining  in 
office  to  bave  been  the  effect  of  strong  solicitations  after  he  returned  here  ;  declar 
ing  that  he  had  never  mentioned  his  purpose  of  going  out  but  to  the  heads  of 
departments  and  Mr.  Madison  ;  he  expressed  the  extreme  wretchedness  of  his  exis 
tence  while  in  office,  and  went  lengthily  into  the  late  attacks  on  him  for  levees,  etc 
and  explained  to  me  how  he  had  been  led  into  them  by  the  persons  he  consulted  at 
New  York  ;  and  that  if  he  could  but  know  what  the  sense  of  the  public  was,  he 
would  most  cheerfully  conform  to  it." 

The  different  attitudes  of  the  two  Secretaries  on  the  subject 
of  a  coalition,  were,  as  already  remarked,  characteristic  of  their 
respective  systems  of  political  action. 

The  new  Assumption  Bill  complained  of  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
was  defeated  in  the  Senate,  and  he  has  the  following  entry  in 
the  Ana  on  the  subject: 

"There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  rejection  of  the  late 
additional  Assumption  by  the  Senate,  was  effected  by  the  Presi 
dent  through  Lear,  operating  on  Langdon.  Beckley  knows 
this."  ' 

He  records  a  conversation  with  Colonel  W.  S.  Smith,2  on  the 
20th  of  February,  in  which  the  latter  (who  left  Paris  in  Novem 
ber)  stated  to  him  that  the  French  Ministers  had  entirely  broken 
with  Governeur  Morris,  and  refused  to  see  or  hear  from  him;3 
that  they  were  about  sending  Genet  to  the  United  States  with 
full  powers  to  give  them  all  the  privileges  they  could  desire  in 
the  territories  of  the  French  Republic,  and  particularly  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  that  they  even  contemplated  setting  the  latter 
free  next  summer;  that  they  proposed  to  emancipate  South 
America,  and  would  send  forty-five  ships  of  the  line  there  next 
spring  for  that  purpose  ;  that  they  desired  the  American  debt  to 
be  paid  in  provisions,  and  would  authorize  their  minister  to 
negotiate  this ;  and  that  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Le 
Brim,  had  charged  him  [Smith]  with  a  letter  to  the  President 
informing  him  that  the  bearer  would  communicate  to  him 

1  This  is  inserted  without  a  date,  between  the  two  entries,  dated  Feb.  16th  and  20th. 

2  Vice-President  Adams's  son-in-law. 

8  Smith  informed  Jefferson  that  "  Morris  at  his  own  table,  in  presence  of  his  company 
and  servants,  cursed  the  French  Ministers,  as  a  set  of  damned  rascals  •,  said  the  King 
would  stilt  be  replaced  upon  the  throne,"  etc.  etc. — Ana.  Feb.  20th. 


*16  PRESIDENT'S  VIEWS  OF  FRENCH  RELATIONS.    TCHAP.  in. 

''  plans  worthy  of  his  great  mind,"  and  wishing1  his  opinions  as 
to  the  means  most  suitable  to  carry  them  out. 

The  Secretary  of  State  had,  five  or  six  days  before,  received 
through  the  French  Minister,  M.  de  Ternant,  complaints  from 
that  Government  of  the  conduct  of  both  Mr.  Morris  and  Mr. 
Short..  These  were  communicated  to  the  President  on  the  20th 
of  February.  The  Secretary  had  an  interview  witli  him  the 
same  evening,  and  he  thus  mentions  what  transpired  : 

"  He  [the  President]  said  he  considered  the  extracts  from  Ternant  very  serious — 
in  short,  as  decisive  ;  that  he  saw  that  Governeur  Morris  could  be  no  longer  con 
tinued  there  consistent  with  the  public  good  ;  that  the  moment  was  critical  in  our 
favor,  and  ought  not  to  be  lost ;  that  he  was  extremely  at  a  loss  what  arrangement 
to  make.  I  asked  him  whether  Governeur  Morris  and  Pinckney  might  not  change 
places.  He  said  that  would  be  a  sort  of  remedy,  but  not  a  radical  one.  That  if  the 
French  ministry  conceived  Governeur  Morris  to  be  hostile  to  them  ;  if  they  would 
be  jealous  merely  on  his  proposing  to  visit  London,  they  would  never  be  satisfied 
with  us  at  placing  him  at  London  permanently.  He  then  observed,  that  though  I 
had  unfixed  the  day  on  which  I  had  intended  to  resign,  yet  I  appeared  fixed  in 
doing  it  at  no  great  distance  of  time  ;  that  in  this  case,  he  could  not  but  wish  that 
I  would  go  to  Paris ;  that  the  moment  was  important :  I  possessed  the  confidence 
of  both  sides,  and  might  do  great  good  ;  that  he  wished  I  could  do  it,  were  it 
only  to  stay  there  a  year  or  two.  I  told  him  that  my  mind  was  so  bent  on  retire 
ment  that  I  could  not  think  of  launching  forth  again  in  a  new  business ;  that  I 
could  never  again  cross  the  Atlantic  ;  and  that  as  to  the  opportunity  of  doing  good, 
this  was  likely  to  be  the  scene  of  action,  as  Genet  was  bringing  powers  to  do  the 
business  here  ;  but  that  I  could  not  think  of  going  abroad.  He  replied  that  I  had 
pressed  him  to  continue  in  the  public  service,  and  refused  to  do  the  same  myself. 
I  said  the  case  was  very  different ;  he  united  the  confidence  of  all  America,  and 
was  the  only  person  who  did  so  :  his  services,  therefore,  were  of  the  last  importance  ; 
but  for  myself,  my  going  out  would  not  be  noted  or  known.  A  thousand  others 
could  supply  my  place  to  equal  advantage,  therefore  I  felt  myself  free  ;  and  that  as 
to  the  mission  to  France,  I  thought  perfectly  proper  J  He  desired  me  then  to  con 
sider  maturely  what  arrangement  should  be  made." 

M.  de  Ternant  having  applied  for  the  payment  of  a  portion 
of  the  debt  due  to  France,  to  be  expended  in  the  United  States 
for  provisions,  the  Cabinet  decided  (February  25th,  1793)  to 
accede  to  his  request,  Hamilton  alone  dissenting.  It  soon  after 
(March.  2d)  unanimously  decided  not  thus  to  prepay  the  portions 
of  the  debt  which  still  remained  undue.  Towards  the  close  of 
February,  the  Secretary  of  State  replied  in  behalf  of  the  Presi 
dent  to  the  notification  of  the  Provisory  Executive  Council  of 

1  Something  is  obviously  omitted  between  the  words  "thought  perfectly  *' — probably 
something  e  }uivalent  to  "  my  determination"  or  "  circumstances  rendered  my  determi 
nation  " 


CHAP,  in.]  GILES'S  RESOLUTIONS.  117 

France,  that  the  nation  had  constituted  itself  into  a  republic. 
Two  drafts  of  the  letter  appear  in  the  Congress  edition  of  Jeffer 
son's  Works.1  Its  tone  is  very  guarded.  In  the  last,  a  sentence, 
expressing  the  joy  which  had  u  overspread  our  country  on  seeing 
the  liberties  of"  France  "rise  superior  to  foreign  invasion  and 
domestic  trouble,"  is  inclosed  in  brackets,  as  if  omitted  in  the 
copy  sent. 

li  the  debate  in  Congress  in  December,  on  the  payment  of 
two  millions  to  the  United  States  Bank,  which  had  led  to  so 
signal  a  triumph  of  the  Republicans,  and  in  those  on  the  various 
other  questions,  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and  of  War  had 
not  escaped  very  severe  animadversions  on  their  official  con 
duct.  Steele,  in  advocating  his  motion  to  reduce  the  regular 
army  employed  against  the  Indians,  made  a  very  pointed  attack 
on  the  administration  of  the  War  department.8  Mercer,  of 
Maryland,  in  moving  an  amendment  to  the  new  Assumption 
Bill,  threw  out  severe  imputations  on  the  originators  of  the  first 
one.  His  remarks  were  thought  to  implicate  members  of  the 
House,  and  Fitzsimmons  and  Sedgwick  replied  with  great 
warmth. 

But  the  most  acrimonious  debate  of  the  session  arose  on 
what  was  considered  an  attempt  to  substantiate  a  direct  charge 
of  official  misconduct  against  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
On  the  23d  of  January,  Mr.  Giles  of  Virginia  .introduced  five 
resolutions  into  the  House,  calling  on  the  President  for  copies 
of  the  authorities  under  which  the  loans  authorized  by  acts 
passed  in  August,  1790,  had  been  negotiated,  and  the  moneys 
applied ;  the  names  of  the  persons  paying  and  receiving  the 
money,  dates,  etc. ;  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
lay  before  the  House  a  statement  of  the  half-monthly  balances 
between  the  Government  and  the  Bank  and  its  branches  ;  a 
statement  of  money  paid  into  the  Sinking  Fund,  specifying  the 
fund  from  which  it  had  accrued,  and  exhibiting,  half-yearly, 
the  sums  uninvested,  and  where  deposited  ;  and  also  the  balance 
of  unapplied  revenue  in  1792,  and  where  these  and  all  unapplied 
moneys  raised  by  loan  were  then  deposited. 

The  mover  followed  his  resolutions  by  a  speech  in  which  he 
'mputed  inaccuracy  and  improper  suppressions  to  the  reports  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  claimed  that  Congress  was 

Feb.  20th  and  23d,  vol.  iii.  pp.  516,  518.  «  December  28th. 


118  HAMILTON'S  REPLIES.  [CHAP,  ni 

legislaJmg  so  blindly  in  regard  to  treasury  affairs,  that  it  had 
actually  authorized  the  borrowing  of  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  when  the  Government 
had  a  larger  sum  on  deposit  in  its  vaults ! 

Giles's  resolutions  passed  without  dissent ;  and  on  the  4th  of 
February,  Hamilton  replied  in  part,  commencing  with  the  last 
of  the  resolutions.1  He  several  times  made  pointed  allusions  to 
the  motives  which  had  prompted  the  investigation,  and  closed 
his  paper  with  the  following  paragraph  : 

"  Is  it  not  truly  matter  of  regret,  that  so  formal  an  explanation,  on  such  a 
point,  should  have  been  made  requisite  ?  Could  no  personal  inquiry,  of  either  ol 
the  officers  concerned,  have  superseded  the  necessity  of  puoiicly  calling  the  aueu- 
tion  of  the  House  of  Representatives- to  an  appearance,  in  truth,  so  little  signifi 
cant  ?  Was  it  seriously  supposable  that  there  could  be  any  real  difficulty  in 
explaining  that  appearance,  when  the  very  disclosure  of  it  proceeded  from  a  volun 
tary  act  of  the  head  of  this  department  ?" 

It  is  not  probable  that  any  head  of  department  would  now 
venture  to  think  such  questions  as  these  very  pertinent  in 
an  answer  to  resolutions  of  inquiry  from  the  House  of  Eepre- 
Bentarives.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  line  of  pre 
cedent  on  this  subject  was  not  yet  well  established,  and  that 
Hamilton  and  his  followers  were  disposed  to  deny  such  powers 
to  the  House  over  heads  of  departments.  Hamilton  specially 
insisted  that  the,  law  constituting  the  Treasury  department  did 
not  compel  it  to  produce  its  papers  at  the  call  of  that  body. 

He  further  replied  to  the  resolutions  of  inquiry,  on  the  13th 
of  February,  elaborately  examining  the  subject  of  the  foreign 
loans  ;2  and  on  the  20th,  in  respect  to  his  transactions  with  the 
Banks.3 

For  the  purpose  of  obtaining  further  information,  Giles  then 
moved  a  call  on  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  for  a 
statement  of  their  hitherto  unpublished  proceedings.  This,  after 
a  sharp  opposition  from  the  most  intimate  friends  of  Hamilton 
— who  wished  to  limit  the  inquiry  to  purchases  made  by  the 
Commissioners — passed  by  a  vote  of  thirty-nine  to  twenty-two.4 

1  This  paper,  with  accompanying  abstracts,  will  be  found  in  Hamilton's  Works, 
vol.  iii.  p.  357. 

*  See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  371.  •  Ib.  vol.  iii.  p.  413. 

4  In  a  letter  from  Hamilton  to  King,  dated  April  2d,  1793,  occurs  the  following  para 
graph,  italicized  as  given  : 

k>  A  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  has  lately  been  called  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  out  of  the 
course  heretofore  practised,  in  which  I  have  been  pressed  to  declare  whether  I  had  or  had 
not  funds  applicable  to  purchases.  I  answered  so  as  to  be  safe.  But  you  readily  perceive 


CHAP.  III.]  RESOLUTIONS    OF   CENSURE   DEFEATED.  119 

On  the  28th  of  February,  Giles  offered  resolutions,  based  on 
the   information   received,  directly  censuring  the  Secretary  ol 
the  Treasury  for  neglecting  to  give  information  to  Congress  of 
the  money  drawn  by  him  from  Europe  during  the  years  1791 
and  1792 — for  non-compliance  with  the  acts  of  August  4th  and 
August  12th,  1790  (which  authorized  separate  loans  for  separate 
purposes),  as  well  as  with  the  instructions  of  the  President '- 
for  drawin<>'  into  the  United  States  a  larger  sum  raised  on  those 

C5  W 

loans  than  was  authorized  by  law — for  negotiating  loans  with  the 
United  States  Bank  not  demanded  by  the  public  interests — and, 
finally,  for  disrespect  to  the  House  in  questioning  the  motives 
of  one  of  its  members. 

The  three  first  of  these  charges,  in  their  literal  import,  ad 
mitted  of  no  denial — they  were  established  by  the  Secretary's 
own  answers  to  the  House.  The  two  remaining  ones,  being 
matters  of  opinion,  could  not  be  said  to  be  so  definitely  settled. 
Giles,  Madison,  Mercer  and  Findley,  supported  the  resolutions, 
and  they  were  opposed  by  Sedgwick,  Fitzsimmons,  Livermore, 
Smith  of  South  Carolina,  Barnwell,  Boudinot  and  some  others. 
The  real  defence  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  put  upon 
the  ground  that  his  departures  from  law  had  been  technical, 
and  that  he  had  intended  only  to  act  for  the  public  good.  The 
last  consideration,  perhaps,  and  the  fact  that  the  resolutions 
and  the  whole  course  of  the  investigation  were  looked  upon  by 
the  public  as  having  been  made  to  involve  the  issue  of  the  perso 
nal  and  official  integrity  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  cre 
ated  so  much  sympathy  in  his  favor,  that  after  a  furious  debate 
of  two  days,  the  House,  on  the  1st  of  March,  threw  out  the 
resolutions  by  votes  ranging  from  forty  to  thiity-three  in  the 
affirmative,  and  from  fifteen  to  seven  in  the  negative.  Mr. 
Madison  voted  with  the  minority  on  every  division. 

Jefferson  put  a  less  charitable  construction  on  the  motives 
of  the  majority,  in  the  following  entry  in  his  Ana  : 

"  March  the  2d,  1793. — See  in  the  papers  of  this  date,  Mr.  Giles's  resolutions. 
He  and  one  or  two  others  were  sanguine  enough  to  believe,  that  the  palpableness 

the  desigii  of  this  movement.  There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind,  that  the  next  session  will 
revive  the  attack  with  more  system  and  earnestness — and  it  is  surely  not  the  interest  of 
anybody,  or  any  f/wig,  that  a  serious  handle  should  be  furnished." — Hamilton's  Works, 
vol.  v/p.  552. 

1  For  a  letter  on  this  subject,  a  few  months  later,  from  the  President  to  Hamilton,  and 
Hamilton's  haughty  and  angry  reply,  see  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  pp.  39G  and  5.">L 


120  FRANCE    DECLARES    WAR   AGAINST    ENGLAND.      [CHAP.  III. 

of  those  resolutions  rendered  it  impossible  the  House  could  reject  them.  Those 
who  knew  the  composition  of  the  House,  1.  Of  bank  directors;  2.  Holders  of  bank 
stock  ;  3.  Stock  jobbers ;  4.  Blind  devotees  ;  5.  Ignorant  persons  who  did  not 
comprehend  them  ;  6.  Lazy  and  good  humored  persons,  who  comprehended  and 
acknowledged  them,  yet  were  too  lazy  to  examine,  or  unwilling  to  pronounce  cen 
sure  ;  the  persons  who  knew  these  characters,  foresaw,  that  the  three  first  descrip 
tions  making  one  third  of  the  House,  the  three  latter  would  make  one  half  of  the 
residue;  and  of  course,  that  they  would  be  rejected  by  a  majority  of  two  to  one. 
But  they  thought,  that  even  this  rejection  would  do  good,  by  showing  the  public 
the  desperate  and  abandoned  dispositions  with  which  their  affairs  were  conducted. 
The  resolutions  were  proposed,  and  nothing  spared  to  present  them  in  the  fullness 
of  demonstration.  There  were  not  more  than  three  or  four  who  voted  otherwise 
than  had  been  expected." 

Some  further  Cabinet  consultations  than  those  already  men 
tioned  took  place  prior  to  the  4rth  of  March,  but  they  perhaps 
gave  rise  to  no  important  expressions  of  opinions  not  already 
made  known,  or  which  will  not  soon  again  occur  more  distinctly 
announced,  or  under  more  important  circumstances. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  General  Washington  and  Mr.  Adams 
entered  on  their  second  terms  of  office.  It  has  never  been 
doubted,  we  believe,  that  Virginia  would  have  preferred  to  cast 
her  vote  for  Mr.  Jefferson  rather  than  Mr.  Clinton,  had  the  Con 
stitution  permitted  her  electors  to  vote  for  two  of  her  citizens  as 
President  and  Yice-President.  Some  of  the  Federalists,  and 
Hamilton  among  them,1  suspected  that  the  names  of  the  other 
Republican  candidates  for  the  Vice-Presidency  might  be  only 
used  as  a  mask  to  conceal  an  effort  to  elect  Mr.  Jefferson  with 
out  the  vote  of  Virginia!  But,  the  truth  was,  the  Republican 
leaders  much  preferred  that  he  should  remain  in  a  position 
which  circumstances,  for  the  time  being,  rendered  vastly  more 
important  than  the  Vice-Presidency. 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  news  reached  the  United  States 
that  France  had  declared  war  against  Great  Britain.  The  fact 
that  the  latter  had  previously  ordered  the  French  Ambassador  to 
quit  her  territory  within  eight  days,  was  generally  considered  the 
initiatory  step  to  hostilities,  and  that  though  France  had  acted 
at  once  on  this  intimation,  to  leave  her  foe  no  further  time  for 
preparation,  tiie  war  on  her  part  was  essentially  a  defensive 
one.2  But  a  few  years  had  elapsed  since  the  same  powers  had 

1  See  his  letters  to  Gen.  C.  C.  Pinckney  and  to  Steele.  Hamilton's  Works,  voi.  v 
pp.  532,  533. 

8  How  completely  it  was  so,  in  point  of  fact,  will  appear  from  a  letter  of  Gorerueui 
Morris  to  General  Washington,  December  28,  179- . 


CHAP.  III.]  THE   EFFECT   IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  121 

stood  arrayed  againot  each  other  in  our  own  country ;  the  one 
as  a  ruthless  enemy,  conceding  to  American  "  rebels  "  not  even 
the  harsh  mercies  of  ordinary  warfare ;  the  other  as  a  generous 
ally  and  deliverer.  During  those  intervening  years,  the  con 
tinued  enmity  of  the  former,  and  the  continued  friendship  of  the 
latter,  had  been  manifested  on  every  practicable  occasion. 
Great  Britain,  in  defiance  of  treaties,  still  held  forcible  occupa 
tion  of  important  portions  of  our  territory.  There  was  scarcely 
a  man  in  the  nation  who  did  not  believe  that  the  long  train  of 
our  bloody  wars  with  the  Indian  tribes  had  been  directly  fo 
mented  by  her,  and  that  she  furnished  the  savages  with  supplies. 
Her  holding  rhe  American  posts  undeniably  sheltered  them 
from  effectual  chastisement  or  restraint.  Independently,  then, 
of  all  considerations  growing  out  of  the  fact  that  the  struggle 
between  France  and  her  enemies  was  virtually  one  between  re 
publicanism  and  monarchy — considerations  which  could  not  fail 
to  enlist  the  eager  sympathies  of  the  advocates  of  those  respec 
tive  forms  of  government  throughout  Christendom — it  would 
not  be  wonderful  that  the  current  of  American  feeling:  im- 

o 

mediately  set  strongly  in  favor  of  France.  And  putting  both 
of  these  causes  together,  that  current  became  so  strong  that  it 
swept  along  all  but  that  comparative  handful  of  Federal  leaders 
whom  Hamilton  was  wont  to  term  the  "  strong -minde J  "  poli 
ticians — and  Jefferson  to  term  "  monarchists."  ' 

The  President  was  at  Mount  Yernon  when  the  preceding 
intelligence  readied  the  United  States.  A  minister  from  France 
was  soon  expected.  It  was  necessary  to  settle  the  line  of  policy 
our  Government  meant  to  pursue  on  the  various  questions  which 
the  occasion  presented — particularly  as  the  President  knew  that 
his  Cabinet  would  stand  divided  in  regard  to  some  of  the  most  im- 
norant  of  them.2  He  therefore  hastened  to  Philadelphia,  and 

1  Even  Judge  Marshall  says  : 

"  A  great  majority  of  the  American  people  deemed  it  criminal  to  remain  unconcerned 
spectators  of  a  conflict  between  their  ancient  enemy  and  republican  France.  The  feel 
ing  on  this  occasion  was  almost  universal.  Men  of  all  parties  partook  of  it.  *  *  * 
The  few  who  did  not  embrace  these  opinions,  and  they  were  certainly  very  few,  were 
held  up  as  objects  of  detestation ;  and  were  calumniated  as  the  tools  o.f  Britain,  and  the 
satellites  of  despotism." — Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  256. 

2  Mr.  Jefferson  says  in  his  Ana  (March  30th,  1793),  that  at  a  Cabinet  meeting  on  the 
25th  of  February,  Hamilton  remarked  that  "  when  Mr.  Genet  arrives,  whether  we  shall 
receive  him  or  not,  would  then  be  a  question  for  discussion."     On  the  20th  of  March, 
therefore,  as  the   President  was  about  setting  out  for  Mount  Vernon,  Mr      efferson 
observed  to  him  that  Genet  might  arrive  in  his  absence,  and  he  wished  to  know  before 
hand  how  he  should  treat  him.     The  President  said  that  he  could  see  no  ground  to  doub. 
that  he   ought  to  be  received.    On  the  24th  of  March  the  President  consulted  the 
Attorney-General,  informing  him  that  he  had  spoken  with  Colonel  Hamilton,  "  who  weni 


122 


QUESTION    OF   RECEIVING    FRENCH    MINISTER.       [CHAP.  HI. 


submitted  the  following,  among  other  questions,  to  his  Cabinet: 
Whether  a  proclamation  should  issue  to  prevent  citizens  of  the 
United  States  from  interfering  in  the  war  between  France  and 
Great  Britain,  and  whether  it  should  contain  a  declaration  of 
neutrality ;  whether  the  French  Minister  should  be  received; 
whether  he  should  be  received  absolutely  or  with  qualifications ; 
whether  the  United  States  were  required  to  consider  their  trea 
ties  with  France  binding,  and  whether  they  could  renounce  or 
suspend  them  till  the  government  of  France  should  be  estab 
lished  ;  whether,  if  they  had  the  right,  it  would  be  expedient  to 
do  one  or  the  other ;  whether  it  would  be  a  breach  of  neutrality 
to  consider  the  treaties  still  in  operation,  etc. 

The  series  of  questions  entire  is  long  and  abounds  with  sub 
tle  distinctions.  For  this  reason,  and  because  he  thought  they 
tended  towards  a  declaration  that  our  treaties  with  France  were 
void,  Mr.  Jefferson  conjectured  that  they  were  prepared  by 
Hamilton ;  and  he  believed  that  the  "  doubts "  were  "  his 
alone."  *  The  Cabinet  met  at  the  President's  on  the  19th  of 
April,  and  what  transpired  is  thus  recorded  in  the  Ana : 

"  The  f  rst  question,  whether  we  should  receive  the  French  minister,  Genet,  was 
proposed,  and  we  agreed  unanimously  that  he  should  be  received;  Hamilton,  at  the 
same  time,  expressing  his  great  regret  that  any  incident  had  happened,  which 
should  oblige  us  to  recognize  the  Government.  The  next  question  was,  whether  he 
should  be  received  absolutely,  or  with  qualifications.  Here  Hamilton  took  up  the 
whole  subject,  and  went  through  it  in  the  order  in  which  the  questions  sketch  it.2 
See  the  chain  of  his  reasoning  in  my  opinion  of  April  the  28th.  Knox  subscribed 
at  once  to  Hamilton's  opinion  that  we  ought  to  declare  the  treaty  void,  acknow 
ledging,  at  the  same  time,  like  a  fool  as  he  is,  that  he  knew  nothing  about  it.  I 
was  clear  it  remained  valid.  Randolph  declared  himself  of  the  same  opinion,  but 
on  Hamilton's  undertaking  to  present  to  him  the  authority  in  Vattel  (which  we  had 
not  present)  and  to  prove  to  him,  that  if  the  authority  was  admitted,  the  treaty 

into  lengthy  considerations  of  doubt  and  difficulty,  and  viewed  it  as  a  very  unfortunate 
thing  that  the  President  should  have  the  decision  of  so  critical  a  point  forced  on  him ; 
but  in  conclusion,  said  he  did  not  see  but  the  President  must  receive  Mr.  Genet."  Ran 
dolph  told  the  President  he  was  clear  he  should  be  received,  and  the  President  said  he 
had  never  had  any  doubt  on  the  subject  in  his  mtnd.  On  the  same  day  the  President 
spoke  to  Mr.  Jefferson  again  on  the  subject,  and  said,  "  Mr.  Genet  should  be  unquestion 
ably  received,  but  he  thought  not  with  too  much  warmth  or  cordiality,  so  only  as  to  be 
satisfactory  to  him."  "  I  wondered,"  says  Jefferson,  "at  first  at  this  restriction;  but 
when  Randolph  afterwards  communicated  to  me  his  conversation  of  the  24th,  I  became 
satisfied  it  was  a  small  sacrifice  to  the  opinion  of  Hamilton." 

1  For  the  questions  entire,  seeSparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  533. 

8  Hamilton  seems  to  have  privately  entertained  considerable  more  doubt  than  Jeffer 
son  was  aware  of  on  the  subject  of  receiving  Genet  at  all.  See  his  letter  to  John  Jay  of 
April  9,  1793,  in  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Jay,  vol.  i.  p.  298.  (This  is  not  given  IB 
Hamilton's  Works.)  Jay  replied,  u  I  would  not  receive  any  minister  from  a  regent  until 
he  was  regent  de  facto." — Ib.  vol.  i.  p.  300. 


CHAP.  III.]       SO   CALLED   PROCLAMATION    OF    NETIKALITT.  123 

might  be  declared  void,  Randolph  agreed  to  take  further  time  to  consider.  Ic  vva» 
adjourned.  We  determined,  unanimously,  the  last  question,  that  Congress  should 
not  be  called.  There  having  been  an  intimation  by  Randolph,  that  in  so  great  a 
question,  he  should  choose  to  give  a  written  opinion,  arid  this  being  approved  by 
the  President,  I  gave  in  mine  April  the  28th.  Hamilton  gave  in  his.  I  believe 
Knox's  was  never  thought  worth  offering  or  asking  for.  Randolph  gave  his  May 
the  6th,  concurring  with  mine.  The  President  told  me,  the  same  day,  he  had  never 
had  a  doubt  about  the  validity  of  the  treaty ;  but  that  since  a  question  had  been 
suggested,  he  thought  it  ought  to  be  considered :  that  this  being  done,  I  might  now 
issue  passports  to  sea  vessels  in  the  form  prescribed  by  the  French  treaty.  I  had, 
for  a  week  past  only  issued  the  Dutch  form ;  to  have  issued  the  French,  would  have 
been  presupposing  the  treaty  to  be  in  existence.  The  President  suggested,  that  he 
thought  it  would  be  as  well  that  nothing  should  be  said  of  such  a  question  having 
been  under  consideration. 
•'  Written  May  the  6th." 

It  was  agreed  unanimously  "  that  a  proclamation  should  issue 
forbidding  our  citizens  to  take  part  in  any  hostilities  on  the 
seas,  with  or  against  any  of  the  belligerent  powers;  and  warn 
ing  them  against  carrying  to  any  such  powers  any  of  those  ar 
ticles  deemed  contraband,  according  to  the  modern  usage  of 
nations  ;  and  enjoining  them  from  all  acts  and  proceedings  in 
consistent  with  the  duties  of  a  friendly  nation  towards  those  at 
war."  *  The  proclamation,  as  first  proposed,  was  a  declaration 
of  neutrality.  Jefferson  opposed  this  successfully,  on  two 
grounds — that  such  a  declaration  would  amount  to  one  that  the 
United  States  would  take  no  part  in  the  war,  to  determine 
which  the  Executive  was  not  competent — that  it  would  be  bet 
ter  to  hold  back  such  a  declaration,  if  it  was  to  be  made  at  all,  to 
secure  a  "  price  "  for  it,  namely,  "  the  broadest'  privileges  of 
neutral  nations." 2  Randolph  drew  the  paper  and  exhibited  the 
draft  to  Jefferson  to  show  him  "  there  was  no  such  word  as  neu 
trality  in  it."8  The  latter  considered  the  omission  of  any  terms 
which  would  allow  the  affection  of  America  for  France  to  be 
discovered,  a  piece  of  "  pusillanimity ;'  characteristic  of  the 
writer,  and  productive  of  evil,  because  the  people,  "  seeing  the 
Government  does  not  express  their  mind,  perhaps  rather  leans 
the  other  way,  are  coming  forward  to  express  it  themselves." ' 

1  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  534. 

2  Jefferson  to  Madison,  June  23d,  1793  ;  to  Monroe,  July  14. 

8  Jefferson  to  Monroe,  July  14,  1793.  Some  of  the  leading  Federalists  saw  the  same 
difficulty  in  a  declaration  of  neutrality.  (See  Jay  to  Hamilton,  Hamilton's  Works,  voL  v. 
p.  552  :  Sedgwick  to  Hamilton,  ib.  vol.  v.  p.  581.)  Olhers  complained  of  the  omission 
of  the  word.  (See  King  to  Hamilton,  ib.  vol.  v.  p.  553.) 

*  This  was  written  after  Genet's  arrival. 


124  THE  PRESIDENT'S  ATTITUDE.  [CHAP.  ni. 

Hamilton  delivered  an  elaborate  written  opinion  on  the  third 
question  oi  the  President  (in  regard  to  receiving  a  minister), 
before  the  close  of  the  month  ;  and  on  the  remaining  ones  on  the 
2d  of  May.1  In  the  latter  paper  lie  asserted  that  "  the  war  is 
plainly  an  offensive  war  on  the  part  of  France,"  and  therefore 
that  the  guaranty  in  the  treaty  of  alliance  between  her  and  the 
United  States  "  cannot  take  place,  though  her  West  India  Islands 
should  be  attacked."  The  hostility  evinced  towards  the  present 
Government  of  France,  throughout  the  paper  was  extreme. 
Jefferson's  opinion  was  dated  April  28th,  and  he  answered  at 
considerable  length  the  verbal  arguments  offered  by  Hamilton 
in  the  Cabinet  meeting  of  the  19th,  in  favor  of  our  right  to  re 
nounce  the  treaty  ;  and  he  arrived  at  a  precisely  opposite  con 
clusion. 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  President  had  really  prejudged  the 
question  of  receiving  Genet.  There  is,  in  fact,  every  reason  to 
believe  that  at  this  period  his  views  as  to  the  proper  and  politic 
course  to  be  pursued  as  between  France  and  England,  much 
more  nearly  coincided  with  those  of  the  Republicans  than  writh 
those  of  the  Federalists.  That  he  looked  with  the  distrust  in 
separable  from  a  conservative  and  singularly  cautious  mind,  on 
that  brilliant  but  portentous  meteor  of  republicanism  which  was 
now  glaring  luridly  over  the  falling  thrones  and  fanes  of  Europe, 
is  certain  ;  but,  living  himself  in  a  republican  country,  and  pro 
fessing  to  be  a  republican,  he  could  not  plunge  into  the  enorm 
ous  inconsistency  of  denying  to  the  French  people  (or  any  other 
people),  a  right  to  establish  a  similiar  government,  or  of  desiring 
to  disown  them  from  among  nations  for  exercising  that  right. 
Nay,  he  had  sanctioned,  or  permitted  Jefferson  to  sanction,  ex 
actly  the  opposite  doctrine  in  instructions  to  our  ministers  in 
both  France  and  England.  And  he  had  no  partialities,  personal 
or  political,  for  England,  which  induced  him  to  seek  that  friend 
ship  and  alliance  with  it,  which  it  had  so  long  contemptuously 
refused,  and  particularly  to  seek  them  at  the  expense  of  an 
early  and  constant  ally.  But  his  extreme  disinclination  to  do 
anything  to  commit  the  United  States  unnecessarily  in  any 
direction,  as  well  as  his  unquestionable  dissent  from  the  doctrines 
of  the  ultra-Republicans — the  democratical  Republicans — is 

1  The  first  will  be  found  in  his  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  362,  and  the  second,  ib.  p.  382.     The 
last  deserves  an  attentive  perusal  from  those  who  would  understand  Hamilton's  politic*. 


.  in.]  PRESIDENT'S  ATTITUDE — FKENEATJ.  125 

clearly  enough  shown  in  a  conversation  which  took  place  with 
Jefferson  on  the  23d  of  May.  The  latter  had  sent  to  the  Presi 
dent,  the  day  before,  drafts  of  letters  to  be  addressed  to  M.  Ter- 
nant  on  the  occasion  of  his  recall.  Jefferson  says  : 1 

"  He  had  underscored  the  words  our  republic.  He  said  that  certainly  ours  was 
a  republican  government,  but  yet  we  had  not  used  that  style  in  this  way :  that  if 
anybody  wanted  to  change  its  form  into  a  monarchy,  he  was  sure  it  was  only  a 
few  individuals,  and  that  no  man  in  the  United  States  would  set  his  face  against  it 
more  than  himself:  but  that  this  was  not  what  he  was  afraid  of;  his  fears  were 
from  another  quarter  ;  that  there  was  more  danger  of  anarchy  being  introduced." 

Then  immediately  follow,  in  the  same  connection,  certain 
remarks  which  have  given  much  pain  to  some  of  the  warmest 
friends  of  Mr.  Jefferson  : 

"  He  [the  President]  adverted  to  a  piece  in  Freneau's  paper  of  yesterday  ;  he 
said  he  despised  all  their  attacks  on  him  personally,  but  that  there  never  had  been 
an  act  of  the  Government,  not  meaning  in  the  Executive  line  only,  but  in  any 
line,  which  that  paper  had  not  abused.  He  had  also  marked  the  word  republic 
thus  ^/,  where  it  was  applied  to  the  French  republic.  (See  the  original  paper.) 
He  was  evidently  sore  and  warm,  and  I  took  his  intention  to  be,  that  I  should 
interpose  in  some  way  with  Freneau.  perhaps  withdraw  his  appointment  of  trans 
lating  clerk  to  my  office.  But  I  will  not  do  it.  His  paper  has  saved  our  Constitu 
tion,  which  was  galloping  fast  into  monarchy,  and  has  been  checked  by  no  one 
means  so  powerfully  as  by  that  paper.  It  is  well  and  universally  known,  that  it  has 
been  that  paper  which  has  checked  the  career  of  the  monocrats ;  and  the  President, 
not  sensible  of  the  designs  of  the  party,  has  not  with  his  usual  good  sense  and 
sangfroid,  looked  on  the  efforts  and  effects  of  this  free  press,  and  seen  that,  though 
some  bad  things  have  passed  through  it  to  the  public,  yet  the  good  have  preponde 
rated  immensely." 

The  circumstances  have  already  been  adverted  .to  which  in 
duced  Jefferson  to  retain  Freneau  in  his  office.  The  words,  "  I 
will  not  do  it,"  above,  at  first  certainly  grate  harshly  on  the  ear, 
when  applied  by  the  writer  to  an  expressed  or  implied  wish 
of  General  Washington ;  but  a  little  further  consideration,  we 
think,  will  show  that  they  mean  no  more  than  would  the  expres 
sion,  "  I  cannot  consistently  do  it,"  in  the  mouth  of  a  man  more 
accustomed  to  wrap  up  his  thoughts  in  velvety  phraseology. 
They  meant  no  more,  in  truth,  than  did  the  naked  fact  that  he 
kept  Freneau  in  office.  His  reasons  for  that  were  distinctly 
known  to  the  President — and  knowing  them  the  President  again 
and  again  solicited  him  to  remain  in  his  Cabinet.  That  there 

i  Ana,  May  23d. 


126  INSTRUCTIONS    TO    OUR   FRENCH   MINISTER.         [CHAP,  m 

was  nothing  disrespectful  intended  in  the  words  quoted,  is  shown 
by  what  immediately  follows;  but  it  is  much  better  shown  by 
the  whole  tenor  of  his  contemporaneous  expressions.  All  of 
these  are  deeply  respectful,  and  friendly  towards  the  Presi 
dent.  He  had  recently  entreated  the  latter  to  accept  a  reelec 
tion.  He  claimed  him  as  substantially  agreeing  with  himself 
and  the  Republicans,  on  what  he  considered  as  really  the  cardi 
nal  question  between  the  parties.  He  had  recently  received  the 
kindest  personal  expressions  from  the  President.  He  had  re 
cently  triumphed  in  nearly  every  Cabinet  struggle  with  Hamil 
ton,  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  President.  The  idea,  therefore, 
that  Mr.  Jefferson  meant  to  utter  anything  more  than  a  firm  de 
termination  to  adhere  to  the  course  he  had  already  marked  out 
in  regard  to  Freneau,  is  to  suppose  him  guilty  of  employing 
offensive  expressions  without  any  motive  which  we  can  assign 
to  a  reasonable  man. 

If  any  one  is  inclined  to  decide  that  Mr.  Jefferson  erred  in 
etiquette  or  good  taste  in  retaining  Freneau,  after  his  language 
became  offensive  to  the  President,  and  in  refusing  under  any 
circumstances  to  affix  a  quasi-brand*  of  his  official  displeasure  on 
the  ablest  organ  of  the  Republican  party,  they  should  at  least 
remember  that  the  breadth  of  toleration  it  implied  to  perfect 
freedom  of  speech,  was  a  consistent  and  life-long  one  with  him. 
We  shall  find  him  just  as  little  disposed  to  interfere  with  the 
freedom  of  the  press — to  proscribe  free  discussion — when  the 
power  was  all  in  his  own  hands,  and  when  not  only  his  measures 
but  himself  were  the  subjects  of  attack. 

On  the  12th  of  March,  Mr.  Morris  was  instructed,  through 
the  Secretary  of  State,  to  respect  the  de  facto  government  of 
France,  and  cultivate  the  most  friendly  relations  with  it. 

On  the  18th  of  March,  Mr.  Jefferson  addressed  a  correspond 
ent  whose  name  is  not  given,1  a  letter  containing  views  which 
should  be  graven  on  the  memory  of  every  young  man  in  the 
Republic,  who  is  inclined  to  turn  his  thoughts  towards  official 
life  : 

DEAR  SIR: 

I  received  your  kind  favor  of  the  26th  ult.,  and  thank  you  for  its  content" 
as  sincerely  as  if  I  could  engage  in  what  they  propose.  When  I  first  entered  on 
the  stage  of  public  life  (now  twenty-four  years  ago),  I  came  to  a  resolution  neve 

1  See  Works,  Congress  edition,  vol.  iii.  p.  527. 


CHAP.  III.]  NEW   FRENCH    MINISTER   TO   U.    S. 

^0  engage  while  in  public  office  in  any  kind  of  enterprise  for  the  improvement  of 
my  fortune,  nor  to  wear  any  other  character  than  that  of  a  farmer.  I  have  never 
departed  from  it  in  a  single  instance ;  and  I  have  in  multiplied  instances  found 
myself  happy  in  being  able  to  decide  and  to  act  as  a  public  servant,  clear  of  all 
interest,  in  the  multiform  questions  that  have  arisen,  wherein  I  have  seen  others 
embarrassed  and  biased  by  having  got  themselves  into  a  more  interested  situation. 
Thus  I  have  thought  myself  richer  in  contentment  than  I  should  have  been  with 
any  increase  of  fortune.  Certainly  I  should  have  been  much  wealthier  had  I 
remained  in  that  private  condition  which  renders  it  lawful  and  even  laudable  to  use 
proper  eflbrts  to  better  it.  However,  my  public  career  is  now  closing,  and  I  will 
go  through  on  the  principle  on  which  I  have  hitherto  acted.  But  I  feel  myself 
under  obligations  to  repeat  my  thanks  for  this  mark  of  your  attention  and 
friendship. 

If  Mr.  Jefferson  would  have  consented  to  adopt  a  different 
rule,  the  saddest  page  in  his  personal  history  would  not  be  for 
us  to  write  ! 

The  French  Republic  had  early  in  1793  commissioned 
Monsieur,  or,  according  to  the  new  nomenclature  of  the  French 
democracy,  Citizen  Genet,  as  its  Minister  to  the  United  States, 
in  the  place  of  M.  de  Ternant,  recalled.  He  was  a  man  who 
had  sprung  from  the  upper  walks  of  French  society — was  con 
siderably  versed  in  public  and  diplomatic  affairs — possessed  no 
mean  abilities  or  address — was  frank,  brisk,  unguarded,  and 
agreeable  in  his  manners — spoke  English  fluently — was  an  en 
thusiastic  politician — and  was  as  combustible  in  his  temper  as 
was  then  considered  befitting  the  fiery  republic  he  represented. 
This  had  not,  like  its  American  precursor,  been  the  result  of 
slowly  operating  moral  and  ethnic  causes.  The  one  had  been 
created  by  what,  to  borrow  a  term  from  geological  science,  is 
termed  subsidence — a  gradual  deposit  and  a  gradual  recession 
of  old  surroundings — prepared,  on  its  emergence,  for  the  recep 
tion  of  vegetation  and  to  become  the  abode  of  animated  nature. 
The  other  had  been  suddenly  cast  up  from  abysmal  deeps  by 
volcanic  agencies — was  a  crater  of  hot  scoria  yet  hissing  in  the 
surrounding  waters,  on  which  the  alarmed  mariner  gazed  in 
doubt  whether  each  new  explosion  would  increase  its  bulk  and 
widen  its  base,  or  send  it  toppling  back  to  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean. 

Genet  was,  of  course,  a  decided  democrat,  and  his  whole 
programme  of  foreign  policy  might  be  said  to  be  embraced  in 
the  famous  decree  of  the  French  Convention  of  November  19th, 
1792: 


128  GENET'S  ARRIVAL.  [CHAP.  nr. 

"  The  National  Convention  declare,  in  the  name  of  the  French  nation,  that  they 
will  grant  fraternity  and  assistance  to  every  people  who  wish  to  recover  their 
liberty;  and  they  charge  the  Executive  power  to  send  the  necessary  orders  to  the 
generals  to  give  assistance  to  such  people,  and  to  defend  those  citizens  who  may 
have  been  -or  who  may  be  vexed  for  the  cause  of  liberty." 

We  have  noticed  the  admission  of  the  most  conservative 
writer  of  that  day,  that  on  the  declaration  of  war  between  Eng 
land  and  republican  France,  the  feeling  in  the  United  States 
in  favor  of  the  latter  suddenly  rose  and  swept  down  all  partisan 
opposition,  embracing  nearly  the  entire  body  of  the  American 
people.1  When,  then,  an  emissary  should  corne  from  the  new 
republic,  surrounded  with  its  prestige — proclaiming  such  wildly 
stirring  doctrines  as  those  above  given — declaring  the  un 
bounded  affection  of  his  country  for  the  United  States — scorn 
ing  the  arts  of  old  diplomacy  and  mixing  freely  with  the  demo 
cratic  masses — not  declining  to  talk  of  the  important  objects  of 
his  mission  in  promiscuous  assemblies  of  plain  workingmen — 
exhibiting  in  his  deportment  that  practical  democracy,  that  fra 
ternity,  which  men  in  his  position,  of  English  blood,  never  ex 
hibit — is  it  wonderful  that  American  popular  sympathy  swelled 
to  a  pitch  of  wild  enthusiasm  ? 

Genet  landed  at  Charleston  on  the  8th  of  April,  and  was  re 
ceived  by  Governor  Moultrie  and  the  citizens  with  marks  of 
unbounded  respect,  which  did  not  abate  in  fervor  during  his 
stay  of  several  days.  Admiring  crowds  followed  his  steps ; 
civic  and  social  demonstrations  in  his  honor  followed  each  other 
in  rapid  succession  ;  and  both  himself  and  his  mission  were  the 
themes  of  rapturous  admiration.  He  here  commissioned  two 
privateers  to  cruise  against  British  vessels,  and  assumed  to  grant 
powers  to  the  Consuls  of  France  in  the  United  States  to  try  and 
condemn  prizes.  He  then  proceeded  slowly  by  land  to  Phila 
delphia,  and  sent  the  French  frigate  1'Embuscade,  which  had 
brought  him  from  France,  to  the  same  place.  On  her  way  she 
captured  the  British  ship  Grange,  and  carried  the  prize  into 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison,  April  28th  : 

"  Cases  are  now  arising  which  will  embarrass  us  a  little  till  the  line  of  neutrality 
be  fairly  understood  by  ourselves  and  the  belligerent  parties.  A  French  privateer 
is  now  bringing  here,  as  we  are  told,  prizes,  which  left  this  but  two  or  three  days 
before.  Shall  we  permit  her  to  sell  them  ?  The  treaty  does  not  say  we  shall,  and 

1  See  quotation  from  Marshall,  ante  p.  121 — note. 


CHAP.  HI.]  HIS    RECEPTION.  129 

it  says  we  shall  not  permit  the  like  to  England.  Shall  we  permit  France  to  fit  out 
privateers  here?  The  treaty  does  not  stipulate  that  we  shall,  though  it  says  we 
shall  not  permit  England  to  do  it.  I  fear  that  fair  neutrality  will  prove  a  disagree 
able  pill  to  our  friends,  though  necessary  to  keep  us  out  of  the  calamities  of 


He  had  written  the  American  Minister  in  England  a  week 
earlier : 

"  You  may,  on  every  occasion,  give  assurances  which  cannot  go  beyond  the  real 
desires  of  this  country,  to  preserve  a  fair  neutrality  in  the  present  war,  on  condition 
that  the  rights  of  neutral  nations  are  respected  in  us,  as  they  have  been  settled  in 
modern  times,  either  by  the  express  declarations  of  the  powers  of  Europe,  or  their 
adoption  of  them  on  particular  occasions." 

The  popular  feeling  expressed  in  Philadelphia  on  the  arrival 
of  the  Embuscade  and  her  prize — as  well  as  the  feelings  of  one 
or  two  members  of  the  Cabinet  on  the  same  occasion — are  thus 
mentioned  in  a  letter  from  Jefferson  to  Monroe  (May  5th) : 

"  The  war  between  France  and  England  seems  to  be  producing  an  effect  not 
contemplated.  All  the  old  spirit  of  1776,  rekindling  the  newspapers  from  Boston 
to  Charleston,  proves  this ;  and  even  the  monocrat  papers  are  obliged  to  publish 
the  most  furious  philippics  against  England.  A  French  frigate  took  a  British 
prize  off  the  capes  of  Delaware  the  other  day,  and  sent  her  up  here.  Upon  her 
coming  into  sight,  thousands  and  thousands  of  the  yeomanry  of  the  city  crowded 
and  covered  the  wharfs.  Never  before  was  such  a  crowd  seen  there ;  and  when 
the  Britisli  colors  were  seen  reversed,  and  the  French  flying  above  them,  they  burst 
into  peals  of  exultation.  I  wish  we  may  be  able  to  repress  the  spirit  of  the  people 
within  the  limits  of  a  fair  neutrality.  In  the  meantime,  H.2  is  panic-struck,  if  we 
refuse  our  breech  to  every  kick  which  Great  Britain  may  choose  to  give  it.  He  is 
for  proclaiming  at  once  the  most  abject  principles,  such  as  would  invite  and  merit 
habit"al  insults ;  and  indeed  every  inch  of  ground  must  be  fought  in  our  councils 
to  desperation,  in  order  to  hold  up  the  face  of  even  a  sneaking  neutrality,  for  our 
votes  -ire  generally  two  and  a  half  against  one  and  a  half.  Some  propositions  have 
come  from  him  which  would  astonish  Mr.  Pitt  himself  with  their  boldness.  If  we 
preserve  even  a  sneaking  neutrality  we  shall  be  indebted  for  it  to  the  President,  and 
not  to  his  counsellors." 

The  last  remark,  that  "if  we  preserve  even  a  sneaking 
neutrality,  we  shall  be  indebted  for  it  to  the  President,"  per 
fectly  solves  the  preceding  one,  that  the  votes  in  the  Cabinet 
;<  are  generally  two  and  a  half  against  one  and  a  half."  It 
meant  that  Hamilton  and  Knox  voted  uniformly  against  Jef- 

1  This  is  a  part  of  a  longer  quotation  not  given  in  either  of  the  editions  of  Jefferson's 
Vorks,  but  which  we  find  in  Tucker's  Jefferson,  vol.  i.  p.  422.    Mr.  Madison  probabl7 
•"nrnished  it  to  Professor  Tucker. 

2  Hamilton  is  undoubtedly  here  meant. 

VOL.  II. — 9 


130  CABINET    DIVISIONS.  [CHAP.   CII. 

ferson,  that  Randolph  was  divided  half-and-half  between  them, 
and  that  therefore  it  took  the  President's  vote  (or  voice)  with 
his  own  to  preserve  u  even  a  sneaking  neutrality."  A  week 
afterwards,  Jefferson  was  still  more  severe  on  the  Attorney- 
General.  He  wrote,  in  a  letter  to  Madison,  that  "  everything 
hung  upon  the  opinion  of  a  single  person,  and  that  the  most 
indecisive  one  he  had  ever  had  to  do  business  with."  In  other 
words,  if  Randolph  gave  his  whole  vote  either  way,  it  turned 
the  scale,  the  President  and  Jefferson  being  on  one  side,  and 
Hamilton  and  Knox  on  the  other. 

The  Secretary  of  State  had  occasion  to  address  official  com 
munications  to  the  American  Ministers  in  England  and  France, 
and  to  the  ministers  of  those  powers  at  our  Government,  before 
the  "peals  of  exultation"  from  the  Philadelphia  "yeomanry," 
at  witnessing  the  dishonor  of  the  flag  of  England,  had  yet  died 
away  in  his  ears;  and  while  the  popular  enthusiasm  for  France 
continued  bursting  out  in  every  conceivable  form  of  demonstra 
tion.  One  is  curious  to  know  how  far  the  Secretary  evinced, 
by  some  flushed  sentences  or  words,  in  these  communications  or 
in  their  original  drafts,  that  he  had  been  reached  by  this  con 
tagious  excitement.  The  search  for  such  a  sentence  or  word  is 
made  in  vain. 

He  did  not,  however,  cease  to  feel,  or  express  in  private,  the 
mortified  opinion  that  we  were,  on  several  points,  proffering 
concessions  to  England,  which  she  had  not  even  condescended 
to  ask,  and  which  ought  not  to  be  made  except  in  exchange  for 
some  decent  concessions  on  her  side.  In  the  letter  to  Monroe, 
already  quoted,  he  said  : 

"  Great  Britain  has  as  yet  not  condescended  to  notice  us  in  any  way.  No  wish 
expressed  of  our  *  neutrality,  no  answer  of  any  kind  to  a  single  complaint  for  the 
daily  violations  committed  on  our  sailors  and  ships.  Indeed,  we  promise  before 
hand  so  fast  that  she  has  not  time  to  ask  anything." 

On  the  4th  of  May,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  forwarded 
to  the  President  the  draft  of  a  circular,  prepared,  it  would  seem, 
entirely  at  his  own  instance,2  to  be  addressed  by  himself  to 
the  United  States  Collectors,  directing  them  to  report  to  him  all 
infractions  of  the  neutrality  laws,  or  movements  apparently 

»  The  word  "our"  is  printed  "her"  in  the  Congress  edition.  The  letter  is  not 
ffiven  in  Randolph's  edition.  But  the  mistake  is  obvious,  and  we  have  therefore  corrected 
it  in  the  text. 

a  See  Hamilton  to  Washington,  May  4,  1793.    Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  392. 


r-HAP.  HI.]  CABINET    DIVISIONS.  131 

pointing  towards  such  infractions — particularly  the  building  of 
vessels  pierced  for  guns.  The  President  was  informed,  that  if 
the  circular  was  "not  disapproved"  by  him  "it  would  be 
forwarded."  General  Washington  did  disapprove  of  it.  He 
wrote  Hamilton  on  the  5th  that  he  wished  to  speak  with  him 
before  it  was  sent  out.  He  again  wrote  to  him  on  the  7th : 

"  As  I  perceive  there  has  been  some  misconception  respecting  the  building  of 
vessels  in  our  ports  which  may  be  converted  into  armed  ones,  and  as  I  understand 
from  the  Attorney-General  there  is  to  be  a  meeting  to-day  or  to-morrow  of  the  gen 
tlemen  on  another  occasion,  I  wish  to  have  that  part  of  your  circular  letter  which 
respects  this  matter  reconsidered  by  them  before  it  goes  out. 

"  I  am  not  disposed  to  adopt  any  measures  which  may  check  ship-building  in 
this  country  ;  nor  am  I  satisfied  that  we  should  too  promptly  adopt  measures,  in 
the  first  instance,  that  are  not  indispensably  necessary.  To  take  fair  and  support 
able  1  ground,  I  conceive  to  be  our  best  policy,  and  all  that  can  be  required  of  by 
the  powers  at  war ;  leaving  the  rest  to  be  managed  according  to  circumstances  and 
the  advantages  which  may  be  derived  from  them." 

The  result  is  thus  given  in  a  letter  from  Jefferson  to  Madison 
(May  loth),  which  is  too  racy  to  admit  of  any  paring: 

"  I  wrote  you  on  the  5th,  covering  an  open  letter  to  Colonel  Monroe ;  since  that 
I  have  received  yours  of  April  29.  We  are  going  on  here  in  the  same  spirit  still. 
The  Anglophobia  has  seized  violently  on  three  members  of  our  council.  This  sits 
almost  every  day  on  questions  of  neutrality.  H.  produced  the  other  day  the  draft 
of  a  letter  from  himself  to  the  collectors  of  the  customs,  giving  them  in  charge  to 
watch  over  all  proceedings  in  their  districts,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  neutrality  or 
tending  to  impair  our  peace  with  the  belligerent  powers,  and  particularly  to  observe 
if  vessels  pierced  for  guns  should  be  built,  and  to  inform  him  of  it.  This  was 
objected  to,  1st.  As  setting  up  a  system  of  espionage,  destructive  of  the  peace  of 
society.  2d.  Transferring  to  the  Treasury  department  the  conservation  of  the  laws 
of  neutrality  and  peace  with  foreign  nations.  3d.  It  was  rather  proposed  to  inti 
mate  to  the  judges  that  the  laws  respecting  neutrality  being  now  come  into  activity, 
they  should  charge  grand  juries  with  the  observance  of  them  ;  these  being  consti 
tutional  and  public  informers,  and  the  persons  accused  knowing  of  what  they  should 
do,  and  having  an  opportunity  of  justifying  themselves.  E.  R  found  out  a  hair  to 
split,  which,  as  always  happens,  became  the  decision.  H.  is  to  write  to  the  collectors 
of  the  customs,  who  are  to  convey  their  information  to  the  attorney  of  the  district, 
to  whom  E.  R.  is  to  write,  to  receive  their  information  and  proceed  by  indictment. 
The  clause  respecting  the  building  vessels  pierced  for  guns  is  to  be  omitted  ;  for, 
although  three  against  one  thought  it  would  be  a  breach  of  neutrality,  yet  they 
thought  we  might  defer  giving  a  public  opinion  on  it  as  yet.  Everything,  my  dear 
sir.  hangs  upon  the  opinion  of  a  single  person,  and  that  the  most  indecisive  one  I 
ever  had  to  do  business  with.  He  always  contrives  to  agree  in  principle  with  one, 
but  in  conclusion  with  the  other.  Anglophobia,  secret  anti-gallomany,  a  federalism^, 
outre,  and  a  present  ease  in  his  circumstances  not  usual,  have  decided  the  com- 

'  Italics  by  the  writer.    This  letter  is  published  in  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  3ft> 


132  WERE    WE    PURELY   A   NEUTRAL    POWER?          [CHAP.  III. 

plexion  of  our  dispositions,  and  our  proceedings  towards  the  conspirators  against 
human  liberty,  and  the  asserters  of  it,  which  is  unjustifiable  in  principle,  in  interest, 
and  in  respect  to  the  wishes  of  our  constituents.  A  manly  neutrality,  claiming  the 
liberal  rights  ascribed  to  that  condition  by  the  very  persons  at  war,  was  the  part 
we  should  have  taken,  and  would,  I  believe,  have  given  satisfaction  to  our  allies. 
If  anything  prevents  its  being  a  mere  English  neutrality,  it  will  be  that  the  penchant 
of  the  President  is  not  that  way,  and  above  all,  the  ardent  spirit  of  our  con 
stituents." 

And  he  adds : 

"  The  line  is  now  drawn  so  clearly  as  to  show  on  one  side,  1.  The  fashionable 
circles  of  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston,  and  Charleston  (natural  aristocrats). 
2.  Merchants  trading  on  British  capital.  3.  Paper  men  (all  the  old  Tories  are 
found  in  some  one  of  the  three  descriptions).  On  the  other  side  are,  1.  Merchants 
trading  on  their  own  capital-  2.  Irish  merchants.  3.  Tradesmen,  mechanics, 
farmers,  and  every  other  possible  description  of  our  citizens.  Genet  is  not  yet 
arrived,  though  hourly  expected." 

This,  with  Jefferson's  preceding  letters  and  the  letter  of  May 
7th  from  the  President  to  Hamilton,  gives,  in  a  sufficiently  clear 
light,  the  posture  of  the  Cabinet. 

When  the  interests  of  England  began  to  be  closely  touched 
by  the  capture  of  her  shipping  on  the  American  shores,  her 
Minister  found  time  to  bestow  some  attention  on  the  long 
neglected  subject  of  the  relations  between  the  two  countries — 
at  least,  so  far  as  to  assume  the  attitude  of  a  complainant. 
Ascertaining  the  temper  of  a  majority  of  the  Cabinet,  he  was 
riot  slow  in  adopting  the  tone  of  a  grievously  wronged  party, 
entitled  by  natural  right,  by  treaty,  and  by  every  other  consi 
deration,  to  be  put  on  an  equal  footing,  in  all  particulars,  w^ith 
France,  in  the  ports  and  waters  of  the  United  States.  And  his 
scolding  complaints  rose  in  tone  as  he  found  they  were  tolerated 
and  treated  with  respect. 

Were  the  United  States  at  liberty,  conformably  with  the 
faith  of  treaties,  to  consider  themselves  purely  a  neutral  power? 
Did  France,  by  taking  and  pressing  a  contrary  view,  exhibit — 
as  was  loudly  claimed  by  one  of  our  parties — those  impudent, 
arrogant,  and  utterly  unfounded  pretensions  which  showed  that 
she  was  intent  on  reducing  us  to  that  vassalage  to  herself  which 
she  had  assisted  us  to  break  in  respect  to  England?  Our  treaties 
with  her  afford  the  only  decisive  answer  to  this  question.  We 
find  them  rarely  quoted.  Those  instruments — hailed  throughout 
our  country,  when  made,  by  acclamations  and  tears  of  joy,  and 


CHAP.  HI.]       EXTRACTS  FROM  FRENCH  TREATIES. 

devout  thanksgivings  to  Heaven  for  inclining  the  hearts  ot 
princes  to  our  almost  desperate  cause — contained  the  following 
clauses : 


"  Art.  5.— If  the  United  States  should  think  fit  to  attempt  the  reduction  of  the 
British  power,  remaining  in  the  northern  parts  of  America,  or  the  Islands  of 
Bermudas,  those  countries  or  islands  in  case  of  success,  shall  be  confederated  with, 
or  dependant  upon  the  said  United  States. 

u  Art.  6. — The  Most  Christian  King  renounces  forever  the  possession  of  the  islands 
of  Bermudas,  as  well  as  of  any  part  of  the  continent  of  North  America,  which  before 
the  treaty  of  Paris  in  1763,  or  in  virtue  of  that  treaty,  were  acknowledged  to  belong 
to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  or  to  the  United  States,  heretofore  called  British 
colonies,  or  which  are  at  this  time,  or  have  lately  been  under  the  power  of  the  King 
and  crown  of  Great  Britain. 

"  Art.  7. — If  his  Most  Christian  Majesty  shall  think  proper  to  attack  any  of  the 
islands  situated  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  or  near  that  gulf,  which  are  at  present  under 
the  power  of  Great  Britain,  all  the  said  isles,  in  case  of  success,  shall  appertain  to 
the  crown  of  France. 

"Art.  11. — The  two  parties  guarantee  mutually  from  the  present  time,  and  for 
ever  against  all  other  powers,  to  wit:  The  United  States  to  his  most  Christian 
Majesty,  the  present  possessions  of  the  crown  of  France  in  America,  as  well  as  those 
which  it  may  acquire  by  the  future  treaty  of  peace  :  and  his  most  Christian  Majesty 
guarantees  tin  his  part  to  the  United  States,  their  liberty,  sovereignty  and  inde 
pendence,  absolute  and  unlimited,  as  well  in  matters  of  government  as  commerce, 
and  also  their  possessions,  and  the  additions  or  conquests,  that  their  confederation 
may  obtain  during  the  war,  from  any  of  the  dominions  now,  or  heretofore  possessed 
by  Great  Britain  in  North  America,  conformable  to  the  5th  and  6th  articles  above 
written,  the  whole  as  their  possessions  shall  be  fixed  and  assured  to  the  said  States, 
at  the  moment  of  the  cessation  of  their  present  war  with  England. 

"Art.  12. — In  order  to  fix  more  precisely  the  sense  and  application  of  the 
preceding  article,  the  contracting  parties  declare,  that  in  case  of  a  rupture  between 
France  and  England,  the  reciprocal  guarantee  declared  in  the  said  article,  shall  havt 
its  full  force  and  effect  the  moment  such  war  shall  break  out ;  and  if  such  rupture  shall 
not  take  place,  the  mutual  obligations  of  the  said  guarantee  shall  not  commence  until 
the  moment  of  the  cessation  of  the  present  war,  between  the  United  States  and 
England,  shall  have  ascertained  their  possessions. 

"  Art.  17. — It  shall  be  lawful  for  the  ships  of  war  of  either  party,  and  privateers, 
freely  to  carry  whithersoever  they  please,  the  ships  and  goods  taken  from  their  ene 
mies,  without  being  obliged  pay  any  duty  to  the  officers  of  the  admirality  or  any  other 
judges;  nor  shall  such  prizes  be  arrested  or  seized  when  they  come  to  and  enter 
the  ports  of  either  party ;  nor  shall  the  searchers  or  other  officers  of  those  places 
search  the  same,  or  make  examination  concerning  the  lawfulness  of  such  prizes  : 
but  they  may  hoist  sail  at  any  time,  atnd  depart  and  carry  their  prizes  to  the  places 
expressed  in  their  commissions,  which  the  commanders  of  such  ships  of  war  shall  be 
obliged  to  show :  on  the  contrary,  no  shelter  or  refuge  shall  be  given  in  their  ports 
to  such  as  shall  have  made  prize  of  the  subjects,  people  or  property  of  either  of  the 
parties ;  but  if  such  shall  come  in,  being  forced  by  stress  of  weather  or  the  danger 
of  the  sea,  all  proper  means  shall  be  vigorously  used,  that  they  go  out  aod  retire 
f>om  thence  as  soon  as  possible. 


134  FEENCH   CONSTRUCTION   OF   THE    TREATIES.  [CHAP.  III. 

"  Art.  22.— It  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  foreign  privateers,  not  belonging  to  the 
subjects  of  the  most  Christian  King,  nor  citizens  of  the  said  United  States,  who  have 
commissions  from  any  other  Prince  or  State  in  enmity  with  either  nation,  to  fit  their 
ships  in  the  ports  of  either  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  aforesaid  parties,  to  sell  what  they 
have  taken,  or  in  any  other  manner  whatsoever  to  exchange  their  ships,  merchandises, 
or  any  other  lading ;  neither  shall  they  be  allowed  even  to  purchase  victuals,  except 
such  as  shall  be  necessary  for  their  going  to  the  next  port  of  that  Prince  or  State 
from  which  they  have  commissions."  1 

We  have  no  disposition  to  comment  particularly  on  these 
stipulations,  but  it  is  only  fair  to  present  the  French  view  of 
them.  The  Count  de  Vergennes  was  understood  to  have 
explained  to  his  own  Government  the  remarkable  agreement 
on  the  pare  of  France  contained  in  the  sixth  article,  by  the  sup 
posed  counterbalancing  ones  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
contained  in  the  seventeenth  and  twenty-second.  France  fore 
closed  herself  from  obtaining  any  foothold  in  British  America — 
from  sharing  in  any  continental  conquests  from  the  common  foe 
— from  recovering  a  foot  of  her  own  ancient  possessions.  She 
thus,  to  say  nothing  of  any  other  sacrifice  of  interest  or  feeling, 
undeniably  placed  herself  at  an  immense  disadvantage  in  a 
West  India  war  with  England,  while  the  latter  retained  its 
continental  North  American  possessions.  Does  any  one  doubt 
that  France  could  have  reserved  the  right  to  reconquer  some 
portion  of  her  former  Canadian  possessions,  and  still  found  our 
country  glad  to  sign  the  Treaties  of  1778  on  such  terms?  But 
De  Yergennes,  finding  the  deep-rooted  prejudices  and  jealousies 
which  existed  in  the  minds  of  our  people  on  this  point,  con 
cluded  it  would  be  better  to  secure  our  cordial  confidence  and 
adhesion  by  yielding  it,  and  receiving  in  lieu  such  privileges  in 
war  in  United  States  ports  as  would  practically  secure  to  France 
advantages  equivalent  to  those  which  would  accrue  from  conti 
nental  possessions  of  her  own.  He  appears  to  have  supposed  he 
obtained  these  by  the  seventeenth  and  twenty-second  articles  of 
the  Treaty  of  Amity  and  Commerce. 

It  was  said,  by  the  anti-French  party,  that  our  direct  and 
explicit  guaranty  of  the  West  India  possessions  of  France  (a 
stipulation  in  itself  not  very  conformable  to  pure  neutrality)  wa8 
a  sufficient  reward  for  then  endangering  them  in  our  behalf, 
and  a  fair  remunerating  proportion  of  the  direct  material 

1  The  five  articles  first  quoted  are  from  the  Treaty  of  Alliance,  the  two  last  from  tho 
Treaty  of  Amity  and  Commerce,  both  of  which  were  signed  Feb.  6,  1778. 


CHAP.  III.]  ENGLISH    COMPLAINTS.  135 

benefits  of  the  war,  when  added  to  the  resulting  ones  of  weak 
ening  her  great  European  rival  by  dismembering  its  empire. 

The  French,  on  the  other  hand,  claimed  that  the  guaranty 
of  our  "liberty,  sovereignty,  and  independence,"  and  of  our 
entire  possessions ',  coming  from  a  nation  more  than  four  times  as 
numerous  as  our  own,  was  of  itself  a  full  offset  to  our  West 
India  guaranty.  And  so  far  as  resulting  benefits  were  con 
cerned,  they  claimed  that  we  derived  quite  as  many  advantages 
as  Fiance  did,  from  our  being  rendered  independent  of 
England ! 

We  will  not  follow,  in  their  order,  the  numerous  complaints, 
protests,  etc.,  of  Mr.  Hammond.  Their  contents  will  be  inferred 
sufficiently  from  the  replies  to  them  which  it  may  be  necessary 
to  notice.  On  the  15th  of  May,  the  Secretary  of  State  disposed 
of  a  batch  of  these  papers.  He  declared  that  the  condemnation 
of  a  British  vessel  as  a  legal  prize  by  the  French  Consul  at 
Charleston,  wras  not  warranted  by  the  usage  of  nations,  by  the 
treaty  stipulations  between  the  United  States  and  France,  or  the 
law  of  the  land,  and  "  was  consequently  a  mere  nullity  "  —that 
the  capture  of  the  British  vessel  (the  Grange)  having  taken 
place  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  the  Govern 
ment  was  taking  measures  for  the  liberation  of. the  crew,  and 
the  restitution  of  the  ship  and  cargo — that  he  (the  Secretary) 
"  was  authorized  to  give  assurances  to  all  the  parties  without 
reserve"  that  the  United  States  condemned,  in  the  highest 
degree,  the  conduct  of  their  citizens  who  should  personally 
engage  in  committing  hostilities  at  sea  against  any  of  the 
parties  to  the  present  war,  and  would  exert  all  legal  powers  to 
discover  and  "bring  them  to  condign  punishment" — that  the 
practice  of  "  commissioning,  equipping,  and  manning  vessels  in 
our  ports  to  cruise  on  any  of  the  belligerent  parties,"  was 
"  equally  and  entirely  disapproved,"  and  that  the  Government 
would  "  take  effectual  measures  "  to  prevent  it.  On  the  subject 
of  making  and  vending  arms,  the  Secretary  declared  it  was  an 
occupation  in  which  all  American  citizens  were  free  to  engage, 
and  that  a  suppression  of  this  traffic,  "  because  a  war  existed  in 
roreign  and  distant  countries  in  which  we  had  no  concern," 
could  not  be  expected,  and  that  it  "  would  be  hard  in  principle, 
and  impossible  in  practice."  The  advantages  of  such  purchases 
were  equally  open  to  all  nations,  and  the  penalty  must  be  left 


136  CABINET    DIFFERENCES.  [CITAP.  m 

to  tha\  of  confiscation,  should  the  arms  fall  into  the  hands  of 
either  belligerent  when  on  the  way  to  an  enemy's  port.  The 
demand  of  the  British  Minister  for  the  restitution,  by  the 
United  States,  of  the  prizes  captured  by  the  French  privateers 
fitted  out  at  Charleston,  but  not  within  waters  under  the  juris 
diction  of  the  American  Government,  was  reserved  for  further 
consideration.  The  following  is  the  concluding  paragraph  of 
the  answer : 

"  I  trust,  sir,  that  in  the  readiness  with  which  the  United  States  have  attended 
to  the  redress  of  such  wrongs  as  are  committed  by  their  citizens,  or  within  their 
jurisdiction,  you  will  see  proofs  of  their  justice  and  impartiality  to  all  parties;  and 
that  it  will  insure  to  their  citizens  pursuing  their  lawful  business  by  sea  or  by  land, 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  a  like  efficacious  interposition  of  governing  powers  to  pro 
tect  them  from  injury,  and  redress  it,  where  it  has  taken  place  With  such  dispo 
sitions  on  both  sides,  vigilantly  and  faithfully  carried  into  effect,  we  may  hope  that 
the  blessings  of  peace  on  the  one  part,  will  be  as  little  impaired,  and  the  evils  of 
war  on  the  other,  as  little  aggravated,  as  the  nature  of  things  will  permit ;  and  that 
this  should  be  so,  is,  we  trust,  the  prayer  of  all."  1 

The  French  Minister,  De  Ternant  (not  yet  superseded  by 
Genet)  was  officially  notified  the  same  day  of  these  declarations. 

There  does  not,  so  far  as  we  discover,  appear  to  be  evidence 
of  a  division  in  the  Cabinet  on  the  principles  settled  by  those 
declarations. 

A  letter  of  May  3d,  from  Hamilton  to  Jefferson,  shows  that 
the  latter  had  complained  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury's 
transcending  his  official  province  in  receiving  and  answering 
applications  from  M.  de  Ternant,  in  regard  to  certain  fiscal 
arrangements.  Hamilton  explains  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  had  supposed  it  proper  thus  to  communicate  directly 
with  the  French  Minister,  and  declared  "it  would  give  him 
pain"  that  Jefferson  "should  consider  what  had  been  done  as 
the  infringement  of  a  rule  of  official  propriety.  He  assured  him 
this  was  not  his  intention."2  This  unimportant  fact  in  itself 
considered  is  introduced  to  show,  what  we  do  not  remember 
elsewhere  to  have  seen  (no  hint  of  it  being  given,  we  believe,  in 
Jefferson's  writings),  that  those  constant  encroachments  of 
Hamilton  on  Jefferson's  official  province,  of  which  the  latter 
complained  to  the  President,  went  sometimes  from  substance  tc 

1  Jefferson's  Works,  Congress  edition,  vol.  hi.  p.  557. 

2  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  391 


TUAP.  III.]  CABINET   OPINIONS.  137 

even  official  forms;  and  that,  in  one  instance  at  least,  the}' 
drew  Jefferson's  direct  rebuke  on  the  offender.  Beyond  this  we 
observe  no  conflicts  of  any  kind  in  the  Cabinet,  from  the  dis 
posal  of  the  Treaty  question  to  that  we  are  about  to  record. 

On  the  subject  of  the  reserved  question — of  the  restitution, 
by  the  United  States,  of  prizes  taken  on  the  high  seas  by  the 
French  privateers  fitted  out  in  an  American  port  (Charleston) 
and  manned  in  some  part  by  American  citizens — the  President 
took  the  opinion  of  the  three  Cabinet  officers  in  writing,  who 
were  accustomed  to  give  written  opinions.  That  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  was  delivered  first,  (May  15rh)  and  took 
ground,  unconditionally,  in  favor  of  complying  with  the  claim 
of  the  English  Minister  in  this  particular.1  The  Secretary  of 
State  delivered  his  opinion  the  next  day.  He  assumed  that  the 
act,  complained  of  was  to  be  considered — 1st.  as  an  offence 
against  the  United  States;  2d,  as  an  injury  to  Great  Britain. 
He  proceeded : 

"  In  the  first  view  it  is  not  now  to  be  taken  up.  The  opinion  being,  that  it  has 
been  an  act  of  disrespect  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  of  which  proper 
notice  is  to  be  taken  at  a  proper  time. 

u  Under  the  second  point  of  view  it  appears  to  me  wrong  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  (where  not  constrained  by  treaties)  to  permit  one  party  in  the  present 
war  to  do  what  cannot  be  permitted  to  the  other.  We  cannot  permit  the  enemies 
of  France  to  fit  out  privateers  in  our  ports,  by  the  22d  article  of  our  treaty.  We 
ought  not,  therefore,  to  permit  France  to  do  it ;  the  treaty  leaving  us  free  to 
refuse,  and  the  refusal  being  necessary  to  preserve  a  fair  neutrality.  Yet  consider 
ing  that  the  present  is  the  first,  case  which  has  arisen  ;  that  it  has  been  in  the  first 
moment  of  the  war,  in  one  of  the  most  distant  ports  of  the  United  States,  and 
before  measures  could  be  taken  by  the  Government  to  meet  all  the  cases  which  may 
flow  from  the  infant  state  of  our  Government,  and  novelty  of  our  position,  it  ought 
to  be  placed  by  Great  Britain  among  the  accidents  of  loss  to  which  a  nation  is 
exposed  in  a  state  of  war,  and  by  no  means  as  a  premeditated  wrong  on  the  part 
of  the  Government.  In  the  last  light  it  cannot  be  taken,  because  the  act  from 
which  it  results  placed  the  United  States  with  the  offended,  and  not  the  offending 
party.  Her  minister  has  seen  himself  that  there  could  have  been  on  our  part 
neither  permission  nor  connivance.  A  very  moderate  apology  then  from  the 
United  States  ought  to  satisfy  Great  Britain." 

He  thought  an  ample  apology  had  already  been  made  in  the 
pointed  disapprobation  of  the  transaction  expressed  by  the 
Government,  and  in  the  promise  to  take  effectual  measures 
against  a  repetition.  He  said  the  French  commission  to  the 

1  For  the  opinion,  see  Hamilton's  Works,  \  ol.  iv.  p.  391. 


138  CABINET    OPINIONS.  [CHAP,  m, 

commander  of  the  privateer  was  good  or  not  good.  If  not  good, 
the  legal  tribunals  of  our  country  would  take  cognizance  of  the 
affair,  and  make  restitution  of  the  capture.  If  there  was  a 
"  regular  remedy  at  law,  it  would  be  irregular  for  the  Govern 
ment  to  interpose."  If  the  commission  was  good,  as  the  capture 
occurred  on  the  high  seas,  the  British  owner  had  lost  all  his 
right,  and  the  prize  would  be  pronounced  good,  even  in  his  own 
courts.  The  legal  right  having  been  transferred  absolutely  to 
the  captor,  it  would  be  purely  an  act  of.  force — a  reprisal  for 
the  offence  committed  against  the  American  Government — to 
take  it  from  him.  Remonstrance  and  refusal  of  satisfaction 
ought  to  precede  so  serious  a  measure  as  national  reprisal — and 
if  ripe  for  that  step,  Congress  must  be  called  to  take  it,  for  in 
it,  and  not  in  the  Executive,  was  the  right  of  reprisal  vested 
by  the  Constitution.1 

We  have  given  Mr.  Jefferson's  line  of  argument  pretty  fully, 
because  it  shows  that  his  opinions  were  somewhat  peculiar,  and 
as  far  from  the  French  as  from  the  English  extreme.  It  ap 
pears  here  unequivocally  that  lie  did  not  give  the  construction 
to  the  twenty-second  article  of  the  treaty  which  France,  and 
not  without  some  strong  show  of  reason,  placed  on  it,  and  which 
was  sustained  by  the  warmest  sympathizers  with  that  power  in 
the  United  States. 

Knox  concurred  with  Hamilton  ;  and  Randolph  arrived  at 
the  same  conclusion  with  Jefferson,  by  the  same  train  of  argu 
ment.  Randolph's  paper  was  drawn  up  with  marked  ability, 
and  a  spirit  gleamed  through  it  which  showed  what  he  was 
capable  of  when  he  let  his  better  understanding  display  itself. 
In  the  parallel  passage  to  that  where  Jefferson's  answer  to  his 
own  first  proposition  is  given,  Randolph's  manner  of  treating 
the  topic  is,  in  our  judgment,  decidedly  preferable.  He,  with 
as  much  spirit  as  dignity,  said  : 

"  What  relates  to  the  dignity  of  the  United  States  is  not  an  affair  of  any  foreign 
nation.  If  they  thought  proper  to  waive  satisfaction  to  themselves  for  the  aft'ront 
and  injury,  they  cannot  be  called  to  an  account  by  any  foreign  power  ;  and  if  they 
do  require  satisfaction,  its  degree  and  kind  depend  upon  their  discretion." 

The  Cabinet  being  equally  divided,  the  President  did  not 
make  an  immediate  decision,  but  he  soon  after  decided  in  ccn- 

1  The  paper  entire  will  be  found  in  Jefferson's  Works,  Congress  edition,  vol.  vii.  p.  626, 


THAP.  in.]  GENET'S  OFFICIAL  RECEPTION.  139 

formity  with  the  opinions  of  Jefferson  and  Randolph,  and  the 
British  Minister  was  so  notified  in  a  communication  from  the 
Secretary  of  State,  dated  5th  of  June.1 

Pending  this  affair  (May  16th)  Genet  arrived  in  Philadel 
phia.  He  had  met,  in  the  towns  between  there  and  Charleston,  the 
same  enthusiastic  reception  as  at  his  landing.  While  one  party 
desired  that  his  approach  to  the  seat  of  Government  should  be 
as  little  noticed  as  possible,  the  other  was  determined  to  give  it 
all  the  eclat  in  its  power.  Arrangements  were  made  for 
meeting  him  at  Gray's  Ferry,  by  a  vast  crowd  of  citizens,  and 
escorting  him  into  town  ;  but  according  to  a  contemporaneous 
letter  from  Jefferson  to  Madison  (May  19th),  he  "escaped  that  by 
arriving  in  town  with  the  letters  which  brought  information  that 
he  was  on  the  road."  Jefferson  added  : 

"  The  merchants,  i.  e.  Fitzsimmons  &  Co.,  were  to  present  an  address  to  the  P. 
on  the  neutrality  proclaimed.  It  contained  much  wisdom,  but  no  affection.  You 
will  see  it  in  the  papers  inclosed.  The  citizens  are  determined  to  address  Genet. 
Rittenhouse,  Hutcheson,  Dallas,  Sargeant,  etc.,  were  at  the  head  of  it.  Though  a 
select  body  of  only  thirty  was  appointed  to  present  it,  yet  a  vast  concourse  of  peo 
ple  attended  him.  I  have  not  seen  it ;  but  it  is  understood  to  be  the  counter 
address." 

On  the  French  Minister's  presentation  to  General  Washing 
ton,  the  latter  received  him,  says  Judge  Marshall,  "  with  frank 
ness,  and  with  expressions  of  a  sincere  and  cordial  regard  for 
his  nation."2  In  the  conversation  which  ensued,  says  the  same 
writer,  the  French  Minister  gave  the  most  explicit  assurances 
that,  "  in  consequence  of  the  distance  of  the  United  States  from 
the  theatre  of  action,  and  of  other  circumstances,  France  did 
not  wish  to  engage  them  in  the  war,  but  would  willingly  leave 
them  to  pursue  their  happiness  and  prosperity  in  peace." 

Jefferson,  in  the  letter  already  quoted  from,  gives  the  scene 
more  in  extenso  : 

"  He  [Ternant]  delivered  yesterday  his  letters  of  recall,  and  Mr.  Genet  pre 
sented  his  of  credence.  It  is  impossible  for  anything  to  be  more  affectionate,  more 

1  Hildreth,  in  his  History  of  the  United  States  (2d  ser.  vol.  i.  p.  418),  appears  to  state 
this  fact  the  other  way.    It  is  a  favorite  hypothesis,  among  a  class  of  writers,  that 
Jefferson  constituted  a  sort  of  "opposition      in  the  Cabinet,  and  was  usually  or  most 
frequently  in  the  minority  when  important  questions  were  decided  in  that  body.    This 
view  will  he  found  wholly  unsupported  by  the  facts,  and  it  is  explicitly  contradicted  in  a 
letter  by  General  Washington. 

Hamilton  himself  afterwards  yielded  to  the  force  of  Jefferson's  positions  on  the  sub 
ject  of  restoring  the  prizes.  (See  his  Works,  vol.  v.  p.  569.) 

2  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  561. 


14:0  PURPORT  OF  GENET'S  MISSION.  [CHAP.  in. 

magnanimous  than  the  purport  of  his  mission.  We  know  that  under  present  cir 
cumstances  we  have  a  right  to  call  upon  you  for  the  guaranty  of  our  islands.  But 
we  do  not  desire  it.  We  wish  you  to  do  nothing  but  what  is  for  your  own  good, 
and  we  will  do  all  in  our  power  to  promote  it.  Cherish  your  own  peace  and  pros 
perity.  You  have  expressed  a  willingness  to  enter  into  a  more  liberal  treaty  of 
commerce  with  us  ;  I  bring  full  powers  (and  he  produced  them)  to  form  such  a 
treaty,  and  a  preliminary  decree  of  the  National  Convention  to  lay  open  our  coun 
try  and  its  colonies  to  you  for  every  purpose  of  utility,  without  your  participating 
[in]  the  burdens  of  maintaining  and  defending  them.  We  see  in  you  the  only  person 
on  earth  who  can  love  us  sincerely,  and  merit  to  be  so  loved.  In  short,  he  offers 
everything,  and  asks  nothing.  Yet  I  know  the  offers  will  be  opposed,  and  suspect 
they  will  not  be  accepted.  In  short,  my  dear  sir,  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  con 
ceive  what  is  passing  in  our  conclave  ;  and  it  is  evident  that  one  or  two,  at  least, 
under  pretence  of  a\oiding  war  on  the  one  side,  have  no  great  antipathy  to  run 
foul  of  it  on  the  other,  and  to  make  a  part  in  the  confederacy  of  princes  against 
human  liberty." 

The  magnanimous  waiver  of  the  American  guaranty  of  the 
French  West  India  possessions — the  gallant  declaration  of  the 
French  Republic,  that  it  would  wage  the  terrible  conflict  before 
it  alone,  and  (borrowing  even  the  cold  language  of  Judge  Mar 
shall)  leave  the  United  States  "  to  pursue  their  happiness  and 
prosperity  in  peace  " — struck  a  chord  of  national  feeling  which 
still  further  inflamed  the  prevailing  enthusiasm  in  favor  of 
France.  Contrasting  its  course  with  that  of  England,  granting 
nothing,  yielding  nothing,  holding  on  to  a  part  of  our  territory 
as  if  to  a  conquest,  but  at  the  same  time  captiously  claiming  all 
and  more  than  was  conceded  to  France,  it  is  not  wonderful  that 
some  Federalists  of  mark  were  swept  along  by  the  prevailing 
torrent  of  enthusiasm.  "  We,  too,  have  our  disorganizes," 
wrote  Hamilton  in  a  letter  evincing  his  extreme  disgust  at  the 
popular  attentions  received  by  Genet. 

Wo  must  here  interrupt  the  narration  of  the  unfortunate 
progress  of  our  relations  with  France,  to  bring  those  with 
another  European  power  down  to  the  same  point,  in  order  to 
obtain  the  benefit  of  that  light  which  they  reciprocally  throw  on 
each  other. 

For  a  period  prior  to  the  dethronement  of  the  French  Bour 
bons,  an  intimate  family  pact  had  subsisted  between  them  and 
the  Spanish  Bourbons.  This  had  in  a  good  measure  controlled 
the  foreign  policies  of  both  powers.  It  had  exercised  a  very 
strong  influence  on  the  relations  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States.  A  variety  of  causes  rendered  these  unfriendly,  bn 


CHAP,  in.]  OTJE    SPANISH   RELATIONS.  141 

France  stood  between,  friendly  to  each  nation,  to  present  a 
rupture.  The  affiliation  between  France  and  Spain  was  that 
of  monarchs — between  France  and  the  United  States,  that  of 
peoples.  The  execution  of  Louis  XVI.  snapped  the  former. 
Nay,  it  produced  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  Government  hostil 
ity  and  a  thirst  for  vengeance.  To  the  intensity  of  Spanish 
legitimacy,  was  superadded  revenge  for  the  execution  of  a 
kinsman  of  its  monarch.  It  had  therefore  entered  eagerly  into 
the  great  European  anti-French  alliance.  Its  position  towards 
the  United  States  was  also  essentially  changed,  or  rather  its 
inducements  to  suppress  its  hostility  were  now  removed.  The 
present  was  a  favorable  period  for  it  to  force  matters  to  an 
extremity.  It  was  a  favorable  time  to  attack  the  United  States, 
when  they  could  not  obtain  efficient  aid  from  France,  held  in 
check  by  the  European  coalition  ;  or  when  any  aid  they  might 
thus  receive  would  be  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  hostil 
ity  it  would  draw  upon  their  heads  from  the  coalition.  Spain 
counted,  in  any  event,  on  the  cooperation  of  England,  for  their 
animosities  and  interests  were  now  the  same.  Spain  desired  to 
clip  our  southern  boundary,  England  our  northern. 

Following  up  these  views,  the  Spanish  Government  intrigued 
with  little*  concealment  with  the  Indians  on  our  southern 
borders.  She  supplied  them  with  arms ;  entered  into  direct 
stipulations  with  the  Creeks,  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  and  Chero- 
kees,  to  protect  their  interests  ;  agreed  to  mediate  between  them 
and  the  United  States  concerning  their  boundaries  ;  guaranteed 
to  them  the  boundaries  they  claimed ;  and  agreed,  in  case  of 
war,  to  support  them  with  her  whole  power.  Rendered  pre 
sumptuous  by  such  encouragement,  the  Creeks  began  to  commit 
murders  and  depredations  on  the  inhabitants  of  Georgia,  and 
their  aggressions  soon  assumed  almost  the  form  and  extent  of 
open  war.  Lastly,  Spain,  as  if  with  the  purpose  of  provoking 
an  offensive  demonstration  from  the  United  States,  avowed  her 
treaties  with  the  Indians,  "  hazarding  to  us  intimations  of 
acquiescence  to  avoid  disagreeable  results,"  and  even  had  the 
insolence  to  "  propose  to  extend  their  intermeddling  to  the 
northern  Indians !"  '  The  records  of  diplomacy  will  scarcely 
furnish  a  specimen  of  as  low  and  gross  impudence  as  that  which 

1  Jefferson  to  Carmichael  aiid  Short,  May  31st. 


OUR    SPANISH    RELATIONS.  [CHAP.  m. 

characterizes  throughout  a  communication  (dated  June  18th) 
from  the  Spanish  Commissioners,  Jaudennes  and  Viar,  to  the 
American  Secretary  of  State.1  And  every  communication  from 
the  American  Commissioners  in  Spain,  contained  assurances  of 
a  constant  indication  of  the  most  hostile  spirit  on  the  part  of 
that  Government,  and  of  a  maturing  close  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance  between  it  and  Great  Britain.  This  (the  Convention  of 
Aranguez)  was  concluded  on  the  25th  of  May.8 

The  last  step  was  not  known  to  our  Government  when  it 
determined  on  a  decisive  line  of  action  ;  but  the  preceding  indi 
cations  were  quite  sufficient  to  put  it  on  its  guard. 

On  the  31st  of  May,  the  Secretary  of  State  forwarded  in 
structions  to  the  American  Commissioners  at  the  Court  of  Spam, 
to  remonstrate  firmly  but  temperately  against  the  conduct  of  that 
power,  and  signify  that  such  a  state  of  things  could  not  be  per 
mitted  to  continue.  But  a  final  line  of  policy,  it  would  appear, 
had  not  been  settled  in  our  Cabinet,  for  the  Secretary,  after 
calling  attention  to  the  fact  of  Spain  "  making  part  of  so  power 
ful  a  confederacy  as  was  formed  in  Europe,  and  under  particular 
good  understanding  with  England,  our  other  neighbor,"  8  left  to 
the  discretion  of  the  Commissioners  "  the  moment,  the  measure, 
and  the  form  "  of  communicating  their  message — allowing  them 
to  "  soften,"  or,  if  they  judged  necessary,  "  suppress  "  any  of  its 
expressions.  He  stated  that  "  our  situation  on  other  accounts 
and  in  other  quarters  was  critical." 

At  a  Cabinet  meeting  on  the  29th  of  May,  it  was  unanimously 
agreed  to  advise  the  Governor  of  Georgia  to  avoid  offensive  ex 
peditions  into  the  Indian  country ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  that 
it  was  expedient  that  the  President  increase  the  federal  military 
force  in  that  State,  and  employ  it  in  repelling  inroads.  In  case 
of  a  serious  Indian  invasion,  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution, 
for  such  an  event,  were  to  be  put  into  execution.  General 
Pickens  was  invited  to  the  seat  of  Government  for  information 
and  consultation,  and  an  agent  dispatched  to  the  Creeks  to 
conciliate  them,  and  procure  the  surrender  of  the  murderers  of 
American  citizens.  The  propriety  of  attempting  to  engage  the 
Choctaws  in  an  anti-Creek  league  with  the  Chickasaws,  already 

1  American  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  264.  2  Ib.  vol.  i.  p.  277. 

*  That  is,  our  neighbor  on  our  northern  as  Spain  -was  on  our  southern  boundary. 


CHAP,  m.]        JEFFERSON'S  DRAFT  OF  INSTRUCTIONS. 

at  war  with  the  latter,  was  (June  1st)  discussed  ;  but,  we 
believe,  without  arriving  at  an  affirmative  conclusion. 

On  receiving  the  Spanish  Commissioners'  communication  of 
June  15th.  the  character  of  which  we  have  described,  the  Amer 
ican  Government  met  the  apparent  emergency  with  becoming 
energy.  We  find  no  traces  of  a  Cabinet  consultation  on  this 
important  subject,1  and  are  disposed  to  believe,  therefore,  that 
the  instructions  issued  were,  as  in  many  analogous  cases,  drawn 
by  the  Secretary  of  State  and  submitted  to  the  President,  who 
adopted  them  without  consulting  the  other  officers  of  his  Cabinet. 
The  discussion  of  the  29th  of  May  probably  gave  the  President 
all  the  information  he  required  of  the  views  of  its  members  con 
cerning  our  foreign  policy  ;  and  having  come  to  a  fixed  conclu 
sion  which  he  knew  would  be  exceedingly  distasteful  to  that  por 
tion  of  his  Cabinet  who  were  for  avoiding  a  collision  with 
England  2  at  all  events,  he  sought  (we  conjecture)  to  escape  a 
useless,  and  what  would  be  likely  to  prove  a  heated  discus 
sion. 

The  Secretary  of  State's  communication  to  the  American 
Commissioners  at  the  Court  of  Spain,  bore  date  June  30th,  and 
if  not  so  long,  or  evincing  so  much  research  as  some  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  dispatches  (there  being  no  need  for  research)  it  is,  in 
some  points  of  view,  one  of  the  finest  State-papers  from  his  pen. 
We  must  content  ourselves  with  two  or  three  extracts.  After 
describing  the  attempts  of  the  United  States  to  induce  the 
Indian  tribes  to  remain  neutral  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution — 
the  utter  disregard  of  the  latter  of  these  solicitations,  and  their 
savage  inflictions  on  our  people — their  "  murdering  and  scalp 
ing  men,  women  and  children  indiscriminately,  burning  their 
houses  and  desolating  the  country,"  he  proceeded  to  say : 


"  Peace  being  at  length  concluded  with  England,  we  had  it  also  to  conclude 
with  them.  They  had  made  war  on  us  without  the  least  provocation  or  pretence 
of  injury.  They  had  added  greatly  to  the  cost  of  that  war.  They  had  insulted 
our  feelings  by  their  savage  cruelties.  They  were  by  our  arms  completely  subdued 
and  humbled  Under  all  these  circumstances,  we  had  a  right  to  demand  substan 
tial  satisfaction  and  indemnification.  We  used  that  right,  however,  with  real 


i  In  the  Works  of  Jefferson  or  Hamilton. 

*  It  was  now  regarded  as  certain  that  England  would  join  Spain  if  hostilities  were 
opened  between  the  latter  and  the  United  States. 


144  JEFFERSON'S  DRAFT  OF  INSTRUCTIONS.         [CHAP.  in. 

moderation.  Their  limits  with  us  under  the  former  Government  were  generally  ill- 
defined,  questionable,  and  the  frequent  cause  of  war.  Sincerely  desirous  of  living 
in  their  peace,  of  cultivating  it  by  every  act  of  justice  and  friendship,  and  of  ren 
dering  them  better  neighbors  by  introducing  among  them  some  of  the  most  useful 
arts,  it  was  necessary  to  begin  by  a  precise  definition  of  boundary.  Accordingly, 
at  the  treaties  held  with  them,  our  mutual  boundaries  were  settled;  and  notwith 
standing  our  just  right  to  concessions  adequate  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
we  required  such  only  as  were  inconsiderable ;  and  for  even  these,  in  order  that 
we  might  place  them  in  a  state  of  perfect  conciliation,  we  paid  them  a  valuable 
consideration,  and  granted  them  annuities  in  money  which  have  been  regularly 
paid,  and  were  equal  to  the  prices  for  which  they  have  usually  sold  their  lands." 

i 

He  described    the   recent  aggressions  of  the  Indians,  and 

added  : 

»\  vu... 

"  Really  desirous  of  living  in  peace  with  them,  we  have  redoubled  our  efforts  to 
produce  the  same  disposition  in  them.  We  have  borne  with  their  aggressions, 
forbidden  all  returns  of  hostility  against  them,  tied  up  the  hands  of  our  people, 
insomuch  that  few  instances  of  retaliation  have  occurred  even  from  our  suffering 
citizens;  we  have  multiplied  our  gratifications  to  them,  fed  them,  when  starving, 
from  the  produce  of  our  own  fields  and  labor.  No  longer  ago  than  the  last  winter, 
when  they  had  no  other  resource  against  famine,  and  must  have  perished  in  great 
numbers,  we  carried  into  their  country  and  distributed  among  them,  gratuitously, 
ten  thousand  bushels  of  corn ;  and  that  too,  at  the  same  time,  when  their  young 
men  were  daily  committing  murders  on  helpless  women  and  children  on  our  fron 
tiers.  And  though  these  depredations  now  involve  more  considerable  parts  of  the 
nation,  we  are  still  demanding  punishment  of  the  guilty  individuals,  and  shall  be 
contented  with  it  " 

After  meeting  one  by  one  the  complaints  of  Spain,  and  show 
ing  how  entirely  unfounded  they  were,  he  concluded  in  this 
noble  strain : 

"  We  love  and  we  value  peace  ;  we  know  its  blessings  from  experience.  We 
abhor  the  follies  of  war,  and  are  not  untried  in  its  distresses  and  calamities. 
Unmeddling  with  the  affairs  of  other  nations,  we  had  hoped  that  our  distance  and 
our  dispositions  would  have  left  us  free,  in  the  example  and  indulgence  of  peace 
with  all  the  world.  We  had,  with  sincere  and  particular  dispositions,  courted  and 
cultivated  the  friendship  of  Spain.  We  have  made  to  it  great  sacrifices  of  time 
and  interest,  and  were  disposed  to  believe  she  would  see  her  interests  also  in  a 
perfect  coalition  and  good  understanding  with  us.  Cherishing  still  the  same  senti 
ments,  we  have  chosen,  in  the  present  instance,  to  ascribe  the  intimations  in  this 
letter  x  to  the  particular  character  of  the  writers,  displayed  in  the  peculiarity  of  tho 


1  The  letter  of  Messrs.  Viar  and  Jaudennes,  the  Spanish  Commissioners  to  the  United 
States,  already  mentioned,  communicating  the  treaties  between  Spain  and  the  Indian*, 
and  the  intentions  of  their  Government. 


CHAP.  III.]  THE    PRESIDENT'S    ATTITUDE.  145 

style  of  their  communications,  and  therefore,  we  have  removed  the  cause  from  them 
to  their  sovereign,  in  whose  justice  and  love  of  peace  we  have  confidence.  If 
we  are  disappointed  in  this  appeal,  if  we  are  to  be  forced  into  a  contrary  order 
of  things,  our  mind  is  made  up.  We  shall  meet  it  with  firmness.  The  necessity 
of  our  position  will  supersede  all  appeal  to  calculation  now,  as  it  has  done  hereto 
fore.  We  confide  in  our  own  strength,  without  boasting  of  it;  we  respect  that  of 
others,  without  fearing  it.  If  we  cannot  otherwise  prevail  on  the  Creeks  to  discon 
tinue  their  depredations,  we  will  attack  them  in  force.  If  Spain  chooses  to  consi 
der  our  defence  against  savage  butchery  as  a  cause  of  war  to  her,  we  must  meet 
her  also  in  war,  with  regret,  but  without  fear ;  and  we  shall  be  happier,  to  the  last 
moment,  to  repair  with  her  to  the  tribunal  of  peace  and  reason. 

"  The  President  charges  you  to  communicate  the  contents  of  this  letter  to  the 
Court  of  Madrid,  with  all  the  temperance  and  delicacy  which  the  dignity  and  charac 
ter  of  that  Court  render  proper ;  but  with  all  the  firmness  and  self-respect  which 
befit  a  nation  conscious  of  its  rectitude,  and  settled  in  its  purpose." 


This  dispatch  was  at  once  forwarded  to  Madrid  by  a  courier. 
It  was  considered  a  "  last  effort  for  the  preservation  of  honorable 
peace,"  l  but  the  chance  of  peace  was  looked  upon  as  "absolutely 
desperate."2  Spain  had  recently  sent  reinforcements  to  New 
Orleans  aud  strengthened  her  posts  higher  on  the  Mississippi. 
Everything  boded  a  speedv  war.  But  amidst  all  surrounding 
embarrassments,  the  President's  mind  retained  its  firm  and  rnanly 
tone.  As  plainly  as  the  Secretary  of  State,  he  saw  the  mon 
strous  folly  and  dishonor  of  attempting  to  conciliate  a  coalition 
of  inveterate  foes,  who  could  only  be  propitiated  by  base  sacri 
fices,  and  this  simply  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  throwing  our 
weight  into  the  same  scale  with  our  only  European  friend. 

France  had  executed  its  monarch,  whom  a  party  in  America 
pronounced  "  an  unfortunate  Prince,  whose  reign  was  a  contin 
ued  demonstration  of  the  goodness  and  benevolence  of  his 
heart,  of  his  attachment  to  the  people  of  whom  he  was  the 
monarch,"  "  brought  precipitately  and  ignorniniously  to  the  block 
without  any  substantial  proof  of  guilt  as  yet  disclosed."  France 
had  established  a  Republic,  and  massacres  like  those  of  2d  and 
3d  of  September  had  heralded  its  advent.  Marat  and  Robes 
pierre  held  conspicuous  places  in  its  Convention.  Atheistical 
doctrines  had  been  advanced  in  the  Convention  and  "heard  with 
joud  applauses."  The  declaration  of  15th  December  placed 
France  in  an  aggressive  attitude  towards  kingly  governments. 


1  Jefferson  to  Madison,  Jane  29th.  *  Jefferson  to  Monroe,  July  14th, 

VOL.  n. — 10 


146  THE  PRESIDENT'S  ATTITUDE.  [CHAP.  in. 

She  had  "piostrated  and  ravished  the  monuments  of  religious 
worship  ;  passion,  tumult  and  violence  had  usurped  those  seats, 
where  reason  and  cool  deliberation  ought  to  preside."  Such 
were  the  assertions  of  the  leading  Federalists,1  and  they  were 
true,  if  the  habitual  vacillation,  and  constant  violation  of 
engagements,  by  a  weak  Prince,  undei  the  domination  of  bad 
advisers,  was  not,  in  the  ruler  of  a  people,  "  guilt"  for  which  he 
could  be  held  properly  responsible. 

But,  were  the  United  States  exonerated,  by  these  tempo 
rary  excesses,  from  all  ties  of  gratitude  and  kindly  feeling  to  the 
French  nation  f  Was  the  Government  of  that  country  founded 
on  more  gigantic  crimes  than  those  of  the  despotisms  against 
which  it  was  struggling?  Had  not  even  the  constitutional 
Government  of  England  been  cemented  by  violations  of  social 
and  moral  order — and  her  religious  establishment  erected  out 
of  the  "  prostrated  and  ravished  monuments  "  of  that  Church 
on  which  French  atheism  had  recently  laid  its  impious  hands  ? 
Had  any  great  change  in  European  political  or  religious  institu 
tions — and  particularly  any  advance  in  political  liberalism — 
been  accomplished  without  convulsion  and  bloody  violence  ? 
And  was  Republicanism  alone  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  dis 
orders  of  its  transition  from  a  preceding  state  ?  Were  sister 
republics  to  join  in  loving  pact  with  old  blood-stained  Absolu 
tism,  with  the  very  hate  which  the  aid  of  France  to  America 
had  begotten,  with  purely  selfish  national  antipathies  and  rival 
ries,  to  hunt  the  intruder  from  the  pale  of  nations  ?  Had  any 
of  her  aggressiveness  been  directed  against  us?  Was  it  anything 
better  than  an  .insincere  pretence  to  hold  her  very  form  of  gov 
ernment  responsible  for  an  aggressive  spirit,  when  monarchy  in 
every  form,  and  of  every  hue,  was  leagued  for  her  destruction  ? 

General  Washington  did  not,  as  we  have  declared,  subscribe 
to  the  doctrines  or  the  feelings  of  the  Federal  leaders  in  these 
particulars.  Lips,  unpractised  to  deceive,  had  just  declared  to 
Genet,  "  his  sincere  and  cordial  regard  for  his  nation.""  All  his 

1  See  Hamilton  to .    Works,  vol.  v.  p.  564. 

51  If  it  is  pretended  this  was  merely  pro  formct,  take  the  following  purely  gratuitous 
declaration  contained  in  a  letter  written  by  Gen.  Washington  (May  24th)  to  the  Provis 
ional  Executive  Council  of  France  in  behalf  of  a  now  private  citizen  (M.  de  Ternant)  and 
not  on  any  public  business  : 

"  I  assure  you,  with  a  sincere  participation  of  the  great  and  constant  friendship  which 
these  United  States  bear  to  the  French  nation,  of  the  interest  they  feel  in  whatever  coo 


CHAP.  III.]  HIS    CONCURRENCE    WITH    JEFFERSON.  14:7 

preceding  action  had  comported  with  that  declaration.  And  the 
Spanish  instructions  of  June  30th,  present  us  with  what  must 
be  regarded  as  the  final  disposal  of  substantially  a  test  question, 
showing  that  he  was  now  as  fixed  in  his  resolve  as  on  the  31st 
of  October,  1792,  against  an  Anglo-Spanish  alliance,1  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  he  was  firmly  bent  on  a  line  of  action  which 
was  thought,  at  the  time,  most  likely  to  draw  us  into  a  war  with 
Spain,  and  consequently  England,  in  which  event  we  should 
necessarily  act  with  France,  and  against  common  enemies.  The 
last  was  not  the  object  which  dictated  the  policy  of  either  the 
President  or  Secretary  of  State.  It  was  but  incidental  to  a 
policy  requisite  to  protect  the  rights  and  dignity  of  our  nation. 
But,  even  in  that  light,  it  was  far  enough  from  that  monomania- 
cal  hostility  to  the  French  Republic,  which  rather  than  honor 
ably  cooperate  w^ith  it,  welcomed  insult  or  degrading  alliance 
from  any  other  quarter. 

An  unequivocal  proof  of  the  perfect  understanding  and  con 
fidence  which  subsisted  between  the  President  and  Secretary  of 
State,  in  regard  to  our  foreign  relations,  has  chanced  to  become 
a  matter  of  record.  The  following  is  from  Sparks's  Correspond 
ence  of  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  348. 

To  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

PHILADELPHIA,  1  June,  1798. 
SIB, 

To  call  upon  Mr.  Hammond,  without  further  delay,  for  the  result  of  the 
reference  to  his  court  concerning  the  surrender  of  the  western  posts,  or  to  await  the 
decision  of  the  trial  at  Richmond  on  the  subject  of  British  debts  before  it  be  done, 
is  a  question  on  which  my  mind  has  balanced  some  time. 

If  your  own  judgment  is  not  decidedly  in  favor  of  one  or  the  other,  it  is  my 
desire,  as  the  heads  of  the  departments  are  now  together,  that  you  will  take  their 
opinions  thereupon  and  act  accordingly. 

I  am,  etc. 

The  heads  of  departments  then  together  (a  Cabinet  meeting 
was  held  June  1st)  discussed  the  propriety  of  sending  a  mes- 


cerns  their  happiness  and  prosperity,  and  of  their  wishes  for  a  perpetual  fraternity  with 
them ;  and  I  pray  God  to  have  theia  and  you  very  great  and  good  friends  and  allies,  in 
his  holy  keeping." 

This  letter  was  not  sent ;  but  this  fact  has  no  bearing  on  the  sincerity  of  its  decla 
rations.  (See  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  347.) 

1  See  ante,  p.  99. 


1 1:8  HIS    CONCURRENCE   WITH   JEFFERSON.  [CHAF.  III. 

senger  to  the  Choctaws,  etc.,  as  already  seen,  but  the  propriety 
of  calling  upon  Mr.  Hammond  is  in  no  wise  even  alluded  to  in 
such  records  as  we  possess  of  their  proceedings.1  This  shows 
that  the  Secretary  of  State's  judgment  was  "  decidedly  in  favor 
of  one  or  the  other  course,"  and  that  he  did  not  take  the  opinions 
the  Cabinet. 

Having  dispatched  some  very  important  intervening  busi 
ness,  Jefferson  addressed  the  following  note  to  the  British 
Minister : 

PHILADELPHIA,  June,  19, 1793. 
Bin, 

I  had  the  honor  to  address  you  a  letter  on  the  29th  of  May  was  twelvemonth, 
on  the  articles  still  unexecuted  of  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  two  nations. 
The  subject  was  extensive  and  important,  and  therefore  rendered  a  certain  degree 
of  delay  in  the  reply  to  be  expected.  But  it  has  now  become  such  as  naturally  to 
generate  disquietude.  The  interest  we  have  in  the  western  posts,  the  blood  and 
treasure  which  their  detention  costs  us  daily,  cannot  but  produce  a  corresponding 
anxiety  on  our  part.  Permit  me,  therefore,  to  ask  when  I  may  expect  the  honor 
of  a  reply  to  my  letter,  and  to  assure  you  of  the  sentiments  of  respect  with  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  most  obedient,  and  most  humble  servant. 


The  call  on  England  at  a  moment  of  so  much  irritation,  and 
when  she  was  loudly  complaining  at  our  recent  conduct,  for  her 
final  answer  in  regard  to  surrendering  our  western  (so  called, 
but  which  now  would  be  termed  northern)  posts,  hitherto  forci 
bly  detained  by  her,  and  doing  this  the  next  day  after  receiving 
the  insolent  manifesto  of  the  Spanish  Commissioners,  and  just 
eleven  days  before  forwarding  our  decisive  ultimatum  to  Spain, 
presents  unmistakable  evidence  that  President  Washington,  at 
this  period,  was  resolved  to  brave  the  Anglo-Spanish  Coalition, 
unless  concessions  were  made  to  us  which  not  a  man  in  America 
expected  would  be  made. 

We  are  not  without  another  and  significant  hint  of  the  Pre 
sident's  motives,  in  the  following  letter  : 

To  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

PHILADELPHIA,  20  Ji*ne,  1793. 
SIR, 

I  leave  it  to  you  and  the  heads  of  the  other  two  departments,  to  say  what  or 
whether  any  answer  should  be  given  to  the  British  Minister's  letter  of  liie  1 9th.     It 

1  Q.  v.  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  409. 


CHAP.  III.]  HIS    CONFIDENCE    IN    JEFFERSON.  14:9 

would  seem  as  if  neither  he  nor  the  Spanish  Commissioners  were  to  be  satisfied  with 
anything  this  Government  can  do ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  are  resolved  to  drive  matter* 
to  extremity. 

Yours,  etc. 

The  point  here  left  to  the  three  heads  of  departments  will  he 
hereafter  mentioned.  It  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  official 
communications  to  Mr.  Hammond,  or  to  the  Spanish  Govern 
ment,  which  have  been  the  subjects  of  the  preceding  remarks  ; 
but  none  the  less  distinctly  does  it  corroborate  the  view  we  have 
presented  of  the  President's  feelings  and  determinations. 


CHAPTER   IV. 
1793. 

Correspondence  with  Genet — Concessions  of  France— Genet's  Complainis  and  Jefferson's 
Replies — Genet  assumes  an  Angry  and  Criminatory  Tone — His  Proposal  to  stop  Pay 
ments  on  the  St.  Domingo  Drafts — Discussions  in  relation  to  the  Treaty  of  1778,  etc — 
The  President  goes  to  Mount  Vernon — Genet  Arms  and  Commissions  the  Little  Demo 
crat  at  Philadelphia — Mifflin  reports  her  about  to  sail — Sends  Dallas  to  Genet — Jeffer 
son  visits  Genet,  and  Particulars  of  their  Interview — Genet  intimates  the  Vessel  will  not 
sail  before  the  President's  Return — Cabinet  Meeting,  July  8th — President's  Return 
expected  in  two  or  three  Days — Hamilton  and  Knox  propose  to  fire  upon  the  Vessel  if  she 
attempts  to  pass  Mud  Island — Jefferson  dissents — Extracts  from  the  two  Papers — Was 
Jefferson's  scorching  Reply  merited — Difficulties  of  his  Position — His  Private  Opinion 
of  Genet — Little  Democrat  drops  down  to  Chester — President  reached  Philadelphia  on 
the  llth — His  warm  Note  to  Jefferson,  and  Jefferson's  Answer — Cabinet  Meeting  on 
the  12th — Jefferson's  previous  Action  sustained — Judge  Marshall's  Manner  of  stating 
the  Facts — Jefferson's  Decided  Letter  to  Spanish  Commissioners — No  Retreat  in  the 
President's  Policy — Jefferson  tenders  his  Resignation,  to  take  effect  1st  of  September 
— Cabinet  ^Discussions  on  demanding  Recall  of  Genet — On  an  Appeal  to  the  People — 
On  Rules  of  Neutrality — On  convening  Congress — Particulars  of  a  Personal  Interview 
between  Washington  and  Jefferson — Washington  solicits  a  Delay  of  his  Resignation — 
Jefferson's  Feelings  on  the  Occasion — Jefferson's  Consent,  and  the  President's  Reply — 
Jefferson's  Draft  of  Letter  demanding  Genet's  Recall — Washington  and  Jefferson  voted 
down  on  a  Clause — A  Private  Draft  of  Hamilton's  not  brought  forward — Character  of 
Jefferson's  Production — A  Feature  in  the  Ana — Genet's  Visit  to  New  York — The  Certi 
ficate-makers — Genet's  Appeal  to  the  Public — A  Hint  of  the  degree  of  Control  Jeffer 
son  exercised  over  Freneau's  Paper — Yellow  Fever  appears  in  Philadelphia — Outrage 
of  Du  Plaine — British  Orders  in  Council — French  Retaliatory  Decrees — Georgia  pre 
paring  to  chastise  the  Creeks— Cabinet  Action  on  the  four  preceding  Subjects— Jeffer 
son's  Excuse  for  Subscribing  to  the  Resolution  respecting  England — His  Dispatches  in 
regard  to  Du  Plaine,  and  to  Gov.  Telfair — Progress  of  the  Yellow  Fever — Jefferson's 
Draft  of  Instructions  to  Morris — England  satisfied  with  Conduct  of  our  Government  in 
regard  to  Neutrality  Laws — Persists,  however,  in  her  Aggressions — Hamilton  111  with 
Yellow  Fever— Jefferson  sends  Genet  Copy  of  Demand  for  his  Recall — Arranges  his 
Business,  and  carries  his  Daughter  Home — Family  Correspondence  brought  down — 
President  deliberates  on  convening  Congress  elsewhere — He  consults  the  Cabinet  and 
Mr.  Madison — Pendleton's  Letter  to  Washington  against  Hamilton  and  his  Measures — 
President's  noticeable  Reply — Genet's  Reply  to  Jefferson  on  receiving  a  Copy  of  the 
Demand  for  his  own  Recall — Judge  Marshall's  Selections  from  this  Reply — Jefferson 
does  not  answer  Genet — Letter  to  Ceracchi — Visit  of  the  latter  to  United  States,  and 
Statues  and  Busts  executed  by  him — Cabinet  Discussion  on  sending  Genet  out  of  the 
Country — On  the  Construction  to  be  given  to  Congress  of  the  so-called  Proclamation 
of  Neutrality — Hamilton's  and  Randolph's  Drafts  of  Explanation  rejected  -Jefferson's 
150 


CHAP.  IV.]  CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    GENET.  151 

Views  substantially  concurred  in — Heads  of  President's  Speech  discussed — Randolph's 
Draft — Jefferson  drafts  Messages  in  regard  to  France  and  England — Discussion  as  to 
what  shall  be  Publicly  and  what  Privately  transmitted  to  Congress — Jefferson's  Views 
prevail  at  all  points — The  only  place  where  Jefferson  speaks  of  Drafting  Papers  for 
the  President — Reasons  why  we  cannot  know  how  far  he  made  such  Drafts — The 
Dishonor  of  preserving  them  as  Proofs  of  Authorship — Opening  of  Congress — Ascend 
ency  of  the  Republicans — Jefferson's  Report  on  Privileges  and  Restrictions  on  our 
Foreign  Commerce — The  great  Effect  of  this  Paper — His  last  Letter  to  Genet — Wash 
ington  again  solicits  him  to  defer  his  Resignation — Jefferson  sends  his  Resignation — 
President's  Reply — Jefferson's  Return  Home — His  Public  Standing  when  he  retired — 
Webster's  and  Marshall's  Testimony — Grounds  of  his  Popularity — The  Theory  that  he 
chose  this  time  to  retire,  on  account  of  his  Popularity — Ana  Records — Family  Corres 
pondence  brought  down. 

ON  the  22d  of  May,  the  French  Minister  addressed  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,1  asking  that  the  United  States  Government  antici 
pate  the  payment  of  the  installments  of  its  French  debt,  not  yet 
due ;  and  offering,  in  that  case,  to  employ  the  money,  and  so 
much  more  as  he  could  procure  on  his  personal  drafts  payable 
at  the  French  treasury,  in  purchasing  provisions,  naval  stores, 
etc.,  in  the  United  States. 

On  the  23d,  he  transmitted  a  decree  of  his  Government, 
opening  all  its  ports  in  Europe  and  America  to  the  produce  of  the 
United  States,  and  granting  the  citizens  and  vessels  of  the  latter 
the  same  rights  and  favors  with  its  own,  throughout  the  French 
possessions. 

On  the  27th,  he  replied  to  the  letter  addressed  to  his  pre 
decessor  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  May  15th,  announcing  the 
decisions  of  the  American  Executive  on  the  complaints  made  by 
the  British  Minister.  Genet  denied  the  facts  set  forth  in  some 
of  those  complaints,  and  he  made  the  usual  claim  that  the  Treaty 
of  1778  authorized  French  and  American  armed  vessels  to  put 
into  each  other's  ports  with  prizes,  without  being  subjected  to 
interference,  or  to  the  adjudications  of  the  civil  courts  on  the 
validity  of  their  prizes  ;  and  that  this  privilege  was  interdicted 
to  the  enemies  of  each  power,  while  at  war.  He  declared  that 
the  privateers  armed  at  Charleston  belonged  to  French  houses, 
and  were  commanded  and  armed  by  French  citizens,  or  by 
Americans  who  not  only  acted  in  violation  of  no  law,  but  under 
the  implied  sanction  of  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina.  He 
had,  however,  he  said, immediately  ordered  the  restitution  of  the 
English  vessel  (the  Grange)  which  was  captured  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 

1  For  their  entire  correspondence,  see  American  State  Papers,  vol.  i. 


152  CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    GENET.  [CHAP.  TV 

On  tie  1st  of  June,  Genet  complained  that  two  officers  had 
oeen  arrested  on  board  a  French  privateer,1  as  American  citi 
zens,  and  he  called  upon  the  intervention  of  the  Executive  to 
obtain  their  immediate  release. 

The  Secretary  of  State  replied,  the  same  day,  that  the  ar 
rested  officers  were  in  the  custody  of  the  civil  magistrates  "  over 
whose  proceedings  the  Executive  had  no  control " — that  they 
would  be  tried  by  a  jury  of  their  countrymen,  "  in  the  presence 
of  judges  of  learning  and  integrity" — and  if  they  had  not 
violated  the  laws  of  the  land,  that  the  "  case  would  issue  ac 
cordingly."  a 

On  the  5th  the  Secretary  of  State  replied  to  Genet's  letter 
of  27th  of  May,  and  also  to  some  intermediate  verbal  communi 
cations.  He  stated  that  the  President  had,  at  the  request  of  the 
Minister,  reexamined  his  positions  in  respect  to  the  neutrality 
laws,  and  adhered  to  the  opinions  already  announced,  lie  re 
peated  the  intimation  that  the  French  vessels  illegally  equipped 
and  commissioned  at  Charleston  must  leave  the  ports  of  the 
United  States. 

Genet  responded  with  warmth  (on  the  8th),  that  as  long  as 
the  States  assembled  in  Congress  should  not  have  determined 
that  their  "  solemn  engagement  should  not  be  performed,"  no 
one  had  a  right  thus  to  interfere  ;  and  he  not  obscurely  hinted 
that  the  "people  of  America"  viewed  the  subject  in  a  very 
different  light  from  their  Executive. 

On  the  llth,  the  Secretary  notified  the  French  Minister  that 
his  request  for  the  prepayment  of  the  French  debt  was  declined, 
from  the  inability  of  the  Government  to  raise  the  necessary 
sums  without  too  seriously  hazarding  the  state  of  its  credit. 
Flamilton  had  officially  advised  the  President  to  deny  the  appli 
cation  without  giving  any  reasons.3  Jefferson  had  urged  that 
such  a  course  "  would  have  a  very  dry  and  unpleasant  aspect." 
and  his  proposal  to  couch  a  refusal  (which  the  entire  Cabinet  then 
present  considered  necessary  under  the  circumstances)4  in  a 
respectful  form,  received  the  approbation  of  the  President. 

1  These  were  the  persons  ordered  arrested  by  the  Government,  as  stated  in  the  letter 
to  Mr.  Hammond  of  May  15th. 

2  The  "  case  issued  "  some  months  afterwards  in  the  acquittal  of  the  prisoners. 

8  For  both  Hamilton's  and  Jefferson's  letters  on  the  subject,  see  Hamilton's  Works, 
vol.  iv.  pp.  414-421.  Hamilton's  proposal  to  refuse  without  reasons,  was  made  June  5th, 
before  the  Government  had  received  an  offensive  word/torn  Genet. 

4  Jefferson,  however,  thought  that  "if  the  installments  falling  due  in  this  year  [1793] 


CHAP.  IV.]         CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GENET.  153 

Genet  took  no  pains  to  conceal  how  much  his  feelings  were 
hurt  by  this  refusal.  In  a  letter  of  the  14th,  he  spoke  of  the 
deficiency  in  the  produce  of  France,  its  immense  armaments, 
and  the  prospect  that  both  it  and  its  colonies  "  would  be  con 
signed  to  the  horrors  of  famine,  if  the  United  States  should  not 
furnish  them,  on  account  of  their  debt,  a  part  of  the  subsistence 
which  they  wanted."  He  said  that  "  without  entering  into  the 
financial  reasons  which  operated  this  refusal,  without  endeavor 
ing  to  prove  that  it  tended  to  accomplish  the  infernal  system 
of  the  King  of  England,  and  of  other  kings  his  accomplices  to 
destroy  by  famine  the  French  republicans  and  liberty,  he  at 
tended,  on  the  present  occasion,  only  to  the  calls  of  his  country, 
and  as  its  necessities  and  those  of  the  colonies  became  daily 
more  pressing — as  it  had  charged  him  to  provide  for  them 
at  whatever  pi-ice  it  might  be" — he  desired  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  inform  the  President  that  he  was  authorized  to  give 
assignments  of  the  French  debt  against  the  United  States  in 
payment  for  provisions,  and  that  he  requested  that  the  amount 
of  the  debt  be  adjusted  at  the  Treasury  for  that  purpose.  He 
concluded  by  saying,  that  "  the  expedient  to  which  he  was  about 
to  have  recourse  would  probably  be  onerous  to  the  French  nation  ; 
but  as  the  federal  Government  thought  it  might  take  on  itself  to 
place  us  [the  French  Minister  or  nation]  under  the  necessity  of 
employing  it,  without  consulting  Congress  upon  so  important  a 
matter,  he  was  obliged  to  follow  his  instructions." 

He  the  same  day  (14th),  in  another  letter,  complained  to  the 
Government  that  in  contempt  of  the  treaties  which  united  the 
French  and  Americans,  "  that  in  contempt  of  the  law  of  nations," 
civil  and  judiciary  officers  of  the  United  States  had  taken  it 
upon  themselves  at  Philadelphia  to  stop  the  sale  of  prizes  taken 
by  an  armed  French  galliot,  and  at  New  York  had  opposed  the 
sailing  of  a  French  vessel  commissioned  by  the  Government  of 
France.  He  said  that  he  had  given  proofs  of  his  respect  for  the 
American  Government  by  ordering  the  restitution  of  the  Grange, 
and  "  he  should  in  all  his  conduct  show  an  equal  deference  ;" 
but  "  at  the  same  time  he  should  expect  "  from  it  "  all  the  sup 
port  which  he  at  present  stood  in  need  of,  to  defend  in  the 

could  be  advanced  without  incurring  more  dangers,  he  should  be  for  doing  it."  "  He 
thought  it  very  material  to  keep  alive  the  friendly  sentiments  of  that  country  [France* 
as  far  as  could  be  done  without  risking  war  or  double  payments."  (Jefferson  to  Wash 
ington,  June  6th.) 


154  CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    GENET.  [CHAP.  IV. 

bosom  of  the  United  States,  the  interests,  the  rights  and  the 
dignity  of  the  French  nation,  which  persons,  on  whom  time 
would  do"  it  "justice,  were  laboring  secretly  to  misrepresent." 
On  the  17th,  the  Secretary  of  State  answered  the  French 
Minister's  letter  of  the  8th,  and  so  much  or*  that  of  the  14th  as 
pertained  to  the  stopping  of  a  French  armed  vessel  at,  New 
York.  He  stated  that  the  latter  vessel  (the  Folly,  rechristened 
the  Republican)  was  fitted  out,  armed  and  manned  in  the  port 
of  New  York,  for  the  express  purpose  of  cruising  against 
nations  with  whom  the  United  States  were  at  peace ;  and  that 
being  on  the  point  of  departure,  she  was  seized  by  the  Governor 
of  the  State,  on  the  orders  previously  dispatched  by  the  Govern 
ment  to  all  the  States  of  the  Union  to  prevent  violations  of  our 
neutrality.  The  transaction  being  reported  to  the  President, 
orders  had  been  immediately  sent  to  deliver  the  vessel  and  crew 
to  u  the  tribunals  of  the  country,  that  if  the  act  was  of  those 
forbidden  by  the  law,  it  might  be  punished ;  if  it  was  not  tor- 
bidden  [that]  it  might  be  so  declared,  and  all  persons  apprised 
of  what  they  might  or  might  not  do."  In  answer  to  the  asser 
tion  that  France  was  authorized  by  treaties  to  fit  out  armed  ves 
sels  in  American  ports,  he  said : 

"  None  of  the  engagements  in  our  treaties  stipulate  this  permission.  The  17th 
article  of  that  of  commerce  permits  the  armed  vessels  of  either  party  to  enter  the 
ports  of  the  other,  and  to  depart  with  their  prizes  freely  :  but  the  entry  of  an 
armed  vessel  into  a  port  is  one  act ;  the  equipping  a  vessel  in  that  port,  arming  her, 
manning  her.  is  a  different  one  and  not  engaged  by  any  article  of  the  treaty.  You 
think,  sir,  that  this  opinion  is  also  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature  and  usage  of 
nations.  We  are  of  opinion  it  is  dictated  by  that  law  and  usage  ;  and  this  had 
been  very  maturely  inquired  into  before  it  was  adopted  as  a  principle  of  conduct- 
But  we  will  not  assume  the  exclusive  right  of  saying  what  that  law  and  usage  is." 

After  quoting  from  Yattel  to  sustain  his  position,  the  Secre 
tary  added : 

"  The  testimony  of  these  and  other  writers  on  the  law  and  usage  of  nations, 
with  your  own  just  reflections  on  them,  will  satisfy  you  that  the  United  States,  in 
prohibiting  all  the  belligerent  Powers  from  equipping,  arming,  and  manning  vessels 
of  war  in  their  ports,  have  exercised  a  right  and  a  duty,  with  justice  and  with  great 
moderation.  By  our  treaties  with  several  of  the  belligerent  Powers,  which  are  a 
part  of  the  laws  of  our  land,  we  have  established  a  style  of  peace  with  them.  But 
without  appealing  to  treaties,  we  are  at  peace  with  them  all  by  the  law  of  narure  ; 
for,  by  nature's  law,  man  is  at  peace  with  man,  till  some  aggression  is  committed, 
which,  by  the  same  law,  authorizes  one  to  destroy  another  as  his  enemy.  For  oui 


CHAP.  IV.]        CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GENET.  155 

citizens,  then,  to  commit  murders  and  depredations  on  the  members  of  nations  at 
peace  with  us.  or  to  combine  to  do  it,  appeared  to  the  Executive,  and  to  those 
whom  they  consulted,  as  much  against  the  laws  of  the  land,  as  to  murder  or  rob, 
or  combine  to  murder  or  rob,  its  own  citizens  ;  and  as  much  to  require  punishment, 
if  done  within  their  limits,  where  they  have  a  territorial  jurisdiction,  or  on  the 
high  seas,  where  they  have  a  personal  jurisdiction,  that  is  to  say,  one  which  reaches 
their  own  citizens  only  ;  this  being  an  appropriate  part  of  each  nation,  on  an  ele 
ment  where  all  have  a  common  jurisdiction.  So  say  our  laws,  as  we  understand 
them  ourselves.  To  them  the  appeal  is  made  ;  and  whether  we  have  construed 
them  wvU  or  ill,  the  constitutional  judges  will  decide.  Till  that  decision  shall  be 
obtained,  -he  Government  of  the  United  States  must  pursue  what  they  think  right, 
with  firmness,  as  is  their  duty." 

On  the  18th,  the  French  Minister  communicated  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  that  he  should  be  under  the  necessity  of 
stopping  the  payment  of  drafts  drawn  by  the  administration  of 
St.  Domingo,  in  favor  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  had 
furnished  provisions,  etc.,  on  the  supposition  that  four  millions 
of  the  debt  of  the  latter  to  France  had  been  specially  appro 
priated  for  the  payment  of  such  drafts,  by  terms  of  the  arrange 
ment  between  M.  de  Ternant  and  their  Government.1  Genet 
stated  the  bills  would  be  certainly  ultimately  paid,  but  that  no 
official  decree  having  been  issued  by  his  Government  for  such 
an  application  of  its  funds  by  himself,  and  being  disappointed  in 
obtaining  another  prepayment,  he  felt  constrained  "to  obey 
only  the  empire  of  circumstances,"  and  apply  the  moneys 
intended  for  the  payment  of  the  colonial  drafts  to  the  purchase 
of  provisions  for  France  and  her  colonies.  He  said  he  had 
determined  to  issue  a  notice  in  the  papers  to  calm  the  fears  of 
the  holders  of  the  drafts  which  he  was  compelled  to  temporarily 
set  aside,  and  to  encourage  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  "  to 
carry  succor  to  their  brothers,  the  French  republicans  of  the 
Antilles,  whose  fate  depended  on  this  generous  act;  without 
which  the  French  colonies  would  be  reduced  by  famine,  to  put 
themselves  under  a  government  [England]  whose  commercial 
principles  would  not  assuredly  be  so  advantageous  to  the 
United  States."  He  inclosed  a  copy  of  his  proposed  notice. 

On  the  22d  he  replied  to  the  Secretary's  communication  of 
the  17th.  His  anger  overboiled.  He  said  : 

"  Discussions  are  short,  when  matters  are  taken  upon  their  true  principles.     Let 
us  explain  ourselves  as  republicans.     Let  us  not  lower  ourselves  to  the  level   of 

1  At  the  time  the  United  States  consented  to  the  prepavment  of  pome  installments  of 
the  French  loan,  at  the  solicitation  of  De  Ternant,  as  already  recorded. 


156  CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    GENET.  [CHAP.  IV. 

ancient  politics  by  diplomatic  subtleties.  Let  us  be  as  frank  in  our  overtures,  in 
our  declarations,  as  our  two  nations  are  in  their  affections  ;  and  by  this  plain  and 
sincere  conduct  arrive  at  the  object  by  the  shortest  way.  All  the  reasonings,  sir, 
contained  in  the  letter  you  did  me  the  honor  to  write  me  the  17th  of  this  month, 
are  extremely  ingenious  ;  but  I  do  not  hesitate  to  tell  you,  that  they  rest  on  a 
basis  which  I  cannot  admit.  You  oppose  to  my  complaints,  to  my  just  reclarna- 
tions^  upon  the  footing  of  right,  the  private  or  public  opinions  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  ;  and  this  aegis  not  appearing  to  you  sufficient,  you  bring  forward 
aphorisms  of  Vattel,  to  justify  or  excuse  infractions  committed  on  positive  treaties. 
Sir,  this  conduct  is  not  like  ours. 

********* 

"  It  is  not  thus  that  the  American  people  wish  we  should  be  treated.  I  cannot 
suppose,  and  I  wish  to  believe,  that  the  measures  of  this  nature  were  not  conceived 
in  the  heart  of  General  Washington — of  that  celebrated  hero  of  liberty.  I  can 
attribute  them  only  to  extraneous  impressions  over  which  time  and  truth  will 
triumph." 

He  reiterated  that  the  22d  Article  of  the  Treaty  of  Com 
merce  between  France  and  America  did  expressly  authorize  the 
former  to  arm  in  the  ports  of  the  latter,  and  interdict  that  privi 
lege  to  every  other  nation  ;  and  he  continued  : 

"  If  you  cannot  protect  onr  commerce,  and  our  colonies,  which  will,  in  future, 
contribute  much  more  to  your  prosperity  than  to  our  own,  at  least  do  not  arrest  the 
civism  of  our  own  citizens  ;  do  not  expose  them  to  a  certain  loss,  by  obliging  them 
to  go  out  of  your  ports  unarmed.  Do  not  punish  the  brave  individuals  of  your 
nation,  who  arrange  themselves  under  our  banner,  knowing  perfectly  well  that  no 
law  of  the  United  States  gives  to  the  Government  the  sad  power  of  arresting  their 
zeal  by  acts  of  rigor.  The  Americans  are  free  ;  they  are  not  attached  to  the  glebe 
like  the  slaves  of  Russia ;  they  may  change  their  situation  when  they  please,  and 
by  accepting,  at  this  moment,  the  succor  of  their  arms  in  the  habit  of  trampling  on 
tyrants,  we  do  not  commit  the  plagiat  of  which  you  speak.  The  true  robbery,  the 
true  crime,  would  be  to  enchain  the  courage  of  these  good  citizens,  of  these  sincere 
friends  of  the  best  of  causes." 

To  the  French  Minister's  annunciation  of  the  18th,  in  regard 
to  the  payment  of  the  colonial  drafts,  the  Secretary  of  State 
replied  in  a  very  brief  note,  on  the  23d,  that  he  was  instructed 
to  say  that  the  United  States  Government  could  not  recognize 
the  propriety  of  the  proposed  step;  and  that  if  it  was  taken, 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  had  itself  so  far  coun 
tenanced  contrary  expectations,  that  it  should  hold  itself  under 
obligation  to  satisfy  the  remaining  claims  of  its  citizens. 

The  Secretary  informed  the  French  Minister  by  another 
letter,  the  same  day,  that  an  English  privateer,  fitted  out  in 
Georgia,  had  been  seized  by  the  State  authorities,  and  delivered 
to  the  legal  tribunals. 


CHAP.  IV.]  AFFAIR    OF   THE    LITTLE    DEMOCRAT.  157 

The  Minister  (June  25th)  returned  his  thanks,  and  com 
plained  that  "  many  enemy's  vessels  "  had  been  armed,  had 
entered  armed,  remained  in  and  gone  out  armed,  of  the  ports  of 
Charleston,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York,  contrary 
to  treaty  stipulations  with  France  ;  and  he  forwarded  specifica 
tions  and  testimony  of  these  facts. 

The  President  left  Philadelphia  for  Mount  Yernon  on  the 
23d  of  June,  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  manager. 

Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Colonel  Monroe  on  the  28th : 

"  I  do  not  augur  well  of  the  mode  of  conduct  of  the  new  French  Minister ;  I 
fear  he  will  enlarge  the  evils  of  those  disaifected  to  his  country.  I  am  doing  every 
thing  in  my  power  to  moderate  the  impetuosity  of  his  movements,  and  to  destroy 
the  dangerous  opinions  which  have  been  excited  in  him,  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  will  disavow  the  acts  of  their  Government,  and  that  he  has  an  appeal 
from  the  Executive  to  Congress,  and  from  both  to  the  people." 

Some  other  correspondence  took  place  between  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  and  the  French  Minister,  but  none  requiring  our 
notice  prior  to  the  serious  occurrences  wrhich  are  now  to  be 
recorded. 

The  French  frigate  Embuscade  had  captured  a  British 
armed  vessel  called  the  Little  Sarah,-  of  four  guns,  and  carried 
her  into  Philadelphia.  Genet  ordered  her  repaired ;  added  to 
her  armament  ten  guns  from  other  French  vessels  in  the  port; 
and  gave  her  a  commission  under  the  name  of  the  Little  Demo 
crat.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  being  apprised  of  her  pre 
parations,  communicated  them  to  his  colleagues,  who  were 
present.1  The  Cabinet  concurred  in  opinion  that  the  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania  should  be  desired  to  examine  the  situation  of 
the  vessel,  to  ascertain  if  the  information  received  was  true. 
Governor  Mifflin  made  the  necessary  investigations,  and  re 
ported,  July  6th,  that  in  place  of  her  four  original  guns  she 
now  had  fourteen  on  board.  The  next  day  (Sunday)  the  Gov 
ernor  informed  the  Secretary  of  State,  by  an  express,  that  he 
understood  the  vessel  would  sail  that  day.  Mr.  Jefferson  (who 
then  resided  out  of  the  city)  repaired  immediately  to  town, 
where  he  was  informed  by  Governor  Mifflin  that  he  had 
received  his  intelligence  the  night  before,  and  had  sent  Mr. 
Dallas2  at  midnight  to  the  French  Minister.  Dallas  informed 

1  Mr.  Randolph,  the  Attorney-General,  was  absent  in  Virginia. 
1  Secretary  of  State  of  Pennsylvania. 


158  JEFFERSON  S   AND    GENET  S    INTERVIEW.  [CHAP.  IV. 

the  Secretary  that  on  his  proposing  to  Genet  the  subject  of 
detaining  the  vessel,  the  latter  "  flew  into  a  great  passion,  talked 
extravagantly,  and  concluded  by  refusing  to  order  the  vessel  to 
stay." ' 

The  Governor  had  also  sent  for  the  Secretary  of  War,  who 
had  not  yet  arrived;  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  the  meantime,  went 
to  Genet  to  speak  to  him  on  the  subject.  After  stating  to  the 
French  Minister  the  information  the  Cabinet  had  received,  he 
requested  him  to  detain  the  vessel  until  Wednesday,  when  the 
President  would  arrive,  and  the  matter  could  be  laid  before 
him. 

Genet  "  took  up  the  subject  instantly  in  a  very  high  tone,7' 
and  for  a  time  proceeded  with  such  volubility,  that  Jefferson 
found  all  efforts  "  to  take  some  part  in  the  conversation  were 
quite  ineffectual."  The  latter  thus  subsequently  reported  the 
substance  of  the  conversation  to  the  President : 

"  He  charged  us  with  having  violated  the  treaties  between  the  two  nations,  and 
so  went  into  the  cases  which  had  before  been  subjects  of  discussion  ;  complained 
that  we  suffered  our  flag  to  be  insulted  and  disregarded  by  the  English  ;  that  they 
stopped  all  our  vessels,  and  took  out  of  them  whatever  they  suspected  to  be  French 
property  ;  that  they  had  taken  all  the  provisions  he  had  embarked  in  American 
vessels  for  the  Colonies ;  that  if  we  were  not  able  to  protect  their  vessels  in  our 
ports,  nor  their  property  on  the  high  seas,  we  ought  to  permit  them  to  protect  it 
themselves  ;  that  they,  on  the  contrary,  paid  the  highest  respect  to  our  flag  ;  that, 
though  it  was  notorious  that  most  of  the  cargoes  sent  from  America  were  British 
property,  yet,  being  in  American  vessels,  or  pretended  American  vessels,  they 
never  touched  it,  and  thus  had  no  chance  of  retaliating  on  their  enemies  ;  that  he 
had  been  thwarted  and  opposed  in  everything  he  had  to  do  with  the  Govern 
ment  ;  that  he  found  himself  in  so  disagreeable  a  situation,  that  he  sometimes 
thought  of  packing  up  and  going  away,  as  he  found  he  could  not  be  useful  to  his 
nation  in  anything." 

After  expatiating  on  the  friendly  propositions  he  had 
brought  from  his  nation,  and  affirming  that  such  a  return  to 
them  ought  not  to  have  been  made  by  the  Executive  without 
consulting  Congress,  he  declared  that  on  the  President's  return 
he  would  certainly  press  him  to  convene  Congress.  Having 
got  into  a  more  moderate  tone,  Jefferson  now  stopped  him  at 
the  mention  of  Congress,  explained  to  him  the  functions  of  the 
several  departments  of  the  Government,  and  that  all  the  ques 
tions  which  had  arisen  between  him  and  it,  belonged  to  the 

1  This  and  the  report  of  the  subsequent  interview  between  Jefferson  and  Genet  will 
be  found  in  the  Minutes  of  the  former  in  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  536. 


CBAP.  iv.]        JEFFERSON'S  AND  GENET'S  INTERVIEW.  159 

Executive  department,  and  if  Congress  had  been  sitting,  could 
not  have  been  carried  to  them,  nor  would  they  have  taken 
notice  of  them.  Jefferson's  further  report  of  the  conversation 
solicits  a  smile : 

"  He  [Genet]  asked  if  they  [Congress]  were  not  the  Sovereign.  I  told  him  no, 
they  were  sovereign  in  making  laws  only  ;  the  Executive  was  sovereign  in  executing 
them  ;  and  the  judiciary  in  construing  them  where  they  related  to  their  department. 
4  But,'  said  he,  '  at  least  Congress  are  bound  to  see  that  the  treaties  are  observed.' 
I  told  him  no ;  there  were  very  few  cases  indeed  arising  out  of  treaties,  which  they 
could  take  notice  of;  that  the  President  is  to  see  that  treaties  are  observed.  '  If 
he  decides  against  the  treaty,  to  whom  is  a  nation  to  appeal  ?'  I  told  him  the  Con 
stitution  had  made  the  President  the  last  appeal.  He  made  me  a  bow,  and  said 
that  indeed  he  would  not  make  me  his  compliments  on  such  a  constitution, 
expressed  the  utmost  astonishment  at  it,  and  seemed  never  before  to  have  had  such 
an  idea." 


The  last  flourish  was  the  prelude  to  the  Minister's  character 
istic  relapse  into  hearty  good  humor  after  a  gust  of  passion,  "  in 
which  state  he  might  with  the  greatest  freedom  be  spoken  with." 
It  was  now  Jefferson's  turn  to  become  the  assailant ;  and  he 
complained  of  the  other's  "  impropriety  of  conduct "  in  disobey 
ing  the  Government  where  it  had  an  undoubted  right  to  con 
trol.  "  But,"  said  Genet,  "  I  have  a  right  to  expound  the  treaty 
on  our  side."  Jefferson  replied,  that  he  bad  a  right  to  bring 
forward  and  press  his  exposition  ;  and  that  after  a  contrary 
one  was  decided  on  by  the  highest  authority  in  the  nation,  he 
still  had  a  right  to  dissent  and  refer  the  question  to  his  own 
Government ;  but,  in  the  meantime,  he  was  bound  "  to  do 
nothing  within  our  limits  contrary  to  it."  Genet  was  silent  at 
this,  and  appeared  "  sensible  that  it  was  right."  The  Secretary 
then  brought  him  to  the  subject  of  the  Little  Democrat,  and 
pressed  him  to  detain  her  until  the  President's  return.  "  Why 
detain  her  ?"  said  Genet.  "  Because,"  answered  Jefferson,  "  she 
is  reported  to  be  armed  with  guns  acquired  here."  The  former 
declared  the  guns  were  all  French  property,  that  he  could  name 
every  vessel  from  which  they  were  taken,  and  that  he  could  not 
pretend  to  control  men  in  the  disposal  of  their  own  property. 
Jefferson  still  urged  him  to  detain  the  vessel.  "  He  was  embar 
rassed  and  unwilling  " — said,  "  he  should  not  be  justified  in 
detaining  her."  Jefferson  told  him  "it  would  be  considered  a 
very  serious  offence  if  she  should  go  away — that  the  Govern 


H)0  JEFFERSON'S  AND  GENET'S  INTERVIEW.        [CHAP.  IT. 

nient  was  determined  on  that  point,  and,  thinking  it  right,  would 
go  through  with  it." 

The  latter  thus  records  the  conclusion  of  the  conversation  : 

"  After  some  hesitation  he  said  he  could  not  make  any  promise,  it  would  be  out 
of  his  duty,  but  that  he  was  very  happy  in  being  able  to  inform  me,  that  the  vessel 
was  not  in  readiness,  and  therefore  could  not  sail  that  day.  I  asked  him  if  I  might 
rely  that  she  would  not  be  ready  to  sail  before  the  return  of  the  President.  He 
then  spoke  of  her  unreadiness  indefinitely  as  to  time,  said  she  had  many  things  to  do 
yet,  and  would  not  be  ready  for  some  time,  he  did  not  know  when.  And  whenever 
I  tried  to  fix  it  to  the  President's  return,  he  gave  the  same  answer,  that  she  would 
not  be  ready  for  some  time,  but  with  the  look  and  gesture,  which  showed  he  meant  I 
should  understand  she  would  not  be  gone  before  that  time.  '  But,'  said  he,  '  she  is 
to  change  her  position  and  fall  down  the  river  to-day  ;  but  she  will  not  depart  yet.' 
'  What,'  said  I,  '  will  she  fall  down  to  the  lower  end  of  the  town  ?'  '  I  do  not 
know  exactly  where,'  said  he,  '  but  somewhere  there  for  the  convenience  of  getting 
ready  some  things  ;  but  let  me  beseech  you  not  to  permit  any  attempt  to  put  men 
on  board  of  her.  She  is  filled  with  high-spirited  patriots,  and  they  will  unques 
tionably  resist ;  and  there  is  no  occasion,  for  I  tell  you  she  will  not  be  ready  to 
depart  for  some  time.'  I  told  him  then  I  would  take  it  for  granted  she  would  not 
be  ready  before  the  President's  return,  that  in  the  meantime  we  would  have  inqui 
ries  made  into  the  facts,  and  would  thank  him  for  information  on  the  subject,  and 
that  I  would  take  care  that  the  case  should  be  laid  before  the  President  the  day 
after  his  return.  He  promised  to  give  me  a  state  of  facts  the  next  day."  J 

Mr.  Jefferson  returned  and  reported  the  particulars  of  this 
interview  to  Governor  Mifflin,  and  that  "  he  was  satisfied  that, 
though  the  vessel  was  to  fall  somewhere  down  the  river,  she 
would  not  sail."  The  Governor  thereupon  ordered  the  dismission 
of  a  body  of  militia  which  he  had  assembled. 

On  Mr.  Jefferson's  comparing,  with  Governor  Mifflin  and 
Secretary  Dallas,  what  Genet  had  said  to  himself  and  to  Dallas, 
it  was  found  to  agree  in  some  particulars  and  not  in  others.  He 
had  declared  to  the  latter  "  that  he  would  appeal  from  the  Pre 
sident  to  the  people."  But  Jefferson  said  : 

"  He  did  in  some  part  of  his  declamation  to  me,  drop  the  idea  of  publishing  a 
narrative  or  statement  of  transactions  ;  but  he  did  not  on  that  nor  ever  did  on  any 
other  occasion,  in  my  presence,  use  disrespectful  expressions  of  the  President.  He, 
from  a  very  early  period,  showed  that  he  believed  there  existed  here  an  English 
party,  and  ascribed  to  their  misinformations,  industry,  and  manosuvres,  some  of  the 
decisions  of  the  Executive.  He  is  not  reserved  on  this  subject.  He  complains  of 
the  partiality  of  the  information  of  those  employed,  by  Government,  who  never  let 
a  single  movement  of  a  French  vessel  pass  unnoticed,  nor  ever  inform  him  of  an 
English  one  arming,  or  not  till  it  is  too  late  to  stop  her." 

1  Genet's  statement  of  facts,  dated  July  9th,  will  be  found  in  the  American  Stato 
Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  163. 


CHAP.  IV.]  CABINET    MEETING.  16) 

The  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  declared,  "  he  had  good 
ground  to  believe,1'  that  at  least  two  of  the  cannon  on  board 
the  Little  Democrat  were  purchased  in  Philadelphia  ;  and  he 
asked  advice  "  what  steps,  under  the  circumstances,  he  should 
pursue."  The  three  members  of  the  Cabinet  then  in  the  city, 
convened  and  discussed  this  topic  on  Monday,  July  8th.  As  the 
French  Minister  had  refused  to  give  explicit  assurances  that  the 
vessel  "  would  continue  until  the  arrival  of  the  President  and 
his  decision  in  the  case,"  Hamilton  and  Knox  were  of  opinion 
that  "  immediate  measures  should  be  taken  for  establishing  a 
battery  on  Mud  Island,  under  cover  of  a  party  of  militia,  and 
if  the  vessel  attempted  to  depart,  before  the  pleasure  of  the 
President  should  be  known,  that  "  military  coercion  be  em 
ployed  to  arrest  and  prevent  her  progress."  In  other  words,  she 
was  to  be  fired  into  and,  if  necessary,  sunk  !  The  Secretary  of 
State  wholly  dissented  from  this  opinion,  and  it  was  not  acted 
upon.  The  President,  in  relation  to  some  of  the  questions 
already  raised  with  Genet,  had  written  the  Secretary  of  State 
from  Mount  Vernon  (June  30th)  that  if  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet  at  the  capital  should  be  "•unanimous  in  their  opinions 
as  to  the  measures  which  ought  to  be  pursued  by  the  Govern 
ment,"  they  were  to  act;  but  in  case  of  "  a  difference  of  senti 
ment,"  their  opinions  were  to  be  forwarded  to  him  for  consider 
ation.1  This  wise  and  provident  restriction  of  course  virtually 
extended  to  the  action  of  the  Cabinet  on  still  more  important 
questions  subsequently  arising  between  the  same  parties  ;  and 
consequently  two  of  its  members  could  not  with  propriety  01 
safety  direct  Governor  Mifflin  to  resort  to  the  military  coercion 
proposed. 

The  opinions  on  both  sides,  drawn  up  on  the  spur  of  the  occa 
sion,  betrayed  strong  feeling.  That  of  Hamilton  and  Knox 
lacked  little,  in  the  heatedness  of  its  language,  of  the  character 
of  a  popular  political  harangue.  It  declared,  for  example,  that 
there  was  "  a  regular  plan,"  by  the  "  agents  of  France,"  to 
"  force  the  United  States  into  the  war  ;"  that  "  there  was  satis 
factory  evidence  of  a  regular  system  in  the  pursuit  of  that 
object,  to  endeavor  to  control  the  Government  itself  by  creating, 
if  possible,  a  schism  between  it  and  the  people,  and  enlisting 

1  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  854. 
VOL.  II. —  1 1 


[CHAP.  iv. 

them  on  the  side  of  France  in  opposition  to  their  own  constitu 
tional  authorities  ;"'  that  this  was  deducible  "  from  direct  writ 
ten  and  verbal  declarations  of  the  French  Minister  ;"  that  "  the 
memorial  lately  presented  by  him  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  the 
most  offensive  paper,  perhaps,  that  was  ever  offered  by  a  foreign 
minister  to  a  friendly  power  with  which  he  resided,  announced 
unequivocally  the  system  which  was  alleged  to  exist ;"  that  u  it 
would  be  a  fatal  blindness  not  to  perceive  the  spirit  which 
inspired  such  language,  and  ill-omened  passiveness  not  to  resolve 
to  withstand  it  with  energy,"  etc.,  etc.  The  paper  closed  thus 
significantly  : 

u  To  adopt  as  a  rule  of  conduct  that  if  we  are  to  be  involved  in  the  war,  it  must 
be  at  any  rate  against  the  powers  who  are  opposed  to  France — and  that  we  ought 
rather  to  give  them  cause  for  attacking  us,  by  suffering  ourselves  to  be  made  an 
instrument  of  the  hostilities  of  France,  than  to  risk  a  quarrel  with  her  by  a  vigorous 
opposition  to  her  encroachments,  would  be  a  policy  as  unjust  and  profligate  a?  it 
would  be  likely  to  prove  pernicious  and  disgraceful.*' 1 

This  document  will  strike  the  reader  with  more  astonishment 
when  he  learns  that  it  was  distinctly  conceded  in  a  letter  (dated 
June  30th)  from  the  Secretary  of  State  to  the  French  Minister, 
that  several  British  vessels  had  procured  arms  within  American 
ports,  and  escaped  to  sea  without  detention  ! 2 

Jefferson's  opinion  was  also  couched  in  decided  language. 
He  was  against  erecting  the  proposed  battery,  because  satisfied 
that  the  Little  Democrat  would  not  sail  before  the  return  of  the 
President;  because  a  movement  so  obviously  intended  to  men 
ace  "might  cause  a  departure  not  now  intended,  and  produce 
the  fact  it  wras  meant  to  prevent ;"  because  it  was  morally  cer 
tain  that  if  the  vessel  was  fired  on,  resistance  would  follow,  and 
that  blood  being  once  spilt,  the  door  of  peace  would  be  shut — 
at  a  moment,  too,  when  twenty  French  ships  of  war,  with  a 
fleet  of  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  private  ves- 
sols,  were  hourly  expected  in  the  port ;  because  the  actual  com 
mencement  of  hostilities  against  a  nation  was  too  serious  a 
matter  to  our  countrymen  to  be  brought  about  by  "subordinate 
officers  not  chosen  by  them  nor  clothed*  with  their  confidence" 
—and  "  too  presumptuous  on  the  part  of  those  officers,  when  the 

1  For  the  paper  entire,  see  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  443. 
3  See  American  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  159. 
The  meaning,  of  course,  is  "  officially  clothed,"  taken  in  the  light  ot  the  context. 


CHAP,  iv.]  JEFFERSON'S  VIEWS.  163 

Chief  Magistrate,  into  whose  hands  the  citizens  had  committed 
their  safety,  was  within  eight-and-forty  hours  of  his  arrival 
there ;"  because,  should  the  vessel  depart,  the  matter  would 
admit  of  a  fair  explanation  to  Great  Britain,  as  it  would  be  con 
trary  to  what  we  had  a  right  to  expect ;  because  Great  Britain 
would  have  little  reason  to  complain  should,  by  such  means, 
"two  cannon"  be  added  to  the  equipments  of  its  enemies, 
while  its  "  own  vessels  had  carried  off  more  than  ten  times  that 
number  without  any  impediment ;"  *  because,  if  the  Little  Demo 
crat  had  fifteen  or  twenty  Americans  on  board  of  her  who  had 
gone  there  by  their  own  consent,  it  was  equally  true  that  more 
than  ten  times  that  number  of  Americans  were  at  that  moment  on 
board  English  ships  of  war,  "  who  had  been  taken  forcibly  from 
our  merchant  vessels  at  sea  or  in  port,  wherever  met  with,  and 
compelled  to  bear  arms  against  the  friends  of  their  country;." 
because  '•  it  was  inconsistent  for  a  nation  which  had  been  pa 
tiently  bearing  for  ten  years  the  grossest  insults  and  injuries 
from  their  late  enemies,  to  rise  at  a  feather  against'their  friends 
and  benefactors  " — against  "  the  acts  of  a  particular  individual, 
not  yet  important  enough  to  have  been  carried  to  his  Govern 
ment  as  causes  of  complaint."  and  which  his  Government,  judg 
ing  from  the  past,  "  would  correct  at  a  word  :"  because  he  [the 
Secretary  of  State]  "  would  not  gratify  the  combination  of  kings 
with  the  spectacle  of  the  two  only  Republics  #n  earth  destroy 
ing  each  other  for  two  cannon ;"  because  he  would  not,  "  for 
infinitely  greater  cause,  add  this  country  to  that  combination, 
turn  the  scale  of  contest,  and  let  it  be  from  our  hands  that  the 
hopes  of  men  received  their  last  stab." 

This  scorching  exposure  was  due  to  the  character  of  a  pro 
position,  which,  if  an  explosion  of  rage,  was  unbecoming  men 
charged  with  so  high  official  responsibilities  ;  or  if  we  should 
adopt  a  still  more  discreditable  hypothesis,  to  men  seeking  a  pre 
tence,  in  the  absence  of  the  President,  to  render  further  ami 
cable  relations  between  the  French  and  American  republics  out 
of  the  question,  if  not  to  embroil  them  in  immediate  hostilities 

1  This  would  seem  to  confirm  Genet's  assertions  that  the  Government  informers  were 
all  on  one  side.  Mr.  Jefferson  nowhere,  that  we  are  aware,  offers  proof  cf  the  accuracy 
of  this  identical  statement :  nor  have  we  observed,  on  the  other  hand,  that  an  assertion 
so  very  significant,  if  true,  and  made  in  a  Cabinet  paper,  called  out  any  reclamations 
from  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and  War.  It  will  be  remembered,  of  course,  that 
the  Government  informers — that  is  to  say,  the  revenue  officers,  were  nearly  all  appointed 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 


164:  CONSEQUENCES    TO   HAVE   BEEN    ANTICIPATED.      [CHAP.  IV. 

with  each  other.  Whatever  the  real  motives  of  the  Secretaries 
of  the  Treasury  and  War,  the  frustration  of  their  proposed  mea 
sure  averted  consequences  which  it  would  be  difficult  now,  at  a 
first  view,  to  estimate.  Not  the  least  of  these,  probably,  would 
have  been  the  utter  political  overthrow  of  themselves  and  their 
party.  Genet's  indecorums  of  conduct  and  language  were  yet 
unknown  to  the  public ;  and  it  required  greater  follies  on  his 
part  still  to  wean  from  him  that  partiality  which  he  received  as 
the  representative  of  republican  France.  The  opposition  to 
himself  and  his  country  by  a  portion  of  the  Cabinet  was  well 
understood.  The  decisions  of  that  body,  which  seemed  not  only 
to  put  England  on  a  perfect  equality  with  France,  but,  practi 
cally,  in  some  respects,  to  give  it  the  advantage,1  and  this-,  at  a 
moment  when,  to  look  no  further,  France  had  just  granted,  un 
asked,  through  Genet,  such  signal  advantages  to  America,2 
while  England  persisted,  without  a  sign  of  relaxation,  in  its 
past  aggressions,  and  in  all  its  harsh  and  unfriendly  commercial 
regulations — such  Cabinet  decisions,  we  say,  were  the  themes  of 
wide-spread  criticism,  and  of  not  a  little  disapprobation  among 
many  men  who  were  accused  of'  no  intemperate  partiality  for 
France.  Up  to  this  point,  the  party  which  sympathized  with 
France — conceded  by  Federal  historians  a  little  earlier  to  have 
vastly  outnumbered  the  Federalists — had  suffered  no  diminution 
in  its  numbers.  More  than  three  quarters,  and  probably  a  still 
larger  proportion,  of  the  American  people  yet  ardently  adhered 
to  that  party.  The  press  gave  visible  indications  of  the  prevail 
ing  dissatisfaction.  The  National  Gazette  and  the  General  Ad 
vertiser  at  Philadelphia,  the  Patriotic  Register  at  New  York, 
the  Chronicle  at  Boston,  and  nearly  all  the  Republican  papers 
throughout  the  Union,  found  more  or  less  fault  with  the  action 
of  the  Government.  "  Democratic  Societies  "  were  organized 
to  propagate  the  views  of  the  Republicans  and  give  concentra 
tion  to  their  action.  Nor,  as  it  has  often  been  most  absurdly 
assumed,  were  these  views  and  demonstrations  confined  to  any 
particular  class  of  society.  With  some  exceptions  in  South 
Carolina,  almost  all  the  distinguished  talent  of  the  Southern 

1  As  for  example,  requiring  France,  by  her  treaty,  to  respect  the  principle  that  free 
vessels  made  free  goods,  while,  sorely  at  the  expense  of  France,  England  was  suffered  tc 
take  French  property  (even  the  provisions  bought  of  us)  from  American  vessels. 

8  The  exemption  from  the  West  India  guaranty, and  the  opening  all  its  ports  to  Ameri 
can  commerce  on  the  same  terms  with  its  own. 


'/HAP.  IV.]  COMPOSITION   OF   PARTIES.  1(55 

States  was  on  this  side.1  It  comprised  nearly  an  equal  amount 
of  talent  with  the  Federalists  in  the  eastern  States,2  and  more,  in 
the  aggregate,  in  the  middle.  Let  us,  as  an  example,  take  Penn 
sylvania,  in  which  was  the  seat  of  Government,  and  which  had 
recently  given  fourteen  of  its  fifteen  electoral  votes  for  Mr. 
Adams.  Governor  Mifflin — the  signally  able  Chief-Justice 
McKean — Muhlenburg,  Speaker  of  the  first  Congress  under  the 
Constitution — Dallas,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  one  of  the  best 
educated  and  most  promising  youngish  men  in  the  United 
States — the  Attorney-General  Sergeant — the  well  known  Hut- 
cheson — the  philosophic  Rittenhouse — Duponceau,  who  came 
to  America  as  an  aid  to  Baron  Steuben,  and  who  had  already 
entered  on  that  long  career  of  honor  and  usefulness  which 
awaited  him — in  a  word,  nearly  all  of  the  most  conspicuous  men 
in  the  State  were  ardent  Republicans.  Rittenhouse  was  the 
President,  and  Duponceau  the  Secretary  of  the  "  Democratic 
Society  "  of  Philadelphia — an  organization  claimed  by  the 
alarmed  Federalists  to  have  been  set  on  foot  expressly  to  inau- 

1  General  Henry  Lee,  acting  Governor  of  Virginia,  so  soon  afterwards  so  decided  a 
Federalist,  was  about  this  period  contemplating  accepting  a  Major-General's  commission 
in  lb.3  armies  of  the  Republic  of  France!     (See  his  letter  to  Washington  of  April  29th, 
1793.     Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  343.) 

2  The  two  most  prominent  men  in  New  England  after  the  Vice-President — namely, 
John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams  (Governor  and  Lieut.-Governor  of  Massachusetts) — 
were  decided   Republicans.     Governor  Hancock  died  October  8th,  of  this  year,  and 
S.  Adams  succeeded  him.    More  than  five  months  after  the  events  of  which  we  speak, 
Governor  Samuel  Adams  wrote  Governor  Clinton  of  New  York,  in  an  unpublished  letter, 
the  original  of  which  is  lying  before  us  : 

"  I  have  a  strong  attachment  to  the  French  Republic,  more  especially  because  they 
have  foun  le  1  their  Constitution  upon  principles  sim'lar  to  our  own,  and  upon  which 
alone,  I  think,  free  and  lawful  governments  must  be  founded,  and  which  all  nations  that 
embrace  them  will  naturally  be  bound  by  the  strongest  ties  of  friendship.  1  hope  we  soon 
shall  see  the  time,  when  all  the  machinations  of  those  who  wish  to  destroy  the  affection  and 
confidence  betiveen  the  two  republics  shall  be  d>  tected  and  treated  with  contempt."  (Decem 
ber  24th,  1793.) 

The  original  of  the  following  is  also  before  us  : 

From  same  to  same, 

"  BOSTON,  April  10,  1794. 
"  SIR  : 

"  In  reviewing  the  political  situation  of  the  United  States  in  their  relation  to 
foreign  nations,  particularly  with  regard  to  that  with  Great  Britain,  ive  have  reason  to 
apprehend  that  the  continuation  of  peace  cannot  long  be  expected,  unless  events  shall  prove 
more  propitious  than  they  promise  at  present.  If  I  may  judge  from  the  reports  of  the 
newspapers,  the  Legislature  of  your  Sfate,  at  their  late  session,  made  some  provision  for 
fortifying  the  harbors  of  the  coast  of  New  York,  and  having  it  in  intention  to  have  the 
same  matter  laid  before  the  General  Court  of  this  Commonwealth,  which  will  be  in 
session  in  a  little  time.  I  am  desirous  of  being  able  to  inform  them  of  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  views  of  your  Assembly  on  that  important  subject,  in  hopes  that  this  State 
may  not  be  behind  any  other  in  the  Union,  in  making  suitable  provision  within  them 
selves,  for  the  defence  of  the  sea-coast  of  this  Commonwealth.  Your  communications  on 
this  subject,  as  soon  as  convenient,  will  be  very  agreeable  to 
"  Your  most  obedient  and 

Very  humble  servant, 

"  SAMUEL  ADAMS/' 


166  HAMILTON'S  AND  KNOX'S  IMPEUDENCE.         [CHAP.  iv. 

gurat';  the  wildest  doctrines  of  the  French  Jacobins,  and  even, 
if  necessary  to  obtain  political  supremacy,  their  bloodiest  prac 
tices.  Many  of  the  most  distinguished  patriots  of  the  Kevo- 
lution  were  enrolled  among  the  active  members  of  this  terrible 
Society. 

Thus  things  stood,  when  Hamilton  and  Knox,  for  "two 
cannon,"  and  for  the  insulting  deportment  and  language  of  an 
enraged  minister,  of  which  no  complaint  had  been  made  to  his 
Government,  proposed,  in  the  absence  of  the  President,  to  fire 
on  the  flag  of  France,  and  thus,  in  all  human  probability,  em 
broil  the  two  governments  ;  and,  unless  unlocked  for  causes 
should  prevent,  throw  the  United  States  into  the  scale  of  that 
anti-French  coalition  which  had  been  hitherto  nearly  as  hostile 
to  our  countrv  as  to  France,  and  to  one  member  of  which  our 
Government  had,  within  about  a  week,  sent  a  message  which, 
under  the  circumstances,  amounted  to  a  defiance. 

But  fortunately  for  our  domestic  peace,  and  probably  more 
fortunately  still  for  the  instigators  of  the  measure  (and  those 
who  would  have  been  its  abettors),  the  prudence  of  Washington 
had  rendered  it  impracticable.  Had  the  population  of  Phila- 
delphia,-deeply  excited,  and  already  deeply  irritated  by  action 
mainly  attributed  to  the  same  members  of  the  Cabinet,  suddenly 
heard  the  roar  of  conflict  on  the  borders  of  their  city — suddenly 
discovered  the  flags  of  the  United  States  and  France  floating 
over  the  hostile  armaments — suddenly  been  told  that  a  French 
armed  vessel  had  been  attacked,  in  the  absence  of  the  President, 
by  the  orders  of  the  two  Secretaries,  for  attempting  to  do  what 
every  ordinarily  informed  man  in  the  United  States  knew  had 
been  done  with  impunity  by  English  armed  vessels  (that  is,  arm 
in  our  ports  and  put  to  sea) — there  are  strong  reasons  for  be 
lieving  there  would  have  been  an  immediate  popular  outbreak, 
and  a  forcible  rescue  of  the  French  vessel  by  overwhelming 
numbers.  And  where  this  species  of  arbitrament,  if  once 
opened,  would  have  stopped,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Probably 
nothing  but  the  veneration  felt  for  one  man  could  have  arrested 
it.  These  are  but  speculations  ;  but  it  is  certain,  that  at  a  period 
considerably  subsequent  to  this,  and  after  the  popular  scale  had 
obviously  preponderated  against  Genet,  General  Washington's 
correspondence  contains  numerous  statements  and  allusions, 
expressing  an  apprehension  that  the  friends  of  France  might 


CHAP.  IT.]  THEIK    ACTION    FORTUNATELY   CHECKED.  167 

appeal  to  force  against  their  own  Government !  But  leaving 
this  question  out  of  view,  nothing  can  probably  be  more  certain 
than  that,  had  an  attack  been  made  on  the  Little  Democrat,  by 
the  directions  of  Hamilton  and  Knox,  a  storm  of  popular  indig 
nation  would  have  been  roused  which  nothing  could  have 
stemmed,  and  which  would  have  swept  over  our  entire  land, 
crushing  an  already  prostrated  minority,  and  rendering  inevi 
table  the  retirement  of  its  representatives  in  the  President's 
Cabinet.  But  the  scheme  failed,  and  the  egregious  follies  of 
Genet,  and  some  of  his  ultra-Republican  partisans,  were  not  only 
to  make  up  lost  ground  to  their  adversaries,  but  to  turn  the 
scale  of  parties,  place  a  weak  minority  in  the  ascendant,  and 
actually  give  to  it  a  several  years'  longer  tenure  of  power. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  position  was  most  embarrassing.  His  sym 
pathies  were  with  the  Republicans,  though  as  yer  he  had  gone 
firmly  wTith  all  the  measures  of  the  Government,  and  his  confi 
dential  correspondence  shows  that  he  had  done  so  heartily, 
except  in  regard  to  the  Proclamation,  and  there  his  objection 
went  mainly  to  the  form  and  not  to  the  substance.1  But  his 

1  The  following  private  letter  to  Monroe,  then  the  Republican  leader  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  exactly  described  his  position  in  respect  to  those  measures.  We  place  it 
in  a  note  not  too  much  to  break  in  upon  the  continuity  of  the  narrative  : 

To  COLONEL  MONROE. 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  July  14,  1798. 
u  DEAR  SIR  : 

u  Your  favor  of  June  27th  has  been  duly  received.  You  have  most  perfectly 
seized  the  original  idea  of  the  Proclamation.  When  first  proposed  as  a  declaration  of 
neutrality,  it  was  opposed,  first,  because  the  Executive  had  no  power  to  declare  neu 
trality.  Second,  as  such,  a  declaration  would  be  premature,  and  would  lose  us  the 
benefit  for  which  it  might  be  bartered.  It  was  urged  that  there  was  a  strong  impression 
in  the  minds  of  many,  that  they  were  free  to  join  in  the  hostilities  on  the  side  of  France, 
others  were  unapprised  of  the  danger  they  would  be  exposed  to  in  carrying  contraband 
goods,  etc.  It  was  therefore  agreed  that  a  proclamation  should  issue,  declaring  that  we 
were  in  a  state  of  peace,  admonishing  the  people  to  do  nothing  contravening  it,  and  put 
ting  them  on  their  guard  as  to  contraband.  On  this  ground,  it  was  accepted  or  acqui 
esced  in  by  all,  and  E.  R.  who  drew  it,  brought  it  to  me,  the  draft,  to  let  me  see  there 
was  no  such  word  as  neutrality  in  it.  Circumstances  forbid  other  verbal  criticisms.  The 
public,  however,  soon  took  it  up  as  a  declaration  of  neutrality,  arid  it  came  to  be  con 
sidered  at  length  as  such.  The  arming  privateers  in  Charleston,  with  our  means  entirely, 
and  partly  our  citizens,  was  complained  of  in  a  memorial  from  Mr.  Hammond.  In  our 
consultation,  it  was  agreed  we  were  by  treaty  bound  to  prohibit  the  enemies  of  France 
from  arming  in  our  ports,  and  Avere  free  to  prohibit  France  also,  and  that  by  the  laws  of 
neutrality  we  are  bound  to  permit  or  forbid  the  same  things  to  both,  as  far  as  our  treaties 
would  permit.  All,  therefore,  were  forbidden  to  arm  within  our  ports,  and  the  vessels  armed 
before  the  prohibition  were,  on  the  advice  of  a  majority,  ordered  to  leave  our  ports. 
With  respect  to  our  citizens  who  had  joined  in  hostilities  against  a  nation  with  whom  we 
are  at  peace,  the  subject  was  thus  viewed.  Treaties  are  law.  By  the  treaty  with  Eng 
land,  we  are  in  a  state  of  peace  with  her.  He  who  breaks  that  peace,  if  within  our  juris 
diction,  breaks  the  laws,  and  is  punishable  by  them.  And  if  he  is  punishable,  he  ought 
to  be  punished,  because  no  citizen  should  be  free  to  commit  his  country  to  war.  Some 
vessels  were  taken  within  our  bays.  There  foreigners  as  well  as  natives  are  liable  to 
punishment.  Some  were  committed  in  the  high  seas.  There,  as  the  s^a  is  a  common 
<yri.sdiction  to  all  nations,  and  divided  by  persons,  each  having  a  right  to  the  jurisdiction 


168  JEFFERSON'S   EMBARK  A  SSING  POSITION.         [CHAP.  iv. 

position  was  daily  increasing  in  difficulty.  He  could  not  con 
trol  Genet  by  his  personal  advice.  He  could  not  sustain  his 
ridiculous  pretensions,  nor  refuse  to  join  in  proper  steps  to 
rebuke  his  arrogance.  While  doing  the  latter,  he  was  liable  to 
the  misconstructions  of  his  own  party — of  the  ultra-friends  of 
France,  because  they  were  opposed  to  neutrality,  and  conse 
quently  to  any  attempts  at  a  neutral  line  of  conduct  between 
the  ministers  of  France  and  England — of  the  moderate  Repub 
licans,  because  Genet's  improper  communications  to  the  Govern 
ment  were  not  yet  spread  before  the  public.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  was  liable  to  misconstructions  in  the  Cabinet,  if  he 
shrunk  from  joining  in  proper  manifestations  of  indignation  at 
the  French  Minister's  conduct,  and  the  vote  there  being  "  two 
and  a  half"  against  two,  there  was  danger  that  he  could  not 
always  hinder,  nor  without  suspicion  oppose,  what,  under  guise 
of  manifesting  that  just  indignation,  was  calculated  to  go  fur 
ther,  and  put  the  Government  in  an  aggressive  attitude  towards 
France. 

over  their  own  citizens  only,  our  citizens  only  were  punishable  by  us.  But  they  were  so, 
because  within  our  jurisdiction.  Had  they  gone  into  a/oragn  land  and  committed  a  hos 
tility,  they  would  have  been  clearly  out  of  our  ju/isdiction,  and  unpunishable  by  the 
existing  laws.  As  the  armament  in  Charleston  had  taken  place  before  pur  citizens  might 
have  reflected  on  the  case,  only  two  were  prosecuted,  merely  to  satisfy  the  complaint 
made,  and  to  serve  as  a  warning  to  others.  But  others  having  attempted  to  arm  another 
vessel  in  New  York  after  this  was  known,  all  the  persons  concerned  in  the  latter  case, 
foreign  as  well  as  native,  were  directed  to  be  prosecuted.  The  Attorney-General  gave  an 
official  opinion  that  the  act  was  asrainst  law,  and  coincided  with  all  our  private  opinions, 
and  the  lawyers  of  this  State,  New  York,  and  Maryland,  who  were  applied  to,  were 
unanimously  of  the  same  opinion.  Lately  Mr.  Rawle,  Attorney  of  the  United  States  in 
this  district,  on  a  conference  with  the  District  Judge  Peters,  supposed  the  law  more 
doubtful.  New  acts,  therefore,  of  the  same  kind,  are  left  unprosecuted  till  the  question 
is  determined  by  the  proper  court,  which  will  be  during  the  present  week.  If  they 
declare  the  act  no  offence  against  the  laws,  the  Executive  will  have  acquitted  itself 
towards  the  nation  attacked  by  their  citizens,  by  having  submitted  them  to  the  sentence 
of  the  laws  of  their  country,  and  towards  tho'se  laws  by  an  appeal  to  them  in  a  case 
which  interested  the  country,  and  which  was  at  least  doubtful.  I  confess  I  think  myself 
that  the  case  is  punishable,  and  that,  if  found  otherwise,  Congress  ought  to  make  'it  so, 
or  we  shall  be  made  parties  in  every  maritime  war  in  which  the  piratical  spirit  of  the 
banditti  in  our  ports  can  engage.  I  will  write  you  what  the  judicial  determination  is. 
Our  prospects  with  Spain  appear  to  me,  from  circumstances  taking  place  on  this  side  the 
Atlantic,  absolutely  desperate.  Measures  are  taken  to  know  if  they  are  equally  so  on 
the  o"h>r  sile,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year,  that  question  will  be  closed,  and 
your  next  meeting  must  probably  prepare  for  the  new  order  of  things.  I  fear  the  dis 
gust  of  France  is  inevitable.  We  sh"ll  be  to  blame  in  part.  But  the  new  Minister  much 
more  so.  His  conduct  is  indefensible  by  the  most  furious  Jacobin.  I  only  wish  our 
countrymen  may  distinguish  between  him  and  his  nation,  and  if  the  case  should  ever  be 
laid  before  them,  may  not  suffer  their  affection  to  the  nation  to  be  diminished.  H.,  sen 
sible  of  the  advantage  they  have  got,  is  urging  a  full  appeal  by  the  Government  to  the 
people.  Such  an  explosion  would  manifestly  endanger  a  dissolution  of  the  friendship 
between  the  two  nations,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  deprecated  by  every  friend  to  our 
libertv :  and  none  but  an  enemy  to  it  would  wish  to  avail  himself  of  the  indiscretions  of 
an  individual  to  compromit  two  nations  esteeming  each  other  ardently.  It  will  prove 
that  the  agents  of  the  two  people  are  either  great  bunglers  or  great  rascals,  when  the« 
nnnot  preserve  that  peace  which  is  the  universal  wish  of  both.  [The  preceding,  frorii 
the  Congress  edition,  apparently  contains  several  typographical  errors.] 


CHAP,  iv.]  WASHINGTON'S  WARM  NOTE.  169 

He  wrote  Mr.  Madison,  July  8th,  the  day  the  Cabinet  con 
sultation  took  place  on  the  subject  of  forcibly  detaining  the 
Little  Democrat : 

"  Never,  in  my  opinion,  was  so  calamitous  an  appointment  as  that  of  the  present 
Minister  of  France  here  Hot-headed,  all  imagination,  no  judgment,  passionate, 
disrespectful,  and  even  indecent  towards  the  President  in  his  written,  as  well  as  his 
verbal  communications,  before  Congress  or  the  public  they  will  excite  indignation. 
He  renders  my  position  immensely  difficult.  He  does  me  justice  personally  ;  and 
giving  him  time  to  vent  himself  and  become  more  cool,  I  am  on  a  footing  to  advise 
him  freely,  and  he  respects  it ;  but  he  will  break  out  again  on  the  very  first  occa 
sion,  so  that  he  is  incapable  of  correcting  himself.  To  complete  our  misfortune, 
we  have  no  channel  through  which  we  can  correct  the  irritating  representations  he 
may  make."  1 

The  same  views  will  be  found  expressed  to  Colonel  Monroe 
soon  after,  in  a  letter  just  quoted. 

The  Little  Democrat,  as  Genet  had  intimated  to  Jefferson 
she  would  do,  dropped  down  the  Delaware  (to  Chester),  but  did 
not  put  to  sea  until  after  the  President's  arrival. 

General  Washington  reached  Philadelphia  on  the  1 1th. 
The  Secretary  of  Stare  had  prepared  the  papers  in  the  case  of 
the  Little  Democrat  for  his  inspection,  marking  on  them  that 
they  required  "  instant  attention  " — and  being  ill  of  a  fever, 
retired  to  his  house  in  the  country.  The  President,  on  receiving 
the  packet,  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Secretary's  office  to  ask  his 
attendance.  What  heated  or  peculiar  representations  had  been 
made  to  him,  cannot  now  be  known  ;  but  on  learning  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  absence,  he  dispatched  the  following  note  to  him  at  his 
country  residence  : 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  lWit  1798. 
SIR: 

After  I  had  read  the  papers,  which  were  put  into  my  hands  by  you,  requiring 
"  instant  attention,"  and  before  a  messenger  could  reach  your  office,  you  had  left 
town. 

What  is  to  be  done  in  the  case  of  the  Little  Sarah  a  now  at  Chester  ?  Is  the 
Minister  of  the  French  Republic  to  set  the  acts  of  this  Government  at  defiance 
with  impunity  ?  3  And  then  threaten  the  Executive  with  an  appeal  to  the  people  ? 
What  must  the  world  think  of  such  conduct,  and  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  in  submitting  to  it  ? 

These  are  serious  questions.     Circumstances  press  for  decision,  and,  as  vou  have 


•  Tucker's  Jefferson,  vol.  i.  p.  444.  Mr.  Tucker  was,  as  he  informs  us,  furnished  with 
tnis  extract  from  the  letter  by  Mr.  Madison,  or  saw  it  among  Mr.  Jefferson's  papers,  h« 
has  forgotten  which;  but  at  all  events,  it  was  copied  from  the  original. 

7  The  Little  Democrat.  Italicized  as  in  original. 


170  JEFFERSON'S  REPLY  TO  THE  PRESIDENT.       [CHAP,  iv, 

had  time  to  consider  them  (upon   me  they  come  unexpectedly),  I  wish  to  know 
your  opinion  upon  them,  even  before  to-morrow,  for  the  vessel  may  be  gone. 

I  am,  etc. 

This  note  has  been  quoted  and  referred  to  by  a  class  of 
writers  with  great  satisfaction,  to  show  that  the  President  was 
irritated  at  Jefferson's  conduct  when  lie  wrote  it.  There  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt  of  this  ;  but  whether  it  was  at  the  Secretary's 
represented  conduct  in  the  affair  of  the  Little  Democrat,  or 
because  he  left  town  without  seeing  the  President,  after  sending 
him  a  packet  which  required  u  instant  attention,"  does  not 
appear.  Perhaps  .both  causes  conspired.1 

Before  the  reception  of  the  President's  note,  Mr.  Jefferson 
had  written  an  apology  for  his  necessary  absence.  This,  and  its 
remarkably  unruffled  postscript,  were  as  follows  : 

"  Thomas  Jefferson  presents  his  respects  to  the  President.  He  had  expected 
that  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and  War  would  have  given  the  President 
immediately  the  statement  of  facts  in  the  case  of  the  Little  Sarah  [Little  Demo 
crat],  as  drawn  by  the  former  and  agreed  to,  as  also  their  reasons ;  but.  Colonel 
Hamilton  having  informed  Thomas  Jeiferson  that  he  has  not  been  able  to  prepare 
copies,  Thomas  Jefferson  sends  the  President  the  copies  they  have  given  him, 
which,  being  prefixed  to  his  opinion,  will  make  the  case  complete,  as  it  is  proper 
the  President  should  see  both  sides  of  it  at  once.  T.  J.  has  had  a  fever  the  two 
last  nights,  which  has  held  him  until  the  morning.  Something  of  the  same  is  now 
coming  on  him  ;  but  nothing  but  absolute  inability  will  prevent  his  being  in  town 
early  to-morrow  morning. 

"  T.  J.  had  written  the  above  before  he  had  the  honor  of  the  President's  note 
on  the  subject  of  this  vessel.  He  has  received  assurance  from  M.  Genet  to-day, 
that  she  will  not  be  gone  before  the  President's  decision.  T.  J.  is  himself  of 
opinion,  that  whatever  is  aboard  of  her  of  arms,  ammunition,  or  men.  contrary  to 
the  rules  heretofore  laid  down  by  the  President,  ought  to  be  withdrawn.  On  this 
subject  he  will  have  the  honor  of  conferring  with  the  President,  or  any  others, 
whenever  he  pleases.  July  11. 

The  President  called  a  Cabinet  meeting  at  his  house,  at  nine 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  12th.  It  was  there  unanimously 
determined  that  letters  be  immediately  written  to  the  ministers 
of  France  and  England,  informing  them  that  the  President  had 
concluded  to  refer  the  several  questions  which  had  arisen  in 

i  The  President  was  never,  even  when  not  under  the  pressure  of  exciting  events,  much 
disposed  to  waive  those  marks  of  personal  respect,  which  he  regarded  as  due  to  himself 
and  his  official  position.  We  have  seen  that  it  was  a  supposed  departure  from  one  of 
these  on  the  part  of  Hamilton,  which  led  to  those  expressions  from  him  which  caused 
Hamilton  to  throw  up  his  place  in  the  staff  and  (until  he  received  a  new  appointment)  in 
the  army.  (See  vol.  i.,  p.  596.) 


OHAP.  IV.]  JEFFERSON    SUSTAINED.  171 

respect  to  the  hostile  vessels  arming  or  arriving  within  our 
ports,  and  of  prizes,  "  to  persons  learned  in  the  laws  ;"  and  "  as 
this  reference  would  occasion  some  delay,"  that  it  was  expected 
the  vessels  in  controversy  (and  among  them  the  Little  Demo 
crat)  would  not  depart  "  until  his  ultimate  determination  should 
be  made  known."  Two  or  three  days  after  this,  the  Little 
Democrat  put  to  sea  in  disregard  of  the  President's  require 
ment. 

The  reference  of  the  legal  questions,  on  which  proper  action 
depended,  "  to  persons  learned  in  the  laws  " — as  well  as  an 
explicit  assertion  in  a  State  paper,  which  was  examined  para 
graph  by  paragraph  by  the  whole  Cabinet,  and  approved  by  the 
President,  without  any  challenge  to  that  assertion — clearly  shows 
that  the  President,  the  moment  he  understood  the  facts,  approved 
of  the  course  Mr.  Jefferson  had  advised  in  regard  to  the  Little 
Democrat,  and  disapproved  of  the  proposed  resort  to  force,  at 
that  stage  of  affairs,  to  detain  the  vessel.  The  State  paper 
referred  to,  was  a  dispatch  to  the  American  Minister  in  France, 
dated  August  16th,  to  ask  the  recall  of  Genet.  Among  other 
reasons  assigned  for  that  request  was  the  following : 

"  If  our  citizens  have  not  already  been  shedding  each  other's  blood,  it  is  not 
owing  to  the  moderation  of  Mr.  Genet,  but  to  the  forbearance  of  the  Government. 
It  is  well  known  that  if  the  authority  of  the  laws  had  been  resorted  to,  to  stop  the 
Little  Democrat,  its  officers  and  agents  were  to  have  been  resisted  by  the  crew  of 
the  vessel,  consisting  partly  of  American  citizens." 

It  would  have  been  neither  manly  nor  truthful  for  the 
American  Government  positively  and  unqualifiedly  to  assert 
that  the  avoidance  of  "  shedding  each  other's  blood  "  was  solely 
due  to  its  own  forbearance,  when  it  really  meditated  a  resort  to 
force,  and  was  only  prevented  from  doing  so  by  a  hasty  and 
unexpected  departure  of  the  vessel.  Nor  could  the  Govern 
ment  ingenuously  claim  merit  for  its  forbearance,  if  it  had  merely 
suspended  a  determination  to  resort  to  coercion.1 

1  Professor  Tucker,  in  his  Life  of  Jefferson,  says : 

"  This  case  [that  of  the  Little  Democrat]  is  so  narrated  in  Marshall's  Life  of  Washing 
ton  as  to  leave  an  impression  that  Mr.  Genet's  defiance  of  the  public  authorities  received 
Mr.  Jefferson1  s  favor,  if  not  cooperation;  and  the  effect  is  produced  partly  by  omissions, 
and  partly  by  what  can  rarely  be  charged  against  that  work,  inaccuracy  in  the  state 
ment  of  facts." 

He  adds : 

41 1  am  far  from  saying  the  injustice  was  intended.  My  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
distinguished  author  precludes  that  supposition ;  but  he  was  known  to  have  strong  party 
feelings,  and  even  his  mind  was  not  always  able  to  resist  their  biases  either  towards  his 


172  ERRONEOUS    STATEMENTS.  [CHAT.  IY. 

While  contemplating  the  preceding  events,  and  remember 
ing  the  decided  dispatches  to  Spain  of  June  30th,  letters  writ- 
political  friends  or  opponents.  Whoever  will  carefully  examine  the  original  sources  of 
his  materials,  may  see,  that  while  he  is,  in  the  main,  scrupulously  correct  as  to  facts, 
they  are  often  so  stated  as  to  mislead,  because  he  exhibits  them  in  the  same  partial  light 
in  which  he  himself  had  viewed  them.  We  have  an  instance  of  this  on  the  present  occasion." 

Among  the  various  statements  of  Judge  Marshall  calculated  to  leave  the  erroneous 
impressions  mentioned  by  Professor  Tucker,  are,  for  example,  the  following.  After 
recording  with  obvious  sympathy  the  measures  proposed  by  Hamilton  and  Knox,  "thus 
braved  and  insulted,"  as  he  remarks,  "in  the  very  heart  of  the  American  empire," 
he  adds  : 

"  The  Secretary  of  State  dissenting  from  this  opinion,  the  measure  was  not  adopted. 
The  vessel  fell  down  to  Chester  before  the  arrival  of  the  President,  and  sailed  on  her 
cruise  before  the  power  of  the  Government  could  be  interposed."  (Vol.  i.  p.  272.) 

After  mentioning  the  return  of  the  President,  and  quoting  the  words  of  that  part  of 
his  warm  note  to  Mr.  Jefferson  which  pertained  to  the  conduct  of  Genet,  Judge  Marshall 
proceeds  to  say : 

"  In  answer  to  this  letter,  the  Secretary  stated  the  assurances  which  had  on  that  day 
been  given  to  him  by  Mr.  Genet,  that  the  vessel  would  not  sail  before  the  President's 
decision  respecting  her  should  be  made.  In  consequence  of  this  infoivnaiion,  immediate 
coercive  measures  were  suspended  ;  and  in  council  the  succeeding  day,  it  was  determined 
to  retain  in  port  all  privateers  which  had  been  equipped  by  any  of  the  belligerent  powers 
within  the  United  States.  This  determination  was  immediately  communicated  to 
Mr.  Genet:  but  in  contempt  of  it,  the  Little  Democrat  proceeded  on  her  cruise." 
(Vol.  i.  p.  272.) 

So  far  from  the  Little  Democrat  "sailing  on  her  cruise  before  the  power  of  the  Gov 
ernment  could  be  interposed,"  she  lay  three  or  four  days  at  Chester,  after  the  return  of 
the  President  to  Philadelphia,  giving  ample  time  for  her  arrest — ani,  apparently  (it  the 
dispatches  to  France  of  August  IGth  convey  a  correct  impression),  almost  inviting  the 
Pre«i'lent  to  take  the  responsibility  of  ordering  that  arrest  to  be  attempted. 

When  Judge  Marshall  states  that  kttn  consequence'"  of  the  Secretary  of  State's  "infor 
mation"  of  July  llth,  "immediate  coercive  measures  were  suspended,"  he,  of  course, 
states  only  an  inference,  for  the  facts  do  not  sustain  the  assertion,  and  indeed  prove  the 
contrary.  Where  is  there  a  word  of  General  Washington,  or  a  circumstance  to  show 
that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  resort  to  force,  before  receiving  Jefferson's  note  oil 
the  evening  of  July  llth?  Was  the  subject  of  resorting  to  force  discussed,  or,  so  far  as 
can  be  ascertained,  even  mentioned  in  the  Cabinet  meeting  on  the  morning  of  the  12th? 
If  the  President  hail  there,  or  ever  on  any  other  occasion,  thrown  out  a  word  or  a  hint  to 
show  that  he  meditated  a  resort  to  force  before  receiving  Genet's  assurance,  through 
Jefferson,  should  we  not  have  this  much  needed  indorsement  of  Hamilton's  and  Knox'a 
proposition  on  the  8th.  and  this  virtual  condemnation  of  Jefferson's  coursr,  on  that  occasion, 
very  conspicuously  recorded  ?  And,  finally,  what  are  we  to  think  of  the  deliberate  asser 
tion  of  General  Washington  and  his  Cabinet  on  the  Ifith  of  August,  that  the  shedding  of 
blood  was  purely  due  to  the  forbearance  of  our  Government,  if  the  President  had  really 
contemplated  the  step  which  they  declare  "  it  was  well  known"  would  J-»ad  to  that  shed 
ding  of  bloo.l,  and  was  only  prevented  from  executing  it.  by  a  deceptive  promise  of 
Genet,  and  a  secret  absconding  of  the  vessel  ? 

But  suppose  all  this  entirely  otherwise.  Suppose  General  Washington  did  contem 
plate  force,  until  his  purpose  was  suspended  by  Genet's  assurance,  made  through  Jeffer 
son  on  the  llth  of  July :  and  suppose  (what  is  not  claimed  in  the  dispatch,  asking  Genet's 
recall)  that  h3  violate!  his  assurance — that  his  having  the  vessel  remain  several  days  at 
Chester,  was  not  a  fulfillment  of  what  he  intended\o  promise  and  what  the  Cabinet 
understood  him  to  promise?  If  he  violated  his  veracity,  was  the  Secretary  of  State  in  any> 
wise  answerable  for  it?  Did  Mr  Jefferson's  note  to  the  President  on  the  llth,  contain 
any  assurance  on  the  subject,  except  simply  a  mention  of  what  Genet  had  said  to  him? 
If  thf  oth3r  m  ambers  of  the  Cabinet,  or  the  President,  saw  fit  to  credit  Genet's  assurance, 
were  thsy  not  precisely  as  responsible  for  their  credulity  and  its  consequences,  as  that 
member  of  th>  Cabin3t  who  first  heard  and  communicated  that  assurance  ? 

Vie  we  1  from  any  point,  the  mountain  of  misconception  which  has  been  reared  on  this 
subject  (for  coarser  and  less  scrupulous  men  have  carried  Judge  Marshall's  innuendos 
into  broal  assertions),  dwindles  into  nothingness  !  It  had  not  even  a  mo.ehill  to  start 
upon!  Nay,  did  not  Judge  Marshall's  character  entirely  forbid  the  conclusion  (for  we 
view  that  character  in  the  same  light,  essentially,  that  Professor  Tucker  did),  one  would 
be  inclined  to  fancy  that  this  attack  on  Jefferson  was  a  specimen  of  the  adroit  Scipionian 
policy,  of  carrying  the  war  into  Africa,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  it  away  from  the  gates 
of  Rome — in  other  words,  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  friends  to  the 
defensive,  in  regard  to  the  memorable  occurrences  of  July  8th.  1793,  in  order  tc  preven' 
HanHton's  conduct  on  that  occasion  from  being  too  closely  examined  ! 


THAP.  iv.]  PRESIDENT'S  POLICY  UNSHAKEN.  173 

ten  by  the  Secretary  of  State  (and  of  course  submitted  to  the 
President),  to  the  Spanish  Commissioners  in  the  United  States, 
on  the  llth  and  14th  of  July,  become  a  subject  of  strong  inter 
est.  On  the  llth  (the  day  of  the  President's  return  to  the 
capital),  a  communication  was  drawn  up  to  Messrs.  Yiar  and 
Jaudennes  informing  them  that  henceforth  the  American  Govern 
ment  chose  to  treat  directly  with  that  of  Spain,  and  that  the 
offensive  "  style  as  well  as  matter  of  their  communications" 
would  be  made  known  to  their  Government.  This  was  answerd 
on  the  14th,  with  something  like  an  apology;  and  the  same  day 
tho  Secretary  of  State  replied. 

"  With  respect  to  the  letters  I  have  had  the  honor  of  receiving  from  you  for 
some  time  past,  it  must  be  candidly  acknowledged  that  their  complaints  were 
thought  remarkable,  as  to  the  matters  they  brought  forward  as  well  as  the  manner 
of  expressing  them.  A  succession  of  complaints,  some  founded  on  small  things 
taken  up  as  great  ones,  some  on  suggestions  contrary  to  our  knowledge  of  things, 
yet  treated  as  if  true  on  very  inconclusive  evidence,  and  presented  to  view  as  ren 
dering  our  peace  very  problematical,  indicated  a  determination  to  find  cause  for 
breaking  the  peace.  The  President  thought  it  was  high  time  to  come  to  an  eclair- 
cissement  with  your  Government  directly,  and  has  taken  the  measure  of  sending  a 
courier  to  Madrid  for  this  purpose.  This,  of  course,  transfers  all  explanation  of  the 
past  to  another  place." 

Here  is  no  appearance  of  any  change  of  policy,  or  of  a  dis 
position  to  open  the  door  to  such  a  change.  And  on  the  13th  of 
November  following,  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  a  brief  note  tc 
the  British  Minister,  garnished  with  no  circumlocutions,  reite 
rated  the  request  made  on  the  19th  of  June,  for  an  answer  to 
the  formal  requisition  of  our  Government  (of  May  29th. 
1T92)  on  Great  Britain  to  execute  her  stipulations  in  the  Treaty 
of  Peace.  Here  also  were  no  indications  of  seeking  a  retreat 
from  any  prior  attitude — any  indications  of  a  desire  to  barter 
the  amity  and  alliance  of  France  for  that  of  England. 

We  shall  not  regard  it  necessary  henceforth  to  consume  the 
space  which  would  be  requisite  to  give  the  particulars  of  the  fur 
ther  official  correspondence  between  Jefferson  and  Genet,  down  to 
the  period  when  the  recall  of  the  latter  was  asked  of  his  Govern 
ment.  We  have  already  presented  far  more  specific  details 
than  the  intrinsic  importance  of  the  subject  (for  the  purposes  of 
this  biography)  would  demand,  had  they  not  been  enveloped  in  a 
dense  cloud  of  historical  misconstruction,  if  not  for  the  object,  at 


174:  DIPLOMATIC    CORRESPONDENCE.  [CHAP.  IV. 

least  with  the  effect,  of  totally  misrepresenting  the  attitude  of 
Jefferson  and  his  political  friends.  We  have  therefore  avoided 
the  convenient  cover  of  loose  generalities,  and  a  selection  of 
quotations  made  to  exhibit  the  subject  in  a  special  phase.  We 
have  by  no  means  given  all  the  points  of  controversy  between 
Genet  and  our  Government,  that  being  impossible  here  ;  but 
we  have  aimed  to  convey  impartially  the  spirit  and  tone,  on 
both  sides,  of  the  gradually  warming  controversy ;  and  we  have 
carefully  preserved  dates  to  allow  the  reader  conveniently  to 
verify  the  accuracy  of  these,  and  of  conflicting  (or  different) 
accounts,  by  a  reference  to  authorized  publications  of  American 
State  Papers.  The  publication  before  us  is  the  one  made  in  1832, 
by  order  of  Congress,  under  the  editorship  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Senate  and  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Messrs. 
Lowrie  and  Clarke. 

Genet's  folly  and  intemperance  of  language  did  not  diminish, 
but  on  the  contrary,  continued  to  increase  after  the  events  de 
scribed.  The  replies  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  without  ever 
passing  over  the  Minister  to  defy  or  insult  his  Government,  were 
of  a  tenor  which  afterwards  wrung  reluctant  praise  from  his 
political  opponents.  On  nearly,  if  not  quite  all  the  most  impor 
tant  subsequent  questions,  the  Cabinet  appears  to  have  acted 
as  a  unit. 

Neither  do  we  deem  it  important  to  give  the  contempo 
raneous  correspondence  between  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the 
British  Minister.  Mr.  Hammond,  though  a  querulous  and 
rather  weak  man,  could  not  but  see  that  Genet  and  those  who 
while  whipping  the  top  were  so  keenly  taking  advantage 
of  its  movements,  were  serving  his  cause  far  more  effectu 
ally  than  he  could  himself  do ;  and  therefore  he  kept  compara 
tively  quiet.  This  was  the  more  expedient,  as  new  aggressive 
measures  against  the  United  States  by  his  Government  (by  and 
by  to  be  recorded)  rendered  the  attitude  of  a  blustering  com 
plainant,  neither  a  very  seemly  nor  perhaps  quite  a  prudent  one 
for  him  to  occupy. 

The  reasons  which  had  specially  operated  to  prevent  Mr. 
Jefferson  from  carrying  out  his  intention  to  retire  from  office  at 
the  close  of  the  first  presidential  term,  had  now  spent  their 
force,  and  he  in  the  following  letter  tendered  his  resignation, 
to  take  effect  in  two  months  : 


CHAP    IV.]  JEFFERSON    OFFERS    HIS    RESIGNATION.  175 


To  THE  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  81, 1793. 
DEAR  SIR: 

When  you  did  me  the  honor  of  appointing  me  to  the  office  I  now  hold,  1 
engaged  in  it  without  a  view  of  continuing  any  length  of  time,  and  I  pretty  early 
concluded  on  the  close  of  the  first  four  years  of  our  Republic  as  a  proper  period  for 
withdrawing ;  which  I  had  the  honor  of  communicating  to  you.  When  the  period, 
however,  arrived,  circumstances  had  arisen,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  some  of  my 
friends,  rendered  it  proper  to  postpone  my  purpose  for  awhile.  These  circumstances 
have  now  ceased  in  such  a  degree  as  to  leave  me  free  to  think  again  of  a  day  on 
which  I  may  withdraw  without  its  exciting  disadvantageous  opinions  or  conjectures  of 
any  kind.  The  close  of  the  present  quarter  seems  to  be  a  convenient  period,  because 
the  quarterly  accounts  of  the  domestic  department  are  then  settled  of  course,  and 
by  that  time,  also,  I  may  hope  to  receive  from  abroad  the  materials  for  bringing  up 
the  foreign  account  to  the  end  of  its  third  year.  At  the  close,  therefore,  of  the 
ensuing  month  of  September,  I  shall  beg  leave  to  retire  to  scenes  of  greater  tran 
quillity,  from  those  which  I  am  every  day  more  and  more  convinced  that  neither  my 
talents,  tone  of  mind,  nor  time  of  life  fit  me.  I  have  thought  it  my  duty  to  men 
tion  the  matter  thus  early,  that  there  may  be  time  for  the  arrival  of  a  successor, 
from  any  part  of  the  Union  from  which  you  may  think  proper  to  call  one.  That 
you  may  find  one  more  able  to  lighten  the  burthen  of  your  labors,  I  most  sincerely 
wish ;  for  no  man  living  more  sincerely  wishes  that  your  -administration  could  be 
rendered  as  pleasant  to  yourself,  as  it  is  useful  and  necessary  to  our  country,  nor 
feels  for  you  a  more  rational  or  cordial  attachment  and  respect  than,  dear  sir,  your 
most  obedient,  and  most  humble  servant. 

The  Cabinet  met  by  appointment,  August  1st,  to  consider 
what  course  should  be  pursued  towards  Genet,  whose  insolence 
had  reached  a  pitch  which  rendered  a  further  continuance  of 
diplomatic  intercourse  with  him  improper,  except  provisionally 
until  he  could  have  a  successor  appointed.  The  Cabinet  were 
unanimous  that  the  French  Government  should  be  requested  to 
recall  him.  Jefferson  was  for  "  expressing  that  desire  with 
great  delicacy  ;  the  others  were  for  peremptory  terms."  ]  Knox 
proposed  to  "  send  him  off,"  without  waiting  to  communicate 
with  his  Government — but  this  was  rejected  by  all  the  rest. 
The  entire  Cabinet,  including  the  President,  were  for  informing 
Genet  that  his  recall  had  been  asked,  except  Jefferson,  who 
thought  "it  would  render  him  extremely  active  in  his  plans,  and 
endanger  confusion."  The  next  question  discussed  was  whether 
"  a  publication  of  the  whole  correspondence  and  statement  of 
the  proceedings  should  be  made  by  way  of  appeal  to  the  people." 
Hamilton  took  the  affirmative,  and,  says  Jefferson,  "  made  a 

1  We  follow  Jefferson's  statements,  found  in  his  Ana. 


176  CABINET   DISCUSSIONS.  [CHAP.  IV. 

jury  speech  of  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  as  inflammatory  and 
declamatory  as  if  he  had  been  speaking  to  a  jury."  Randolph 
opposed  it,  and  Jefferson  "  chose  to  leave  the  contest  be 
tween  them."  The  meeting  was  then  adjourned  to  the  next 
day. 

The  next  day,  Hamilton  again  spoke  three  quarters  of  an 
hour.  Jefferson  replied,  and  the  heads  of  his  argument  are  given 
in  his  Ana.  The  President  favored  the  appeal.  Jefferson 
states  that  Knox,  "  in  a  foolish  and  incoherent  speech,"  intro 
duced  a  lately  published  pasquinade,  called  "the  funeral  of 

George  W n,   and   James  W n,  King  and  Judge,    etc., 

where  the  President  was  placed  on  a  guillotine;" — and  that 
thereupon  the  President  "  got  into  one  of  those  passions  when  he 
could  not  command  himself," — used  some  strong  language  in 
regard  to  the  abuse  he  received — declared  warmly  that  he 
had  rather  be  in  his  grave  than  in  his  present  situation — men 
tioned  that  "that  rascal  Freneau  "  sent  him  three  of  his  papers 
daily,  and  that  he  could  see  in  it  nothing  but  "  an  impudent 
design  to  insult  him,"  etc. — but  he  ended  by  saying  there  was 
no  necessity  for  deciding  in  regard  to  the  appeal  now,  and  that 
it  could  be  left  to  events.  It  was  not  made. 

The  Cabinet  again  met  August  3d.  Further  rules  for 
maintaining  neutrality  between  the  belligerents  were  unanim 
ously  adopted,  and  the  question  of  immediately  convening 
Congress  was  made  a  topic  of  discussion.  Knox  and  Randolph 
at  once  pronounced  against  it.  Hamilton  said  his  judgment 
was  against  it,  but  he  would  join  any  two  to  make  a  majority. 
Jefferson  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  it ;  and  it  appears  that  he 
did  not  give  Hamilton  credit  for  so  much  indifference  as  he 
affected.  He  says  :  "  Knox  said  we' should  have  had  fine  work 
if  Congress  had  been  sitting  these  last  two  months.  The  fool 
thus  let  out  the  secret.  Hamilton  endeavored  to  patch  up  the 
indiscretion  of  this  blabber,  by  saying,  '  he  did  not  know ;  he 
rather  thought  they  would  have  strengthened-  the  Executive 
arm.' "  The  President  agreed  in  opinion  with  Jefferson,  but 
acquiesced  with  the  majority. 

,  A  personal  interview  took  place  at  this  period  between  the 
President  and  Secretary  of  State,  in  regard  to  the  retirement 
of  the  latter,  the  particulars  of  which  justice  to  both  requires 
should  be  fully  described.  We  copy  from  the  Ana : 


CHAP.  IV.          PRESIDENT    URGES    JEFFERSON    TO    REMAIN.  1  <  i 

"  August  the  Qth,  1793. — The  President  calls  on  me  at  my  house  In  the  country, 
and  introduces  my  letter  of  July  the  31st,  announcing  that  I  should  resign  at  the 
close  of  the  next  month.  He  again  expressed  his  repentance  at  not  having  resigned 
himself,  and  how  much  it  was  increased  by  seeing  that  he  was  to  be  deserted  by  those 
on  whose  aid  he  had  counted :  that  he  did  not  know  where  he  should  look  to  find 
characters  to  fill  up  the  offices;  that  mere  talents  did  not  suffice  for  the  department 
of  State,  but  it  required  a  person  conversant  in  foreign  affairs,  perhaps  acquainted 
with  foreign  courts  ;  that  without  this,  the  best  talents  would  be  awkward  and  at  a 
loss.  He  told  me  that  Colonel  Hamilton  had,  three  or  four  weeks  ago,  written  to 
him,  informing  him  that  private  as  well  as  public  reasons  had  brought  him  to  the 
determination  to  retire,  and  that  he  should  do  it  towards  the  close  of  the  next 
session.  He  said  he  had  often  before  intimated  dispositions  to  resign,  but  never  as 
decisively  before ;  that  he  supposed  he  had  fixed  on  the  latter  part  of  next 
session,  to  give  an  opportunity  to  Congress  to  examine  into  his  conduct:  that  our 
going  out  at  times  so  different,  increased  his  difficulty ;  for  if  he  had  both  places  to 
fill  at  once,  he  might  consult  both  the  particular  talents  and  geographical  situation 
of  our  successors.  He  expressed  great  apprehensions  at  the  fermentation  which 
seemed  to  be  working  in  the  mind  of  the  public ;  that  many  descriptions  of  persons, 
actuated  by  different  causes,  appeared  to  be  uniting ;  what  it  would  end  in  he  knew 
not ;  a  new  Congress  was  to  assemble,  more  numerous,  perhaps  of  a  different  spirit  • 
the  first  expressions  of  their  sentiments  would  be  important ;  if  I  would  only  stay 
to  the  end  of  that,  it  would  relieve  him  considerably. 

"  I  expressed  to  him  my  excessive  repugnance  to  public  life,  the  particular 
uneasiness  of  my  situation  in  this  place,  where  the  laws  of  society  oblige  me  always 
to  move  exactly  in  the  circle  which  I  know  to  bear  me  peculiar  hatred ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  wealthy  aristocrats,  the  merchants  connected  closely  with  England,  the 
new  created  paper  fortunes ;  that  thus  surrounded,  my  words  were  caught,  multi 
plied,  misconstrued,  and  even  fabricated  and  spread  abroad  to  my  injury;  that  he 
saw,  also,  that  there  was  such  an  opposition  of  views  between  myself  and  another 
part  of  the  administration,  as  to  render  it  peculiarly  unpleasing,  and  to  destroy  the 
necessary  harmony.  Without  knowing  the  views  of  what  is  called  the  Republican 
party  here,  or  having  any  communication  with  them,  I  could  undertake  to  assure 
him,  from  my  intimacy  with  that  party  in  the  late  Congress,  that  there  was  not  a 
view  in  the  Republican  party  as  spread  over  the  United  States,  which  went  to  the 
frame  of  the  Government;  that  I  believed  the  next  Congress  would  attempt 
nothing  material,  but  to  render  their  own  body  independent ;  that  that  party  wero 
firm  i-n  their  dispositions  to  support  the  Government ;  that  the  manoeuvres  of  Mr. 
Genet  might  produce  some  little  embarrassment,  but  that  he  would  be  abandoned 
by  the  Republicans  the  moment  they  knew  the  nature  of  his  conduct ;  and,  on  the 
whole,  no  crisis  existed  which  threatened  anything. 

"  He  said  he  believed  the  views  of  the  Republican  party  were  perfectly  pure, 
but  when  men  put  a  machine  into  motion,  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  stop  it 
exactly  where  they  would  choose,  or  to  say  where  it  will  stop.  That  the  Constitu 
tion  we  have  is  an  excellent  one,  if  we  can  keep  it  where  it  is;  that  it  was,  indeed, 
supposed  there  was  a  party  disposed  to  change  it  into  a  monarchical  form,  but  that 
he  could  conscientiously  declare  there  was  not  a  man  in  the  United  States  who 
would  set  his  face  more  decidedly  against  it  than  himself.  Here  I  interrupted  him, 
by  saying,  4  No  rational  man  in  the  United  States  suspects  you  of  any  other  dispo 
sition  ;  but  there  does  not  pass  a  week,  in  which  we  cannot  prove  declarations 
dropping  from  the  monarchical  party  that  our  government  is  good  for  nothing,  is  .1 

VOL   II  —  12 


178  PRESIDENT   URGES    JEFFERSON   TO    REMAIN.        [CHAP.  IV 

milk  and  water  thing  which  cannot  support  itself,  we  must  knock  it  down,  and  set 
up  something  of  more  energy.'  He  said  if  that  was  the  case,  he  thought  it  a  proof 
of  their  insanity,  for  that  the  Republican  spirit  of  the  Union  was  so  manifest  and 
so  solid,  that  it  was  astonishing  how  any  one  could  expect  to  move  it. 

"He  returned  to  the  difficulty  of  naming  my  successor;  he  said  Mr.  Madison 
would  be  his  first  choi  ~e,  but  that  he  had  always  expressed  to  him  such  a  decision 
against  public  office,  I  lat  he  could  not  expect  he  would  undertake  it.  Mr.  Jay 
would  prefer  his  presen  office.  He  said  that  Mr.  Jay  had  a  great  opinion  of  the 
talents  of  Mr.  King;  that  there  was  also  Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina,  and  E. 
Kutledge  ;  but  he  observe  d,  that  name  whom  he  would,  some  objections  would  be 
made,  some  would  be  called  speculators,  some  one  thing,  some  another ;  and  he 
asked  me  to  mention  any  characters  occurring  to  me.  I  asked  him  if  Governor 
Johnson  of  Maryland  had  occurred  to  him.  He  said  he  had;  that  he  was  a  man  of 
great  good  sense,  an  honest  man,  and  he  believed  clear  of  speculations;  but  this, 
says  he,  is  an  instance  of  what  I  was  observing;  with  all  these  qualifications, 
Governor  Johnson,  from  a  want  of  familiarity  with  foreign  affairs,  would  be  in  them 
like  a  fish  out  of  water;  everything  would  be  new  to  him,  and  he  awkward  in 
everything.  I  confessed  to  him  that  I  had  considered  Johnson  rather  as  fit  for 
the  Treasury  Department.  Yes,  says  he,  for  that  he  would  be  the  fittest  appoint 
ment  that  couM  be  made ;  he  is  a  man  acquainted  with  figures,  and  having  as  good 
a  knowledge  of  the  resources  of  this  country  as  any  man.  I  asked  him  if  Than 
cellor  Livingston  had  occurred  to  him.  He  said  yes ;  but  he  was  from  New  York 
and  to  appoint  him  while  Hamilton  was  in,  and  before  it  should  be  known  he  was 
going  out,  would  excite  a  newspaper  conflagration,  as  the  ultimate  arrangement 
would  not  be  known.  Ho  said  McLurg  had  occurred  to  him  as  a  man  of  fir^t  rate 
abilities,  but  it  is  said  that  he  is  a  speculator.  He  asked  me  what  sort  of  a  man 
Wolcott  was.  I  told  him  I  knew  nothing  of  him  myself;  I  had  heard  him  charac 
terized  as  a  cunning  man.  1  asked  him  whether  some  person  could  not  take  my 
office  per  interim,  till  he  should  make  an  appointment ;  as  Mr.  Randolph,  for 
instance.  Yes,  says  he,  but  there  you  would  raise  the  expectation  of  keeping  it, 
and  I  do  not  know  that  he  is  fit  for  it,  nor  what  is  thought  of  Mr.  Randolph.  I 
avoided  noticing  the  last  observation,  and  he  put  the  question  to  me  directly.  I 
then  told  him,  I  went  into  society  so  little  as  to  be  unable  to  answer  it ;  I  knew 
that  the  embarrassments  in  his  private  aifairs  had  obliged  him  to  use  expedients, 
which  had  injured  him  with  the  merchants  and  shopkeepers,  and  affected  his 
character  of  independence :  that  these  embarrassments  were  serious,  and  not  likely 
to  cease  soon.  He  said,  if  I  would  only  stay  in  till  the  end  of  another  quarter 
(the  last  of  December),  it  would  get  us  through  the  difficulties  of  this  year,  and  he 
was  satisfied  that  the  affairs  of  Europe  would  be  settled  with  this  campaign  ;  for 
that  either  France  would  be  overwhelmed  by  it,  or  the  confederacy  would  give  up 
the  contest.  By  that  time,  too,  Congress  will  have  manifested  its  character  and 
views.  I  told  him  that  I  had  set  my  private  affairs  in  motion  in  a  line  which  had 
powerfully  called  for  my  presence  the  last  spring,  and  that  they  had  suffered 
immensely  from  my  not  going  home;  that  I  had  now  calculated  them  to  my  reiurn 
in  the  fall,  and  to  fail  in  going  then,  would  be  the  loss  of  another  year,  and  preju 
dicial  beyond  measure.  I  asked  him  whether  he  could  not  name  Governor 
Johnson  to  my  office,  under  an  express  arrangement  that  at  the  close  of  the 
session  he  should  take  that  of  the  Treasury.  He  said  that  men  never  chose  to 
descend  ;  that  being  once  in  a  higher  department,  he  would  not  like  to  go  into  a 
lower  one.  He  asked  me  whether  I  could  not  arrange  my  affairs  by  g<v**g  home 


CHAP.  IV.]          HE  RELUCTANTLY  CONSENTS.  170 

I  told  him  I  did  not  think  the  public  business  would  admit  of  it;  that  there  never 
was  a  day  now,  in  which  the  absence  of  the  Secretary  of  State  would  not  be  incon 
venient  to  the  public.  And  he  concluded  by  desiring  that  1  would  take  two  or 
three  days  to  consider  whether  I  could  not  stay  in  till  the  end  of  another  quarter, 
for  that,  like  a  man  going  to  the  gallows,  he  was  willing  to  put  it  off  as  long  as  he 
could ;  but  if  I  persisted,  he  must  then  look  about  him,  and  make  up  his  mind  to 
do  the  best  he  could  :  and  so  he  took  leave." 

The  earnest  solicitations  of  General  Washington  prevailed, 
where  those  of  Jefferson's  other  most  valued  friends  had  wholly 
failed.1 

After  taking  the  two  or  three  days  to  consider,  he  announced 
to  the  President  on  the  10th  the  conclusion  expressed  in  the  fol 
lowing  letter : 

1  Few  productions  in  our  language  convey  more  strikingly  than  the  following  letter, 
written  a  few  weeks  earlier,  that  loathing  of  office  which  a  man  loving  quiet  and  averse 
to  embittered  controversy,  is  brought  under  some  circumstances,  and  after  a  sufficient 
experience  in  suffering,  to  feel : 

To  James  Madison. 

"  June  9, 1793. 

"I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  two  favors  of  May  27th  and  29th,  since 
the  date  of  my  last,  which  was  of  the  2d  instant.  In  that  of  the  27th,  you  say  you  must 
not  make  your  tinal  exit  from  public  life  till  it  will  be  marked  with  justifying  circum 
stances  which  all  good  citizens  will  respect,  and  to  which  your  friends  can  appeal.  To 
my  fellow-citizens  the  debt  of  service  has  been  fully  and  faithfully  paid.  I  acknowledge 
that  such  a  debt  exists,  that  a  tour  of  duty,  in  whatever  line  he  can  be  most  useful  to  his 
country,  is  due  from  every  individual.  It  is  not  easy,  perhaps,  to  say  of  what  length 
exactly  this  tour  should  be,  but  we  may  safely  say  of  what  length  it  should  not  be.  Not 
of  our  whole  life,  for  instance,  for  that  would  be  to  be  born  a  slave — not  even  of  a  very 
large  portion  of  it.  I  have  now  been  in  the  public  service  four  and  twenty  years  ;  one- 
half  of  which  has  been  spent  in  total  occupation  with  their  affairs,  and  absence  from  my 
own.  I  have  served  my  tour  then.  No  positive  engagement,  by  word  or  deed,  binds  me 
to  their  further  service.  No  commitment  of  their  interests  in  any  enterprise  by  me 
requires  that  I  should  see  them  through  it.  I  am  pledged  by  no  act  which  gives  any  tri 
bunal  a  call  upon  me  before  I  withdraw.  Even  my  enemies  do  not  pretend  this.  I  stand 
clear,  then,  of  public  right  on  all  points — my  friends  I  have  not  committed.  No  circum 
stances  have  attended  my  passage  from  office  to  office,  which  could  lead  them,  and 
others  through  them,  into  deception  as  to  the  time  I  might  remain,  and  particularly  they 
and  all  have  known  with  what  reluctance  I  eugaged  and  have  continued  in  the  pre 
sent  one,  and  of  my  uniform  determination  to  return  from  it  at  an  early  'day.  If  the  pub 
lic,  then,  has  no  claim  on  me,  and  my  friends  nothing  to  justify,  the  decision  will  rest  on 
my  own  feelings  alone.  There  has  been  a  time  when  these  were  very  different  from 
what  they  are  now ;  when  perhaps  the  esteem  of  the  world  was  of  higher  value  in  my 
eye  than  everything  in  it.  But  age,  experience  and  reflection  preserving  to  that  only  its 
due  value,  have  set  a  higher  on  tranquillity.  The  motion  of  my  blood  no  longer  keeps 
time  with  the  tumult  of  the  world.  It  leads  me  to  seek  for  happiness  in  the  lap  and  love 
of  my  family,  in  the  society  of  my  neighbors  and  my  books,  in  the  wholesome  occupa 
tions  of  my  farm  an.l  my  affairs,  in  an  interest  or  affection  in  every  bud  that  opens,  in 
every  breath  that  blows  around  me,  in  an  entire  freedom  of  rest,  of  motion,  of  thought, 
owing  account  to  myself  alone  of  my  hours  and  actions.  What  must  be  the  principle  of 
that  calculation  which  should  balance  against  these  the  circumstances  of  my  present 
existence — worn  down  with  labors  from  morning  to  night,  and  day  to  day :  knowing 
them  as  fruitless  to  others  as  they  are  vexatious  to  myself,  committed*^ singly  in  desperate 
and  eternal  contest  against  a  host  who  are  systematically  undermining  the  public  liberty 
and  prosperity,  even  the  rare  hours  of  relaxation  sacrificed  to  the  society  of  persons  in 
the  same  intentions,  of  whose  hatred  I  am  conscious  even  in  those  moments  of  convivi 
ality  when  the  heart  wishes  most  to  open  itself  to  +h"  effusions  of  friendship  and  confi 
dence,  cut  off  from  my  family  and  friends,  my  affairs  aoandoned  to  chaos  and  derange 
ment,  in  short,  giving  everything  I  love  in  exchange  for  everything  I  hate,  and  all  this? 
without  a  single  gratification  in  possession  or  prospect,  in  present  enjoyment  or  future 
wish.  Indeed,  my  dear  friend,  duty  being  out  of  the  question,  inclination  cuts  oil  aU 
argument,  and  so  never  let  there  be  more  between  you  and  me,  on  this  subject." 


180  THEIR  CORRESPONDENCE.  [CHAP.  IV 

To  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

August  11,  1798. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  with  his  respects  to  the  President,  begs  leave  to  express  in 
writing  more  exactly  what  he  meant  to  have  said  yesterday.  A  journey  home  in 
the  autumn  is  of  a  necessity  which  he  cannot  control  after  the  arrangements  he  has 
made,  and  when  there,  it  would  be  his  extreme  wish  to  remain.  But  if  the  continu 
ance  in  office  to  the  last  of  December,  as  intimated  by  the  President,  would,  by 
bringing  the  two  appointments  nearer  together,  enable  him  to  marshal  them  more 
beneficially  to  the  public,  and  more  to  his  own  satisfaction,  either  motive  will 
suffice  to  induce  Thomas  Jefferson  to  continue  till  that  time ;  he  submits  it,  there 
fore,  to  the  President's  judgment,  which  he  will  be  glad  to  receive  when  conve 
nient,  as  the  arrangements  he  had  taken  may  require  some  change. 

The  President  replied  as  follows  : 

To  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

PHILADELPHIA,  12  Aug.,  1798. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  clearly  understood  you  on  Saturday,  and  of  what  I  conceive  to  be  two 
evils  must  prefer  the  least,  that  is,  to  dispense  with  your  temporary  absence  1  in  the 
autumn,  in  order  to  retain  you  in  office  until  January,  rather  than  part  with  you 
altogether  at  the  close  of  September. 

It  would  be  an  ardent  wish  of  mine,  that  your  continuance  in  office,  even  at 
the  expense  of  some  sacrifice  of  inclination,  could  have  been  through  the  whole  of 
the  ensuing  session  of  Congress,  for  many,  very  many  weighty  reasons,  which 
present  themselves  to  my  mind  ;  one  of  which,  and  not  the  least,  is,  that  in  my 
judgment  the  affairs  of  this  country,  as  they  relate  to  foreign  powers,  Indian  dis 
turbances,  and  internal  policy,  will  have  taken  a  more  decisive,  ahd,  I  hope,  agree 
able  form  than  they  now  bear  before  that  time,  when,  perhaps,  other  public 
servants  might  also  indulge  in  retirement.  If  this  cannot  be,  my^next  wish  is,  that 
vour  absence  from  the  seat  of  Government  in  autumn  may  be  as  short  as  you 
•onveniently  can  make  it. 

With  much  esteem  and  regard,  I  am,  etc. 

Assuming,  what  it  is  presumed  no  one  will  question,  that  the 
President  expressed  himself  with  sincerity,  we  have  here  pre 
sented  in  a  pleasing  and  instructive  light,  in  how  small  a  degree 
some  settled  differences  of  opinion,  and  perhaps  even  momen 
tary  irritations,  were  capable  of  destroying  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  men  thus  masculinely  constituted,  and  thoroughly 
conscious  of  each  other's  worth  and  integrity. 

At  a  Cabinet  meeting  on  the  15th,  the  Secretary  of  State 
submitted  the  rough  draft  of  a  letter  prepared  by  him,  to  Mr. 
Morris,  to  ask  the  recall  of  Genet.  Its  consideration  was  de 
ferred  until  the  20th.  "  There  was,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his 

1  Presence? 


CHAJ>.  IV.]  PRESIDENT    VOTED    DOWN   BY    CABINET.  181 

Ana,  "  no  difference  of  opinion  on  any  part  of  it,  except  on  this 
expression,  i  An  attempt  to  embroil  both,  to  add  still  another 
nation  to  the  enemies  of  his  country,  and  to  draw  on  both  a 
reproach  which  it  is  hoped  will  never  stain  the  history  of 
either,  that  of  liberty  warring  on  herself?  Hamilton  moved  to 
strike  out  the  words,  '  that  of  liberty  warring  on  herself.' ': 
He  thought  it  would  give  offence  to  the  enemies  of  France  ; 
that  it  was  uncalled  for ;  and  he  was  not  for  encouraging  the 
idea  here  that  the  cause  of  France  was  the  cause  of  liberty. 
Knox  "jumped  plump  "  into  Hamilton's  opinions. 

"The  President,  with  a  good  deal  of  positiveness,  declared  in  favor  of  the 
expression ;  that  he  considered  the  pursuit  of  France  to  be  that  of  liberty,  however 
they  might  sometimes  fail  of  the  best  means  of  obtaining  it;  that  he  had  never,  at 
any  time,  entertained  a  doubt  of  their  ultimate  success,  if  they  hung  well  together; 
and  that  as  to  their  dissensions,  there  were  such  contradictory  accounts  given,  that 
no  one  could  tell  what  to  believe." 

Jefferson  defended  the  phrase  at  considerable  length.  Ran 
dolph  sided  with  Hamilton  and  Knox  ! 

"The  President  again  spoke.  He  came  into  the  idea  that  attention  was  due  to 
the  two  parties  who  had  been  mentioned,  France  and  the  United  States ;  that  as  to 
the  former,  thinking  it  certain  their  affairs  would  issue  in  a  government  of  some 
sort — of  considerable  freedom — it  was  the  onlv  nation  with  whom  our  relations 
could  be  counted  on ;  that  as  to  the  United  States,  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  their 
universal  attachment  to  the  cause  of  France,  and  of  the  solidity  of  their  republi 
canism.  He  declared  his  strong  attachment  to  the  expression,. but  finally  left  it  to 
us  to  accommodate." 

The  words  were  stricken  out,  and  thus  the  President  was 
voted  down  ! 

It  would  seem  from  a  draft,  or  rather  notes  for  a  draft,  of 
the  proposed  letter  to  Morris,  on  this  occasion,  published  in 
Hamilton's  Works,1  as  drawn  up  by  him,  that  the  Secretaiy  of 
the  Treasury  was  not  unwilling  to  render  his  assistance  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  in  the  preparation  of  foreign  correspondence 
— or  else,  that  counting  upon  the  adhesion  of  the  fluctuating 
Randolph,  he  anticipated  voting  down  Jefferson's  draft  and 
substituting  one  of  his  own.  But  the  latter  does  not  mentiou  this 
paper,  and  therefore  we  are  left  to  conclude  it  was  not  pre- 
riented. 

1  Vol.  v.  p.  469. 


182  THE    LETTER    ASKING    GENETS    RECALL.  [CHAP.  IV 

Mr.  Jefferson's  letter,  asking  the  recall  of  Genet,  has  been 
much  and  justly  celebrated.1  In  the  exhibition  of  that  firm  but 
conciliatory  spirit  which  the  rights  and  dignity  of  the  United 
States  demanded  on  one  side,  and  the  memory  of  the  former 
favors  and  the  acknowledgment  of  the  continued  friendship  of 
France,  on  the  other,  this  paper  was  a  master-piece  of  successful 
composition,  though  it  lacks  the  sonorous  roll  of  the  Spanish  dis 
patches  in  June,  and  of  many  of  its  author's  previous  produc 
tions.  Law  and  logic,  well  and  keenly  put,  were  necessary  in 
this  case  to  prove  to  a  friend  that  our  Government  had  acted 
equitably  and  liberally  towards  it  on  a  variety  of  nicely  balanced 
legal  and  practical  questions.  The  Spanish  dispatches  were  rather 
akin  to  a  message  sent,  after  argument  was  exhausted — akin  to 
the  solemn  annunciation  of  the  ancient  herald  offering  the  alter 
natives  of  peace  or  war  to  a  national  aggressor. 

With  the  better  knowledge  now  possessed  of  the  subsequent 
phases  of  the  French  Revolution,  none  will  complain  of  the 
amendment  in  the  letter  to  Morris,  carried  against  the  opinions 
of  Jefferson  and  the  President.  But  the  views  of  the  latter 
pointed  to  their  wishes,  and  indicated  their  confidence  in  man 
kind.  It  is  not  claimed  that  General  Washington  carried  that 
confidence  to  the  extent  that  Mr.  Jefferson  did — and  he  ob 
viously,  at  this  period,  distrusted  the  French  Revolution;  but  he 
never  set  his  face  against  every  change  or  hope  for  political 
amelioration,  because  liberty  instead  of  despotism  was  the  prin 
ciple  carried  to  excess — and,  at  all  events,  he  saw  no  reason 
why  an  American  Republic  should  be  hot  to  join  a  crusade 
of  tyrants  against  a  friendly  European  one.  Jefferson,  in 
opposition  to  his  earlier  judgment,  but  with  his  usual  sanguine- 
ness  of  faith  in  humanity,  hoped  on  for  the  French  Revolution. 
Those  in  the  Cabinet  who  saw  in  democracy  anywhere  only  a 
Hind  and  deformed  monster?  hoped  nothing  from  that  revolu 
tion.  Both  parties  proved  in  the  wrong.  The  democratic  principle 
was  not  sustained  in  that  country.  But  we  take  it,  no  reflecting 
and  well-read  man  will  now  deny  that  the  French  Revolution, 
with  all  its  horrors,  led  to  the  most  decided  political  and  social 
meliorations.  The  most  absolute  form  of  government  to  which 

1  Judge  Marshall  styles  it  an  "  able  diplomatic  performance"  (vol.  ii.  p.  277),  though 
he  does  not  specially  name  the  authorship. 

2  See  Hamilton  to  King,  quoted  vol.  i.  p.  579. 


CHAP.  IV.]  A.   FEATURE    OF    THE    ANA.  183 

France  has  since  submitted,  or  to  which  it  can  ever  be  again 
made  to  submit,  is  freedom  and  happiness  co;npared  with  me 
legal,  the  physical,  and  the  moral  degradation  inflicted  on  it 
during  the  reigns  of  the  two  immediate  predecessors  of  the  un 
fortunate  Louis  XVI.,  and  thence  back  through  ages. 

One  feature  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Ana,  we  are  here  reminded 
to  commend  to  special  attention.  All  who  have  read  them  have 
seen  that  a  few  suppressions  of  passages  of  no  particular  import 
ance  to  him,  would  have  left  quietly  in  their  quivers  half  the 
arrows  that  have  since  hurtled  against  him.  And  but  for 
these  records,  half  of  those  opinions  or  hopes  of  his  in  regard  to 
France  which  have  proved  to  be  mistakes,  and  which  are,  there 
fore,  regarded  in  some  quarters  as  being  so  very  extreme — 
would  never  have  been  publicly  known.  When  the  "  cairn 
revisal  "  took  place,  they  were  suffered  to  stand  as  part  of  the 
history  of  the  events  in  which  he  had  been  an  actor.  His 
defeats  in  the  Cabinet  are  narrated  as  particularly  as  his  vic 
tories — his  differences  with  his  chief  as  his  agreements.  He 
never  records  the  latter  in  light  of  victories  ;  he  never  so  far 
abnegates  his  manhood  as  to  speak  of  the  former  as  if  a  differ 
ence  of  opinion  with  any  human  being  demanded  an  apology. 

Pending  the  deliberations  on  the  subject  of  requiring  his 
recall,  Genet  had  proceeded  to  New  York,  where  he  was  re 
ceived  with  the  same  enthusiasm  which  had  marked  his  earlier 
triumphal  progress  in  the  South.  He  had  been  preceded  by  a 
report,  says  Judge  Marshall,  "  whispered  in  private  circles," 
that  he  had  avowed  a  determination  "  to  appeal  from  the  Presi 
dent  to  the  people."  Chief  Justice  Jay  and  Senator  Rufus 
King  were  questioned  as  to  the  truth  of  this,  and  having  learned 
the  facts  from  Hamilton  and  Knox,  they  answered  accordingly. 

Thev  were  then  called  upon   to  affirm  or  deny  the  fact  in  the 

./  i       ^  •/ 

newspapers  ;  and  they  published  a  certificate  of  its  accuracy. 
This  was  probably  concerted  for  political  effect,  and  so  fur  as 
Genet  was  concerned,  was  certainly  not  unmerited;  but  the 
etiquette  or  the  dignity  of  persons  occupying  their  official  posi 
tions,  and  deriving  their  information  from  such  sources,  turning 
public  certificate  makers  in  the  newspapers  in  regard  to  the 
angry  expressions  of  the  Minister  of  a  friendly  foreign  power — 
expressions  not  made  in  their  hearing,  or  directly  to  the  Presi 
dent,  or  in  a  miscellaneous  crowd,  or  yet  carried  into  effect — 


18J:  CERTIFICATE   MAKING.  [CHAP.  IV, 

may  well  be  questioned.  And  had  Genet  been  an  adroit  man, 
they  would  have  probably  had  the  tables  effectually  turned  upon 
them,  and  upon  the  political  design  they  had  in  view.  Few 
love  to  see  a  frank,  hasty,  friendly  man,  goaded  into  passion, 


All  his  faults  observ'd 


Set  111  a  note-book,  learn' d,  and  conn'd  by  rote, 
To  cast  into  his  teeth  " 

and  when  made  in  private,  to  cast  into  his  teeth  in  public  ! 
These  were  not,  certainly,  the  precise  facts  in  this  case.  Dallas 
had  no  such  thought.  The  President  had  no  such  thought.  But 
the  public  feeling  was  in  favor  of  Genet,  and  against  the  indi 
viduals  who  acted  as  informers.  It  was  also  against  those  mem 
bers  of  the  President's  Cabinet,  who  had  signalized  their  dislike 
to  the  Minister  and  his  country  from  the  day  of  his  arrival  in 
the  United  States ;  and  who  were  believed  to  be  strenuously 
exerting  themselves  to  break  up  all  friendly  alliance  with  that 
country.  Even  after  the  ill-judged  publication  of  Genet,  soon 
to  be  noticed,  the  scale  of  public  feeling  hung  for  a  period 
balanced.  So  far  as  Messrs.  Jay  and  King  were  concerned, 
they  were  apparently  more  blamed  than  the  French  Minister. 
It  was  only  the  deep  and  merited  veneration  of  the  people  for 
the  President,  that  gave  the  object  of  the  publication  its  full 
accomplishment.  Had  Genet  published  a  modest  card,  admit 
ting  some  warmth  ;  disavowing  any  intended  expressions  of  dis 
respect;  lamenting  that  any  misunderstood  words  of  his1  had, 
without  his  being  afforded  an  opportunity  of  explanation  or 
denial,  been  thrust  into  the  newspapers;  placing  his  public  ex 
planation  solely  on  the  ground  that  it  was  due  from  the  repre 
sentative  of  a  friendly  Republic  to  the  President  and  the  Ameri 
can  people  ;  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  the  means  resorted  to 
turn  public  feeling  against  him  would  have  recoiled  with  infi 
nitely  greater  effect  on  the  contrivers. 

But  it  was  always  safe  to  calculate  on  the  want  of  a  grain  of 
good  sense  in  the  infatuated  Minister — to  calculate  that  provo 
cation  to  action  was  only  sure  to  call  forth  a  new  explosion  of 
folly.  Accordingly,  on  the  13th  of  August,  he  directly  and  in 

»  H*  did  deny  the  threat  imputed  to  him;  and  Mr.  Dallas  "did  not  admit  that  tLt 
precise  words  had  been  used." 


CHAP,  iv.]  GENET'S  APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE.  185 

high  tones  addressed  the  President  himself,  repeating  his  former 
complaints  of  the  Executive  action,  and  demanding  an  explicit 
declaration  that  he  had  never  intimated  to  him  an  intention  to 
appeal  to  the  people.  The  Secretary  of  State  answered  this 
letter  on  the  16th,  informing  the  French  Minister  that  all  com 
munications  to  the  Executive  must  be  made  through  the  usual 
channel;  and  that  the  President  "did  not  conceive  it  to  be 
within  the  line  of  propriety  or  duty,  for  him  to  bear  evidence 
against  a  declaration  which,  whether  made  to  him  or  others,  was 
perhaps  immaterial ;"  *  and  "  he  therefore  declined  answering  in 
the  case." 

Genet  published  his  letter  and  the  Secretary's  reply  byway  of 
answer  to  the  publication  of  the  Chief  Justice  and  Senator  King. 
But  in  so  doing,  he  unquestionably,  to  some  degree,  made  that 
very  appeal  to  the  people  which  he  was  accused  of  threatening : 

Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison,  August  25th : 

SIR: 

You  will  perceive  by  the  inclosed  papers  that  Genet  has  thrown  down  the 
gauntlet  to  the  President  by  the  publication  of  his  letter  and  my  answer,  and  is 
himself  forcing  that  appeal  to  the  people,  and  risking  that  disgust  which  I  had  so 
much  wished  should  have  been  avoided.  The  indications  from  different  parts  of 
the  continent  are  already  sufficient  to  show  that  the  mass  of  the  Republican  interest 
has  no  hesitation  to  disapprove  of  this  intermeddling  by  a  foreigner,  and  the  more 
readily  as  his  object  was  evidently,  contrary  to  his  professions,  to  force  us  into  the 
war.  I  am  not  certain  whether  some  of  the  more  furious  Republicans  may  not 
schismatize  with  him. 

And  to  the  same,  September  1st : 

"  The  disapprobation  of  the  agent  mingles  with  the  reprehension  of  his  nation, 
and  gives  a  toleration  to  that  which  it  never  had  before.  He  has  still  some 
defenders  in  Freneau  and  Greenlief  s  paper,  and  who  they  are  I  know  not :  for 
even  Hutcheson  and  Dallas  give  him  up. 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

"  Hutcheson  says  that  Genet  has  totally  overturned  the  Republican  interest  in 
Philadelphia.  However,  the  people  going  right  themselves,  if  they  always  see  their 
Republican  advocates  with  them,  an  accidental  meeting  with  the  Monocrats  will  not 
be  a  coalescence.  You  will  see  much  said,  and  again  said,  about  G.'s  threat  to 
appeal  to  the  people.  I  can  assure  you  it  is  a  fact." 

The  particular  manner  of  alluding  here  to  Freneau's  paper 
—in  a  private  letter  to  Mr.  Madison — is  significant  of  the 

J  Did  the  Secretary  here  mean  that  the  declaration  was  immaterial,  as  this  sentence 
would  imply;  or  that  if  such  a  declaration  was  made,  it  was  immaterial  whether  it  waa 
made  to  the  President  personally  or  to  others?  The  last,  we  think,  is  the  popularly 
received  construction — but  we  question  if  this  was  the  intended  meaning  of  the  writer. 


CABINET    QUESTIONS.  [CHAP.  IV. 

degree  of  influence  which  Mr.  Jefferson  exercised  over  the  man 
agement  of  that  paper,  and  also  how  far  it  even  attempted  to 
make  itself  his  particular  organ. 

In  the  same  letter  is  mentioned  the  appearance  of  a  scourge 
in  Philadelphia  (it  proved  to  be  the  yellow  fever),  which  was 
destined  to  commit  fearful  ravages  before  its  departure : 

"  A  malignant  fever  has  been  generated  in  the  filth  of  Water  street,  which  gives 
great  alarm.  About  seventy  people  had  died  of  it  two  days  ago,  and  as  many  more 
were  ill  of  it.  It  has  now  got  into  most  parts  of  the  city,  and  is  considerably  infec 
tious.  At  first  three  out  of  four  died,  now  about  one  out  of  three.  It  comes  on 
wiih  a  pain  in  the  head,  sick  stomach,  then  a  little  chill,  fever,  black  vomiting  and 
Stools,  and  death  from  the  second  to  the  eighth  day.  Everybody  who  can,  is  flying 
from  the  city,  and  the  panic  of  the  country  people  is  likely  to  add  famine  to  disease. 
Though  becoming  less  mortal,  it  is  still  spreading,  and  the  heat  of  the  weather  is 
very  unpropitious.  I  have  withdrawn  rny  daughter  from  the  city,  but  am  obliged 
to  go  to  it  every  day  myself." 

On  the  31st  of  August  the  Cabinet  assembled  to  consider 
some  very  grave  questions.  Information  had  been  received 
that  a  French  prize,  arrested  by  the  proper  legal  process,  at 
Boston,  had  been  rescued  by  an  armed  force  from  a  French 
vessel  of  war,  acting  under  the  orders  of  Du  Plaine,  the  French 
Consul  at  that  city. 

A  letter  from  Mr.  Maury,  the  United  States  Consul  at  Liver 
pool,  contained  a  copy  of  orders  in  council,  by  the  British  Gov 
ernment,  dated  June  8th,  for  the  stoppage  of  all  neutral  vessels, 
laden  with  corn,  flour,  or  meal,  bound  for  French  ports;  and 
they  were  to  be  sent  into  British  ports,  and  not  be  allowed  to 
proceed  to  those  of  other  countries,  not  in  amity  with  Great 
Britain. 

The  newspapers  had  also  brought  information  that  the  Gov 
ernment  of  France  had  ordered  all  neutral  vessels  loaded  with 
provisions  to  other  countries,  to  be  carried  into  France,  and 
their  cargoes  taken  on  paying  for  them.  But  the  same  author 
ity  stated  that  a  special  exception  had  been  subsequently  made, 
in  favor  of  American  vessels. 

Lastly,  a  letter  from  the  Governor  of  Georgia  contained 
information  that  his  State  was  about  to  send  a  force  against  the 
Creeks,  to  administer  that  chastisement  which  had  so  long  been 
delayed  by  the  general  Government. 

The  Cabinet  agreed,  unanimously,  that  a  prosecution  should 


CHAP.  IV.]  REMARKABLE    CABINET    OPINION.  187 

be  instituted  against  Du'  Plaine,  and  if  it  appeared  the  rescue 
was  by  his  order,  that  his  exequatur  be  revoked :  that  Mr. 
Pinckney  "  be  provisionally  instructed  to  make  representations 
to  the  British  Ministry  on  the  said  instruction  [the  orders  in 
council]  as  contrary  to  the  rights  of  neutral  nations,  and  to  urge 
a  revocation  of  the  same,  and  full  indemnification  to  any  indivi 
duals,  citizens  of  these  States,  who  may,  in  the  meantime,  suffer 
loss  in  consequence  of  the  said  instruction,"  etc. :  that  u  Mr. 
Morris  be  provisionally  instructed,  in  case  the  first  mentioned 
decrees  [of  the  French  Government]  have  passed,  and  not  the 
exceptions,  to  make  representations  thereon  to  the  French  Gov 
ernment  as  contrary  to  the  treaty  existing  between  the  two 
countries,  and  the  decree  relative  to  provisions,  contrary  also  to 
the  law  of  nations ;  and  to  require  a  revocation  thereof,  and  full 
indemnity  to  any  citizens  of  these  States  who  may,  in  the  mean 
time,  have  suffered  loss  therefrom,  and  also  in  case  the  said 
decrees  and  the  exceptions  were  both  passed,  that  then  a  like 
indemnification  be  made  for  losses  intervening  between  the 
dates  of  the  said  decrees  and  exceptions :"  and  that  the  Governor 
of  Georgia  be  informed  that  the  President  wholly  disapproved 
of  his  step,  and  "expected  it  would  not  be  proceeded  in." 

The  above  paper  was  drafted  by  Hamilton.1  When  the 
affairs  of  the  preceding  three  months  are  taken  into  considera 
tion — when  it  is  understood  that  it  was  now  distinctly  ascer 
tained  that  while  our  course  had,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  been  so 
preeminently  liberal  towards  Great  Britain,3  her  Government, 
without  relaxing  a  particle  from  her  previous  injurious  and 
menacing  attitude,  had  issued  orders  tantamount  to  the  utter 
destruction  of  our  neutral  commerce — when  France,  to  avert 
the  famine,  thus  sought  to  be  brought  upon  her,  had  also 
resorted  to  illegal  retaliatory  measures,  but  remembering  her 
ancient  friendship,  had  excepted  the  United  States — when,  we 
say,  on  the  heel  of  such  news,  the  Cabinet  put  their  signatures 
to  an  "  opinion,"  thus  worded,  it  presents  a  curious,  and,  we 
confess,  mortifying  spectacle  of  apparent  partiality  or  pusilla 
nimity.  And  it  must  have  been  with  pain  that  the  President, 
with  his  high  sense  of  national  dignity,  gave  his  acquiescence  to 

1  See  his  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  471. 

a  So  liberal  as  to  extort  the  warm  approbation  of  Lord  Grenville,  as  we  shall  present!  j 


188  DU  PLAINE' s  OUTRAGE.  [CHAP,  iv, 

this  unanimous  act  of  a  body,  to  a  bare  majority  of  whom  it  was 
his  custom  to  defer. 

^  We  should  consider  Jefferson's  manhood  impeached  by  his 
acquiescence  in  even  a  private  Cabinet  decision  that  England 
should  be  provisionally  "  urged  "  to  revoke  an  officially  an 
nounced  sweeping  edict  against  our  commerce,  "  as  contrary  to 
the  rights  of  neutral  powers,"  while  France,  if  she  had  made  a  cer 
tain  reported  edict,  and  not  made  an  equally  well  reported  excep 
tion,  was  to  be  "  required  "  to  revoke  it  as  contrary  to  "  treaty  " 
and  the  "  law  of  nations,"  did  we  not  keep  in  view  that  he  was 
now  in  a  settled  minority  in  the  Cabinet  on  this  class  of  ques 
tions,  that  the  Du  Plaine  affair  had  provoked  a  tempest  of 
excitement  among  his  colleagues,  and  that  every  word  he  uttered 
which  could  be  tortured  into  any  support  of  France,  was  liable 
to  the  most  gross  misconstruction  and  misrepresentation.  We 
much  wish,  however,  that  we  could  record,  that  braving  these 
things  from  any  and  every  quarter,  he  had  voted  against  the 
resolution  thus  worded. 

Du  Plaine's  outrage  had  justified  a  storm  of  indignation.  The 
Secretary  of  State  was  summary  enough  with  him  !  He  wrote 
the  United  States  District  Attorney  at  Boston,  that  Du  Plaine 
was  "  not  a  diplomatic  character,  and  had  no  immunity  what 
ever  against  the  laws" — that  he  was  subject  to  "even  capital" 
punishment.  He  ordered  him,  if  arrested,  to  be  so  arrested, 
"  as  to  leave  room  neither  for  escape  nor  rescue." 

In  regard  to  the  tone  of  the  communication  to  Governor 
Tel  fair,  of  Georgia,  there  was  a  difference  in  the  Cabinet,  cor 
responding  with  the  feelings  of  its  members  towards  the  State 
Governments.2  Jefferson  was  in  favor  of  a  "  temperate  and 
conciliatory  "  communication  ;  the  other  three  members  of  "a 
strong  letter  of  disapprobation." 

On  the  8th  of  September,  Jefferson  wrote  to  Madison  : 

"  I  mentioned  to  you  in  my  last  that  a  French  consul  at  Boston  had  rescued  a 
vessel  out  of  the  hands  of  a  Marshal  by  military  force.  Genet  has,  at  New  York, 
forbidden  a  Marshal  to  arrest  a  vessel,  and  given  orders  to  the  French  squadron  to 
protect  her  by  force.8  Was  there  ever  an  instance  before  of  a  diplomatic  man 

i  Jefferson  to  Gore.  September  2d,  1793. 

9  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Randolph  was  habitually  an  anti-State-Rights  man.  He 
was  not  habitually  anything ! 

8  The  William  Tell,  captured  within  a  mile  of  the  American  coast.  There  were  reasons, 
however,  for  believing  that  Genet  acted  under  a  misunderstanding.  But  he  was  warned 


CHAP.  IV.]  ENGLAND — GKENVILLE's    ADMISSI^otf.  189 

overawing  and  obstructing  the  course  of  the  law  in  a  country  by  an  aimed  force  ? 
The  yellow  fever  increases.  The  week  before  last  about  three  a  day  died  This 
last  week  about  eleven  a  day  have  died  ;  consequently,  from  known  data  about 
thirty-three  a  day  are  taken,  and  there  are  about  three  hundred  and  thirty  patients 
under  it.  They  are  much  scattered  through  the  town,  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  the 
physicians  that  there  is  no  possibility  of  stopping  it.  They  agree  it  is  a  nondescript 
disease,  and  no  two  agree  in  any  one  part  of  their  process  of  cure.  The  President 
goes  off  the  day  after  to-morrow,  as  he  had  always  intended.  Knox  then  takes 
flight.  Hamilton  is  ill  of  the  fever,  as  is  said.  He  had  two  physicians  out  at  his 
house  the  night  before  last." 

On  the  7th  of  September,  the  Secretary  of  State  forwarded 
instructions  to  the  American  Minister  in  England,  quite  differ 
ent  in  phraseology  from  Hamilton's  Cabinet  draft.  They  were 
eminently  pacific  and  prudently  guarded  in  their  language,  but 
they  studied  to  avoid  no  phrases  which  it  would  have  been 
considered  proper  and  safe  to  address  to  other  European  powers 
besides  England,  under  like  circumstances.  General  Washing 
ton  of  course  saw  and  approved  of  these  instructions.  The 
pusillanimous  tone  of  the  resolution  of  August  31st  was  thus 
repudiated  in  practice.  We  should  be  glad  to  transcribe  por 
tions  of  the  paper,  but  our  limits  do  not  permit. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  Mr.  Pinckney  forwarded  from  London  a 
copy  of  the  orders.  He  wrote  that  Lord  Grenville  justified 
them  u  from  the  authority  of  the  writers  on  the  Laws  of  Nations, 
particularly  2d  Yattel  72,  73  ;"  that  his  lordship  "  said  Spain 
would  pursue  the  same  line  of  conduct ;"  that  he  "  spoke  in  high 
terms  of  approbation  of  the  answers  to  Mr.  Hammond's  memo 
rials."  That  is  to  say,  while  England  declared  that  she  and  her 
ally  would  persevere  in  a  policy  so  rigorous  and  destructive 
towards  us,  the  Minister  of  the  former  power  distinctl}7  admitted 
that  we  were  pursuing  a  course  between  it  and  France  which 
received  his  high  approbation. 

On  the  loth  of  August,  Mr.  Pinckney  further  informed  his 
Government  that  he  had  assured  Lord  Grenville  that  the  orders 
would  be  regarded  by  the  United  States  "  as  infringements  of 
their  neutral  rights,"  but  after  several  conversations,  he  did  not 
find  that  the  British  Government  "would  at  all  relax  in  the 
measures  they  had  adopted  towards  the  neutral  nations."  On 
the  25th  of  September  he  reiterated  the  same  information  in 
regard  to  the  inflexibility  of  that  Government. 

by  the  Secretary  of  State  that  he  must  not  again  interfere  to  prevent  the  service  of  a 
civil  process. 


190  }  ^KSONAL    MOVEMENTS    OF    THE    CABINET.  [CHAP.  TV, 

To  carry  down  (so  far  as  necessary  here)  the  Secretary  of 
State's  official  correspondence  with  Great  Britain  to  the  end  of 
the  year,  we  may  remark  that  on  the  13th  of  November,  the 
former  again,  for  the  third  time,  asked  an  answer  to  his  paper 
(of  May  29th,  1792)  in  regard  to  the  non-execution  of  the  treaty 
of  peace.  A  few  days  after  (November.  22d),  Mr.  Hammond,  in 
a  note  of  a  dozen  lines,  u  had  the  honor  of  informing"  the  Secre 
tary  "  that  he  had  not  yet  received  such  definite  instructions  " 
44  as  would  enable  him  immediately  to  renew  the  discussions 
upon  the  subject  of  it,"  etc. 

We  will  now  return  to  the  personal  movements  of  the  Cabi 
net,  where  we  left  them  at  the  opening  of  September.  Colonel 
Hamilton  was  attacked  by  the  yellow  fever  on  the  6th  of  that 
month,  and  was  confined  to  his  house,  two  miles  and  a  half  out 
of  the  city.  On  the  llth  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Morris  : 

"  An  infectious  and  mortal  fever  is  broke  out  in  this  place.  The  deaths  under 
it  the  week  before  last  were  about  forty,  the  last  week  about  fifty,  this  week  they 
will  probably  be  about  two  hundred,  and  it  is  increas  ng  Every  one  is  getting  out. 
of  the  city  who  can.  Colonel  Hamilton  is  ill  of  the  fever,  but  is  on  the  recovery. 
The  President,  according  to  an  arrangement  of  some  time  ago,  set  out  for  Mount 
Vernon  on  yesterday.  The  Secretary  of  War  is  setting  out  on  a  visit  to  Massachu 
setts.  I  shall  go  in  a  few  days  to  Virginia.  When  we  shall  reassemble  again  may, 
perhaps,  depend  on  the  course  of  this  malady,  and  on  that  may  depend  the  date  of 
my  next  letter." 

On  the  12th,  he  transmitted  business  papers  for  Hamilton's 
inspection,  from  which  we  infer  the  convalescence  of  the  latter. 

On  the  loth,  Jefferson  sent  Genet  a  copy  of  the  letter  asking 
his  recall.  After  briefly  alluding  to  the  necessity  of  making 
this  request,  the  Secretary  added  : 

"  This  has  accordingly  been  directed  to  be  done  by  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
of  the  United  States  at  Paris,  in  a  letter,  a  copy  of  which  I  now  inclose  to  you  ; 
and,  in  order  to  bring  to  an  end  what  cannot  be  permitted  to  continue,  there  could 
be  no  hesitation  to  declare  in  it  the  necessity  of  their  having  a  representation  here, 
disposed  to  respect  the  laws  and  authorities  of  the  country,  and  to  do  th*  best  for 
their  interest  which  these  would  permit.  An  anxious  regard  for  those  interests, 
and  a  desire  that  they  may  not  suffer,  will  induce  the  Executive  \n  the  meantime  to 
receive  your  communications  in  writing,  and  to  admit  the  continuance  of  your 
functions  so  long  as  they  shall  be  restrained  within  the  limits  of  the  law,  as  hereto 
fore  announced  to  you,  or  shall  be  of  the  tenor  usually  observed  towards  inde 
pendent  nations  by  the  representative  of  a  friendly  power  residing  with  them." 

Having  "  cleared  his  letter  files,"  and  brought  up  the  trans 
action  of  all  the  business  of  his  office  to  the  present  moment, 


CHAP.  IV.]  LETTERS    TO    MRS.    RANDOLPH.  191 

and  prepared  it  so  far  as  practicable  for  his  absence,  he,  with 
his  daughter,  left  the  pestilence-smitten  city  on  the  17th  of  Sep 
tember.  He  made  the  customary  stop  at  Mount  Vernon  on  the 
22d,  and  reached  home  on  the  25th. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  letters  to  his  eldest  daughter 
since  his  previous  visit  home  : 

To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 
(Extracts.) 

"PHILADELPHIA,  January  14th,  '93. — Though  his  letter  informed  me  of  the 
reestablishment  of  Anne,  yet  I  wish  to  learn  that  time  confirms  our  hopes.  Wo 
were  entertained  here  lately  with  the  ascent  of  Mr.  Blanchard  in  a  balloon.  The 
security  of  the  thing  appeared  so  great,  that  everybody  is  wishing  for  a  balloon  to 
travel  in.  I  wish  for  one  sincerely,  as  instead  of  ten  days,  I  should  be  within  five 
hours  of  home." 

(Here  should  follow  the  letter  of  January  26th,  already 
given.) 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  February  24th,  '93. — Kiss  dear  Anne,  and  ask  her  if  she 
remembers  me,  and  will  write  to  me.  Health  to  the  little  one,  and  happiness 
to  you  all  " 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  March  10th,  '93. — When  I  shall  see  you  I  cannot  say  ;  but  my 
heart  and  thoughts  are  all  with  you  till  I  do.  I  have  given  up  my  house  here,  and 
taken  a  small  one  in  the  country,  on  the  banks  of  the  Schuylkill,  to  serve  me  while  I 
stay.  We  are  packing  all  our  superfluous  furniture,  and  shall  be  sending  it  by 
water  to  Richmond  when  the  season  becomes  favorable.  My  books  too,  except  a 
very  few,  will  be  packed  and  go  with  the  other  things  ;  so  that  T  shall  put  it  out  of 
my  own  power  to  return  to  the  city  again  to  keep  house,  and  it  would  be  impossible 
to  carry  on  business  in  the  winter  at  a  country  residence.  Though  this  points  out  an 
ultimate  term  of  stay  here,  yet  my  mind  is  looking  to  a  much  shorter  one,  if  the 
circumstances  will  permit  it  which  broke  in  on  my  first  resolution.  Indeed,  I  have 
it  much  at  heart  to  be  at  home  in  time  to  run  up  the  part  of  the  house,  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer  and  fall,  which  I  had  proposed  to  do  in  the  spring." 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  June  10th,  '93. — I  sincerely  congratulate  you  on  the  arrival  of 
the  mocking-bird.  Learn  all  the  children  to  venerate  it  as  a  superior  being  in  the 
form  of  a  bird,  or  as  a  being  which  will  haunt  them  if  any  harm  is  done  to  itself  or  its 
eggs.  I  shall  hope  that  the  multiplication  of  the  cedar  in  the  neighborhood,  and  of 
trees  and  shrubs  round  the  house,  will  attract  more  of  them  :  for  they  like  to  be  in 
the  neighborhood  of  our  habitations  if  they  furnish  cover." 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  July  nth,  '93. — My  head  has  been  so  full  of  farming  since  I 
have  found  it  necessary  to  prepare  a  place  for  my  manager,  that  I  could  not  resist 
the  addressing  my  last  weekly  letters  to  Mr.  Randolph,  and  boring  him  with  my 
plans.  Maria  writes  to  you  to-day.  She  is  getting  into  tolerable  health,  though 


192  LETTERS    TO   MRS.    RANDOLPH.  [CHAP.  IV. 

not  good.  She  passes  two  or  three  days  in  the  week  with  me,  under  the  trees,  for 
1  never  go  into  the  house  but  at  the  hour  of  bed.  I  never  before  knew  the  full 
value  of  trees.  My  house  is  entirely  embosomed  in  high  plane  trees,  with  good 
grass  below  ;  and  under  them  I  breakfast,  dine,  write,  read,  and  receive  my  com 
pany.  What  would  I  not  give  that  the  trees  planted  nearest  round  the  house  at 
Monticello  were  full  grown." 

"PHILADELPHIA,  July  21**,  1793. — We  had  peaches  and  Indian  corn  the  12th 
hist.  When  do  they  begin  with  you  this  year  ?  Can  you  lay  up  a  good  stock  of 
seed-peas  for  the  ensuing  summer  ?  We  will  try  this  winter  to  cover  our  garden 
with  a  heavy  coat  of  manure.  When  earth  is  rich  it  bids  defiance  to  droughts, 
yields  irj  abundance,  and  of  the  best  quality.  I  suspect  that  the  insects  which  have 
harassed  you  have  been  encouraged  by  the  feebleness  of  your  plants;  and  that  has 
been  produced  by  the  lean  state  of  the  soil.  We  will  attack  them  another  year 
with  joint  efforts." 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  Aug.  4*A,  '93. — I  inclose  you  two  of  Petit's  receipts.  The 
orthography  will  amuse  you,1  while  the  matter  may  be  useful.  The  last  of  the  two 
is  really  valuable,  as  the  beans  preserved  in  that  manner  are  as  firm,  fresh,  and 
green,  as  when  gathered." 

"PHILADELPHIA,  August  18^/i,  '93. — Maria  and  I  are  scoring  off  the  weeks 
which  separate  us  from  you.  They  wear  off  slowlv,  but  time  is  sure  though  slow. 
*  *  *  My  blessings  to  your  little  ones,  love  to  you  all,  and  friendly  how- 
d'yes  to  my  good  neighbors.  Adieu." 

The  yellow  fever  continued  to  increase  in  Philadelphia  til 
about  the  middle  of  October,  and  on  the  second  week  of  that 
month  the  number  of  deaths  from  it  was  seven  hundred.  The 

1  Petit  was  his  maltre-d' hotel,  an  "artiste"  in  the  culinary  line,  long  in  his  service, 
and  warmly  attached  to  him,  as  his  domestics  invariably  were.  Of  the  orthography  in 
question,  the  following  is  a  specimen — showing,  by  the  by,  that  Petit,  had  he  been  a 
Canadian  "voyageur,"  would  have  proved  himself  no  mean  hand  at  framing  "Indian 
vocabularies,"  for  the  use  of  the  learned  :  that  is,  supposing  these  to  be  acquainted  with 
the  sounds  of  the  French  language,  and  the  established  mode  of  rendering  them  to  the 
eye  ;  and  not  in  the  predicament  in  which  Mr.  Madison  found  himself  once,  when  called 
in  at  Princeton  to  act  as  interpreter.  Petit's  mode  of  writing  pancakes  was,  paune- 
quaiquev  ;  which  latter  word,  read  by  a  Frenchman,  would  correspond  exactly  to  an 
Englishman's  reading  of  the  former. 

The  passage  in  Mr.  Madison's  college  life  just  referred  to,  related  by  him  to  me  once, 
as  we  sat  together  at  his  table  after  dinner — narrated  with  that  inimitable  mixture  of 
boyish  fun  and  drollery  in  his  eye,  and  sedateness  of  manner,  for  which  he  was  so 
remarkable — afforded  me  then  one  of  the  heartiest  laughs  I  ever  enjoyed. 

The  substance  of  the  story  was  as  follows  :  A  forlorn,  wayworn  Frenchman  came  to 
Princeton  and  addressed  himself  to  the  President.  Mr.  Madison,  as  the  only  %;  French- 
scholar,"  known  to  be  at  the  institution,  was  sought  for,  to  act  as  interpreter.  After  some 
delay  he  was  found,  and  they  were  brought  face  to  face  ;  whereupon  the  Frenchman 
began  to  hold  forth.  Mr.  M.,  listening  with  all  his  might,  was  able  to  catch  a  few  words 
— sufficient  to  convey  to  his  mind  a  glimmering  of  the  other's  meaning.  This  having 
been  communicated  to  the  President,  Mr.  M.'s  turn  came,  and  he  commenced.  But  it 
soon  became  manifest  to  him  and  to  the  bystanders,  that  the  poor  Frenchman  did  not 
understand  one  word  of  what  he  was  saying.  "  I  might  (said  Mr.  Madison)  as  well  have 
been  talking  Kickapoo  at  him  !  I  had  learnt  French  of  my  Scotch  tutor,  reading  it  with 
him  as  we  did  Greek  and  Latin ;  that  is,  as  a  dead  language  ;  and  this,  too,  pronounced 
with  his  Scotch  accent,  which  was  quite  broad  ;  and  a  twang  of  which  my  own  tongue 
had  probably  caught,  as  regarded  the  pronunciation  of  those  dead  languages." — Note  bv 
a  member  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  family. 


CHAP.  IV.]      CHANGING    PLACE   OF    MEETING    OF   CONGRESS.  193 

population  of  the  city  was,  \ve  believe,  not  far  from  fifty  thou 
sand,  and  more  than  a  third  of  this  number  had  fled.  The  entire 
number  of  deaths  was  about  four  thousand. 

Congress  was  to  meet  in  the  city  on  the  2d  of  December, 
and  fears  were  entertained  that  the  malady  would  not  then  be 
abated.  This  suggested  to  the  President  the  question,  whether 
it  would  be  proper  for  him  to  issue  a  proclamation  calling  Con 
gress  to  assemble  at  some  other  place.  He  had  proposed  this  to 
Mr.  Jefferson,  while  on  his  way  to  Virginia  ;  and  the  latter  had 
given  as  his  opinion,  before  examination,  that  the  President  had 
not  that  power.  The  President  had  requested  his  Cabinet  to 
meet  him  at  Germantown,  on  the  1st  of  November;  and  the 
fever  still  continuing  in  the  city,  he  felt  called  upon  to  come  to 
a  decision  on  the  preceding  question  ;  and  about  the  close  of 
September,  he  consulted  the  Attorney  General  and  Secretary  of 
State,  and  a  few  days  afterwards,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
in  writing.  The  two  first  gave  opinions  that  the  President  could 
not,  under  the  Constitution,  change  the  place  of  the  meeting  of 
Congress.  Jefferson  thought  u  Congress  must  meet  in  Phila 
delphia,  even  if  it  was  in  the  open  fields,  to  adjourn  themselves 
to  some  other  place." '  Hamilton  thought  the  President's 
authority  extended  as  much  to  the  place  as  the  time  for  calling 
Congress,  but  as  there  were  "respectable  opinions"  against  it, 
he  suggested  that  it  be  expedient  to  recommend  an  assembling  of 
this  body  at  some  other  point  than  Philadelphia,  where  the 
members  could  meet  and  determine  on  their  further  action.* 
The  President,  fearing  probably  that  if  nothing  was  done,  Con 
gress  might  fail  to  assemble  for  a  considerable  period — a  circum 
stance,  now  that  affairs  had  reached  such  an  embroiled  state 
with  Spain,  France,  and  the  Creek  Indians,  which  might  prove 
embarrassing — -was  very  anxious  for  some  arrangement  which 
would  guard  against  that  contingency.  On  the  same  day  that 
he  wrote  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  (October  14th),  he  also 
addressed  a  letter  soliciting  the  advice  of  Mr.  Madison,  the  lie- 
publican  leader  in  the  House,  on  the  same  question.  Every 
word  of  this  communication  breathed  the  most  cordial  unreserve, 
and  anything  but  the  feeling  or  attitude  of  the  responsible  Ex- 

1  Jefferson  to  Washington,  Oct.  17.    Thte  letter  is  published  in  the  Congress  edition 
of  Jefferson's  Works,  without  an  address,  and  is  not  given  in  Randolph's  edition. 
8     Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  477. 

VOL.  II.— 18 


[CHAP.  TV. 

ecntive  officer  of  a  nation  addressing  the  chief  of  what  lie  regar 
ded  as  a  parliamentary  "opposition"  to  his  administration. 
Nor  was  this  quite  all.  The  following  paragraph  from  the  letter 
contained  a  more  confidential  request: 

"  I  have  written  to  Mr.  Jefferson  on  the  subject.  Notwithstanding  which,  I 
would  thank  you  for  your  opinion,  and  that  fully,  as  you  see  my  embarrassment.  I 
even  ask  more.  I  would  thank  you,  not  being  acquainted  with  forms,  to  sketch 
some  instrument  for  publication,  adapted  to  the  course  you  may  think  it  would  be 
most  expedient  for  me  to  pursue  in  the  present  state  of  things,  if  the  members  are 
called  together  as  before  mentioned."  * 

Mr.  Madison  answered  that,  for  the  President  to  change  the 
place  of  meeting  of  Congress  "  would  require  an  authority  that 
did  not  exist  under  the  Constitution,"  and  that  "laying  aside 
the  Constitution  and  consulting  the  law,  the  expedient  seemed 
no  less  inadmissible."  He,  however,  forwarded  the  draft  of  a 
proclamation,  in  case  the  President  should  arrive  at  a  different 
conclusion.2  The  President,  at  length,  determined  not  to  inter 
fere  further  on  the  subject. 

This  letter  to  Mr.  Madison  calls  to  mind  another  circum 
stance  which  would  seem  to  throw  some  light  on  General  Wash 
ington's  view  of  his  own  political  position.  The  venerable  Ed 
mund  Pendleton  of  Virginia,  revered  for  his  rectitude,  and  ad 
mired  for  his  profound  talents  by  all  parties,  addressed  the  latter 
a  letter,  September  llth,  mentioning  freely  his  doubts  in  regard 
to  the  manner  in  which  the  Treasury  Department  had  been 
managed  under  the  auspices  of  Colonel  Hamilton  :  mentioning 
that  "  all  that  officer's  reports  on  ways  and  means,  from  that  on 
the  Funding  system  to  the  present  day,  had  impressed  him  with 
an  idea  of  his  (Hamilton's)  having  made  the  system  of  the 
British  Ministry  the  model  of  his  conduct,  as  assumed  American 
primate,  choosing  rather  to  trust  to  a  moneyed  interest  he  had 
created,  for  the  support  of  his  measures,  than  to  their  rectitude  ;" 
complaining  of  the  assumption  of  State  debts  "in  a  lump," 
etc.* 

*  Soarks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  379.  3  Ib.  vol.  x.  p.  552. 

8  We  will  give  all  of  this  important  letter  with  which  the  editor  of  General  Washing 
ton's  Writings  has  furnished  the  world  (see  Sparks,  vol.  x.  p.  370 — note) : 

"  I  am  an  utter  stranprer  to  the  gentleman  at  the  head  of  that  department,  and  pretty 
much  so  to  the  detail  of  his  conduct :  but  I  will  confess  to  you,  sir,  that  all  his  reports 
on  ways  and  means,  from  that  on  the  Funding  system  to  the  present  day,  have  impressed 
me  with  an  idea  of  his  having  made  the  system  of  the  British  Ministry  the  model  of  his 
conduct  as  assumed  American  primate,  choosing  rather  to  trust  to  a  moneyed  interest 
be  has  created,  for  the  support  of  his  measures,  than  to  their  rectitude.  I  do  not  svy 


CHAP.  TV.]  WASHINGTON'S  ANSWER.  195 

In  his  answer  to  this  (September  23d),  General  Washington 
said  nothing  to  show  that  he  felt  committed  to  a  political  side, 
or  viewed  those  who  differed  with  the  Treasury  measures  as  an 
"  opposition  "  to  his  government.  He  thanked  Judge  Pendleton 
warmly  for  his  letter — regretted  that  he  had  not  oftener  written 
— wished  "he  had  more  to  do  on  the  great  theatre" — assured 
him  his  "unreserved  opinion  upon  any  public  measure  of  im 
portance,  would  always  be  acceptable  whether  it  respected  men 
or  measures."  He  said  he  would  write  nothing  about  the  fiscal 
conduct  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  as  it  would  probably 
be  investigated  during  the  next  session  of  Congress — that  if  he 
mistook  not,  Hamilton  would  not  shrink  from  that  investigation 
— that  no  one  wished  more  devoutly  than  he  (the  President)  did 
that  Hamilton's  conduct  "  might  be  probed  to  the  bottom,  be  the 
result  what  it  might."  And  lie  thus  concluded : 


u  You  do  me  no  more  than  justice  when  you  suppose  that,  from  notions  of 
respect  to  the  Legislature  (and  I  might  add  from  my  interpretation  of  the  Consti 
tution),  I  give  my  signature  to  many  bills,  with  which  my  judgment  is  at  variance. 
In  saying  this,  however,  I  allude  to  no  particular  act.  From  the  nature  of  the 
Constitution  I  must  approve  all  the  parts  of  a  bill,  or  reject  it  in  toto.  To  do  the 
latter  can  only  be  justified  upon  the  clear  and  obvious  ground  of  propriety ;  and  I 
never  had  such  confidence  in  my  own  faculty  of  judging,  as  to  be  ever  tenacious 
of  the  opinions  I  may  have  imbibed  in  doubtful  cases. 

t;  Mrs.  Washington,  who  enjoys  tolerable  health,  joins  me  most  cordially  in  best 
wishes  to  you  and  Mrs.  Pendleton.  I  wish  you  may  live  long,  continue  in  good 
health,  and  end  your  days,  as  you  have  been  wearing  them  away,  happily  and 
respected.  Always  and  very  affectionately  yours,"  etc. 

These  declarations  ought  to  be  kept  steadily  in  view  by  those 
who  w^ould  truly  understand  General  Washington's  political 
position. 

these  were  his  motives,  but  such  they  appear  to  me  ;  and  I  fear  we  shad  long  feel  the 
effects  of  the  system  if  it  were  now  to  be  changed,  which  it  is  supposed  would  be  impro 
per,  at  least  as  to  the  Funding  system. 

"  The  non-discrimination,  which  he  so  much  labored,  appeared  to  me  a  sacrifice  if  the 
substance  of  justice  to  its  shadow;  its  effects  to  throw  unearned  wealth  into  a  few 
unmeriting  hands,  instead  of  diffusing  it  (after  repaying  them  their  purchase  money)  to 
those  who  entitled  themselves  to  it  by  the  most  meritorious  consideration.  The  assump 
tion  of  the  State  debts  in  a  lump,  before  it  was  ascertained  that  they  were  created  for 
common  benefit,  (which  would  make  them  an  equitable  charge  on  the  Union),  seemed 
to  me  unaccountable,  unless  derived  from  the  Secretary's  position,  that  increase  of  public 
debt  is  beneficial;  a  maxim  adopted  by  the  British  Cabinet,'but  unsupported  by  reason 
or  other  example,  and  its  national  effects  there  strangely  misrepresented. 

"  The  various  kinds  and  value  of  the  new  certificates  I  see  inconveniences  in,  but  can 
discover  no  other  reason  for,  than  to  give  the  rich  speculators  at  or  near  the  seat  of  Gov 
ernment  an  advantage  over  the  distant,  uninformed,  unwary,  or  distressed  citizens  :  and 
the  recommended  irredeemable  quality,  as  a  means  of  increasing  their  credit  in  circuh> 
tion,  is  a  paradox  of  which  no  solution  has  yet  occurred  to  my  mind." 


196  GENET'S  RECRIMINATIONS.  [CHAP.  TV, 

Jefferson's  personal  relations  with  Genet  bad  been  for  some 
time  losing  their  friendly  character;  and  the  communication  of 
the  former,  of  September  15th,  with  its  in  closure,  had  thrown 
the  latter  into  an  ungovernable  rage.  He  replied  (September 
18th),  bitterly  denouncing  the  conduct  of  the  United  States 
Government  towards  him — specially  and  separately  complaining 
of  the  acts  and  language  of  the  President — of  the  Secretary  of 
State — of  the  other  heads  of  department — of  the  American  Min 
ister  in  France — and  alluding,  pointedly,  to  leading  Federalists 
in  and  out  of  Congress,  as  "  distinguished  personages,  who  specu 
lated  so  patriotically  on  the  public  funds — on  the  lands  and  papers 
of  the  State." 

He  sarcastically  remarked: 

"  I  have  not  endeavored  to  encourage  the  federal  Government  to  employ  the 
only  means  worthy  of  a  great  people,  to  preserve  peace  and  enjoy  the  advan 
tages  of  neutrality— a  useful  object,  not  to  be  obtained  by  timid  and  uncertain 
measures,  by  premature  proclamations  which  seemed  extorted  by  fear,  by  a  partial 
impartiality  which  sours  your  friends  without  satisfying  your  enemies — but  by  an 
attitude  firm  and  pronounced,  which  apprises  all  the  powers  that  the  very  legiti 
mate  desire  of  enjoying  the  sweets  of  peace  has  not  made  you  forget  what  is  due 
to  justice,  to  gratitude ;  and  that,  without  ceasing  to  be  neutral,  you  may  fulfill 
.public  engagements,  contracted  with  your  friends  in  a  moment  when  you  were  your- 
'selves  in  danger." 

His  complaints  of  the  personal  deportment  of  the  President 
were  severe  and  indecorous  : 

"  I  will  tell  you,  then,  without  ceremony,  that  I  have  been  extremely  wounded, 
sir:  1st,  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  was  in  a  hurry,  before  knowing 
what  I  had  to  transmit  to  him,  on  the  part  of  the  French  republic,  to  proclaim 
sentiments,  on  which  decency  and  friendship  should  at  least  have  drawn  a  veil. 
2d,  That  he  did  not  speak  to  me  at  my  first  audience,  but  of  the  friendship  of  the 
United  States  towards  France,  without  saying  a  word  to  me,  without  enouncing  a 
single  sentiment  on  our  revolution,  while  all  the  towns  from  Charleston  to  Phila 
delphia  had  made  the  air  resound  with  their  most  ardent  wishes  for  the  French 
republic.  3d,  That  he  received  and  admitted  to  a  private  audience,  before  my 
arrival,  Noailles  and  Talon,  known  agents  of  the  French  counter-revolutionists, 
who  have  since  had  intimate  relations  with  two  members  of  the  federal  Govern 
ment.  4th,  That  this  first  magistrate  of  a  free  people,  decorated  his  parlor  with 
certain  medallions  of  Capet  and  his  family,1  which  served  at  Paris  as  signals  of 
rallying.  5th,  That  the  first  complaints  which  were  made  to  my  predecessor  of  the 
armaments  and  prizes  which  took  place  at  Charleston  on  my  arrival,  were,  in  fact, 
but  a  paraphrase  of  the  notes  of  the  English  Minister." 

1  All  will  understand  by  this  the  Kins:  of  France  and  his  family 


CHAP.  IV.]  HIS    ATTACK   ON   JEFFERSON.  197 

The  manner  in  which  the  Secretary  of  War  and  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  had  made  personal  communications  to  him  was 
a  subject  of  complaint.  The  Secretary  of  State  carne  in  for  a  full 
share  of  indignation.  Speaking  of  the  demand  for  his  own  recall, 
Genet  said  : 

"  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the  achievement  of  which  you  have  rendered 
yourself  the  generous  instrument,  after  having  made  me  believe  that  you  were  my 
friend,  after  having  initiated  me  into  mysteries  which  have  inflamed  my  hatred 
against  all  those  who  aspire  to  an  absolute  power,  there  is  an  act  of  justice  which 
the  American  people,  which  the  French  people,  which  all  free  people  are  interested 
to  reclaim  ;  that  is,  that  there  be  made  a  particular  inquiry,  in  the  next  Congress, 
of  the  motives  on  which  the  head  of  the  Executive  power  of  the  United  States  has 
taken  on  himself  to  demand  the  recall  of  a  public  minister,  whom  the  sovereign 
people  of  the  United  States  had  received  fraternally,  and  recognized,  before  the 
diplomatic  forms  had  been  fulfilled  with  respect  to  him,  at  Philadelphia.'1  In 
another  place,  but  in  no  connection  with  the  preceding,  he  speaks  of  '*  gentlemen 
who  have  been  painted  to  him  so  often  as  aristocrats,  partisans  of  monarchy,  parti 
sans  of  England,  of  her  Constitution,  and  consequently  enemies  of  the  principles 
which  all  good  Frenchmen  have  embraced  with  a  religious  enthusiasm."  1 

1  Genet  does  not  specify  the  "  painter,"  nor  does  he  in  the  preceding  sentence  aver 
that  Jefferson  had  "inflamed  his  hatred"  individually  against  the  Cabinet,  or  any  mem 
ber  of  it.  Judge  Marshall  has  so  collocated  portions  of  these  sentences,  so  connected 
them  with  Mr.  Jefferson's  name,  and  made  such  omissions,  that  he  has  been  understood  by 
most  readers,  we  believe,  to  convey  a  contrary  impression  in  both  particulars  (see  his 
Life  of  Washington,  2d  edition,  vol.  ii.  pp.  277,  278).  And  as  usual  this  has  swelled  into 
broad  and  vituperative  allegation  in  the  next  mouth. 

We  should  esteem  the  fact  of  Genet's  making  such  charges,  of  no  great  importance 
were  it  true.  We  believe  no  one  has  considered  the  characters  of  Washington,  Hamilton 
and  Kuox  very  seriously  damaged  by  the  assertions  of  the  enraged  minister  on  the  same 
occasion.  Nay,  we  are  willing  to  suppose  that  Jefferson  had  spoken  as  freely  to  Genet 
of  the  designs  of  the  monarchical  Federalists,  and  even  specially  of  the  "  Treasury 
schemes,"  as  Hamilton  accused  him  of  doing  to  "  all  who  approached  him."  We  imagine 
that  foreign  ministers  have  never  in  this,  or  any  other  free  country,  been  interdicted  by 
the  rales  of  decorum  from  hearing  the  usual  private  expressions  of  partisan  opinion 
and  feeling. 

There  is  not  a  particle  of  proof,  however,  admitting  the  testimony  of  Genet  himself, 
that  Jefferson  ever  made  any  specific  or  general  allegation  to  him  against  any  member 
of  the  Cabinet.  Notwithstanding  Jefferson  continued  the  "generous  instrument"  (as 
Genet  sarcastically  termed  him)  of  the  Cabinet  to  crush  him — threw  his  own  popularity 
with  the  Republicans  into  the  scale  for  the  Cabinet  in  its  struggle  with  Genet — literally 
dealt  the  latter  the  coup  de  grace — still,  nowhere  did  Genet,  with  all  the  willingness  to 
accuse  Jefferson  of  duplicity  ascribed  to  him  by  Judge  Marshall,  bring  forward  a  specific 
allegation  to  that  effect.  And  no  fact  could  have  served  him  half  so  effectually,  if  true  ; 
for  it  would  have  disarmed  the  influence  of  the  "instrument"  with  the  Republicans. 

We  have  seen  that  Jefferson  was  early  and  clearly  apprised  of  Genet's  impulsive  and 
imprudent  character.  In  fact.  Jefferson's  enemies  have  never  accused  him  of  a  want  of 
this  kind  of  penetration,  or  of  foolish  exposures  of  himself.  The  idea,  therefore,  that  he 
would  make  Genet  the  depository  of  any  dangerous  confidence,  would  be  absurd  in  itself, 
apart  from  any  other  proof  or  want  of  proof. 

There  is  another  point  worth  attention.  If  Judge  Marshall  did  intend  the  supposed 
innuendo,  the  quotations  and  general  presentation  of  the  case  on  which  he  bases  it  also 
clearly  establish  the  very  important  fact  that  Jefferson  had  communicated  to  Genet  tha+ 
somebody  in  the  Cabinet  was  "aspiring  to  an  absolute  power."  If  Genet  accused  any 
one  in  that  body  of  such  aspirations,  it  was  clearly  General  Washington.  If  he  got  hi* 
cue  from  Jefferson,  then  Jefferson  had  informed  the  French  Minister  that  General  Wash 
ington  "aspired  to  an  absolute  power!"  Is  not  this  proving  a  little  too  much  for  the 
wishes  of  even  Mr.  Jefferson's  enemies  ?  But  let  us  give  them  the  benefit  of  a  less 
ridiculous  construction.  Is  the  hypothesis  probable,  or  only  slightly  less  ridiculous  that 


THINGS    AT   THE   TEMPORARY    CAPITAL.  [CHAP.  IV. 

This  communication  did  not  reach  the  State  Department 
before  Jefferson  had  set  out  on  his  journey  home.  On  the  30th 
of  September  it  was  placed  in  a  packet  with  other  letters  and 
forwarded  to  him  in  Virginia.  By  some  accident  of  the  mail  it 
did  not  reach  Monticello  before  his  return,  or  get  back  to  Phila 
delphia  and  into  his  hands  until  the  2d  of  December.  He  took 
no  notice  of  it  whatever  ;  and  afterwards,  when  required  by 
official  business  to  address  Genet,  made  no  change  whatever  in 
his  tone. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  in  compliance  with  the  summons  of  the  Presi 
dent,  reached  Germantown  on  the  1st  of  November ;  and  he  the 
next  day  gave  Madison  the  following  picture  of  things  and  poli 
tics  in  the  pro-tempore  capital : 

GERMANTOWN,  November  2,  1798. 

I  overtook  the  President  at  Baltimore,  and  we  arrived  here  yesterday,  myself 
fleeced  of  seventy  odd  dollars  to  get  from  Fredericksburg  here,  the  stages  running 
no  further  than  Baltimore.  I  mention  this  to  put  yourself  and  Monroe  on  your  guard. 
The  fever  in  Philadelphia  has  so  much  abated  as  to  have  almost  disappeared. 
The  inhabitants  are  about  returning.  It  has  been  determined  that  the  President 
shall  not  interfere  with  the  meeting  of  Congress.  R.  H.  and  K.  were  of  opinion 
he  had  a  right  to  call  them  to  any  place,  but  that  the  occasion  did  not  call  for  it. 
I  think  the  President  inclined  to  the  opinion.  I  proposed  a  proclamation  notifying 
that  the  Executive  business  would  be  done  here  till  further  notice,  which  I  believe 
will  be  agreed.  H.  R.  Lewis,  Rawle,  etc.,  all  concur  in  the  necessity  that  Congress 
should  meet  in  Philadelphia,  and  vote  there  their  own  adjournment.  If  it  shall 
then  be  necessary  to  change  the  place,  the  question  will  be  between  New  York  and 
Lancaster.  The  Pennsylvania  members  are  very  anxious  for  the  latter,  and  will 
attend  punctually  to  support  it,  as  well  as  to  support  much  for  Muhlenburg,  and 

Jefferson  had  informed  the  open-mouthed  Frenchman  that  all  his  opponents  in  the 
Cabinet,  or  a  part  of  them,  or  any  of  them,  were  aspiring  to  (that  is,  seeking  to  obtain 
for  themselves)  an  absolute  power  ! 

\Ve  may  pay  too  much  attention  to  such  innuendoes.  But  it  is  curious  to  note  how 
they  travel  along  from  a  vague  hint  to  assertions  made  as  confidently  as  if  they  rested  on 
conceded  facts.  We  have  a  batch  of  later  "histories"  which  abound  with  such 
examples — some  of  them  finally  ascending  to  that  sublimity  of  impudence  that  they  clinch 
the  argument  (in  the  case  of  lower  innuendoes  than  Judge  Marshall  ever  stooped  to 
m.ike)  by  declaring  that  they  never  have  been  denied  on  any  (or  perhaps  any  "  good") 
authority  ! 

It  is  amusing  to  witness  the  subterfuges  resorted  to  in  order  to  fasten  some  personal 
imputation  on  Jefferson.  The  case  in  hand  is  a  good  example.  A  vague  allusion  against 
Jefferson  is  culled  out  from  amongst  severe  ones  against  his  colleagues.  The  later 
"historians"  are  horror-struck  under  the  bare  conjecture  that  he  had  committed  the 
high  indecorum  of  saying  something  against  the  political  views  or  purposes  of  colleagues 
to  the  French  Minister.  Yet  these  sticklers  for  decorum  have  no  eye.s  or  ears  for  the 
fact  that  one  of  those  colleagues  had  before  that,  been  months,  not  only  to  the  French 
Minister,  but  to  the  world,  charging  Jefferson  through  the  columns  of  a  newspaper,  with 
personal  dishonor,  untruth,  willful  calumny,  subornation  of  perjury,  etc.! 

We  need  not  say  that  if  we  bring  Judge  Marshall's  name  often  into  question,  and  pass 
over  those  of  coarse  and  violent  detractors,  it  is  only  because  we  pay  the  former  th« 
credit  of  believing  that  his  character  gives  the  faintest  hint  from  h;m  vastly  n  ore  impor 
tance  than  attaches  to  the  most  solemn  affirmations  of  whole  brigades  of  the  latter. 


CHAP.  IV.]  GIUSEPPE   CERACCHJ.  199 

oppose  the  appointment  of  Smith  (S.  C.),  speaker,  which  is  intended  by  the 
Northern  members.  According  to  present  appearances  this  place  cannot  lodge  a 
single  person  more.  As  a  great  favor,  I  have  got  a  bed  in  the  corner  of  the  public 
room  of  a  tavern  ;  and  must  continue  till  some  of  the  Philadelphiaus  make  a 
vacancy  by  removing  into  the  city.  Then  we  must  give  him  from  four  to  six  or 
eight  dollars  a  week  for  cuddies  without  a  bed,  and  sometimes  without  a  chair  or 
table.  There  is  not  a  single  lodging-house  in  the  place.  Ross  and  Willing  are 
alive.  Hancock  is  dead.  Johnson  of  Maryland  has  refus  d  Rec.  L.  and  McE.1  in 
contemplation ;  the  last  least.  You  will  have  seen  Genet's  letters  to  Moultrie  and 
to  myself.  Of  the  last  I  know  nothing  but  from  the  public  papers  ;  and  he  pub 
lished  Moultrie's  letter  and  his  answer  the  moment  he  wrote  it.  You  will  see  that 
his  inveteracy  against  the  President  leads  him  to  meditate  the  embroiling  him  with 
Congress.  They  say  he  is  going  to  be  married  to  a  daughter  of  Clinton's.  If  so, 
he  is  afraid  to  return  to  France.  Hamilton  is  ill,  and  suspicious  he  has  taken  the 
fever  again  by  returning  to  his  house.  He,  of  course,  could  not  attend  here 
to-day ;  but  the  President  had  showed  me  his  letter  on  the  right  of  calling  Congress 
to  another  place.  Adieu. 

Under  date  of  November  14th,  we  find  the  following  letter 
from  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  unfortunate  sculptor,  Giuseppe  Ce- 
racchi,  which,  though  containing  nothing  of  especial  importance, 
alludes  to  circumstances  worth  a  passing  explanation. 

To  MR.  CERACCHI,  AT  MUNICH. 

PHILADELPHIA,  November  14, 1798. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  have  received  the  favor  of  your  letter  of  May  29,  at  Munich,  and  it  was 
not  till  then  that  I  knew  to  what  place,  or  through  what  channel  to  direct  a  letter 
to  you.  The  assurances  you  received  that  the  monument  of  the  President  would  be 
ordered  at  the  new  election,  were  founded  in  the  expectation  that  he  meant  then  to 
retire.  The  turbid  affairs  of  Europe,  however,  and  the  intercessions  they  produced, 
prevailed  on  him  to  act  again,  though  with  infinite  reluctancce.  You  are  sensi 
ble  that  the  moment  of  his  retirement,  kindling  the  enthusiasm  for  his  character, 
the  affections  for  his  person,  the  recollection  of  his  services,  would  be  that  in  which 
such  a  tribute  would  naturally  be  resolved  on.  This,  of  course,  is  now  put  off  to 
the  end  of  the  next  bissextile ;  but  whenever  it  arrives,  your  title  to  the  execution 
is  engraved  in  the  minds  of  those  who  saw  your  works  here.  Your  purpose,  with 
respect  to  my  bust,  is  certainly  flattering  to  me.  My  family  has  entered  so 
earnestly  into  it,  that  I  must  gratify  them  with  the  hope,  and  myself  with  the 
permission,  to  make  a  just  indemnification  to  the  author.  I  shall  be  happy  at  all 
times  to  hear  from  you,  and  to  learn  that  your  successes  in  life  are  as  great  as 
they  ought  to  be.  Accept  assurances  of  my  sincere  respect  and  esteem. 

This  disciple,  if  not  rival,  of  Canova,  came  to  the  United 
States  in  the  hope  of  being  employed  to  execute  a  monument 
commemorative  of  the  Revolution,  which  Congress,  in  J  783, 

1  As  in  Cong.  Ed.    There  are  some  obvious  misprints  in  this  and  other  sentences, 
but  we  cannot  correct  them  with  sufficient  confidence  to  venture  upon  the  undertaking 


200  CEKACCHl's    DISAPPOINTMENTS.  [CHAP.  IV. 

had  determined  to  erect.     Ceracchi,  an  ardent  enthusiast  in  the 
cause  of  liberty,  wished  to  link   his  fame  with  an  undertaking 
so  peculiarly  congenial  to  his  tastes  and  feelings.    He  exhibited 
a  model,  which  contemplated  a  structure  one  hundred  feet  high, 
sculptured  with  the  deeds  of  General  Washington,  with  busts 
arid   basso-relievos  of  eminent  American  Generals  and  States 
men,  and  surmounted  with  a  colossal  figure  of  the  Pater  Patriae. 
The  execution  of   it  would   require  ten   years,  and   the  price 
flamed  was  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.     The  plan  was  much 
admired,  and  the  sculptor  thus  encouraged  expended  $25,000 
in  preparations.     He  took  no  less  than   twenty-seven  models  of 
the  heads  of  eminent  revolutionary  characters,  and  then  "  be 
sieged   everybody   whom    he  supposed   to   be    influential,   and 
particularly  Mr.   Madison,   with   whom  he   boarded,"   to  urge 
the  necessary  appropriation  by  Congress.     The  latter  candidly 
informed  him  u  that  he  doubted  whether  the  thing  could  be  car 
ried  through  Congress,  but  it  was  at  the  time  when  the  Funding 
83* stem  had  made  so  many  suddenly  rich,  and  he  advised  him  tc 
get  it  done  by  subscription,  and  thought  it  probable  Colone 
Hamilton  could   assist  him  very  powerfully."     General  Wash 
ington,  Mr.   Jefferson,  and  various  others  subscribed,  and  Mr. 
Madison  "  thought  the  thing  in  a  fair  way,  when  Wolcott,  aided 
perhaps  by  the  artist's  own  impatient  and  jealous  temper,  per 
suaded  him  that  he  had  been  duped,  and  that  what  had  been 
done  was  only  to  get  rid  of  him — and  lie  left  the  country  in  dis 
gust."     lie,  however,  renewed  his  hopes  that  Congress  would 
order  the  work,  and  his  efforts  to  produce  such  a  result,  as  would 
appear  from  the  above  letter  of  Mr.  Jefferson.1 

1  Most  of  the  above  facts,  and  all  the  quotations,  are  taken  from  a  manuscript  of 
Mrs.  Martha  (Jefferson)  Randolph,  who  derived  her  information  from  Mr.  Madison. 

Ceracchi  executed  in  mzrble  colossal  busts  of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  a  smaller 
one  of  Colonel  Hamilton,  and  a  medallion  of  Mr.  Madison.  "  General  Washington  was 
so  much  displeased,"  says  the  manuscript,  "that  he  refused  to  have  anything  to  say  to 
his."  The  sculptor  felt  an  unbounded  admiration  for  Mr.  Jefferson — lavished  his  utmost 
power  on  his  bust — and  then  desired  him  to  accept  it  as  a  present.  The  last  part  of  the 
proposition  was  declined  in  the  courteous  manner  seen  in  the  text.  The  price  was 
placed  at  its  full  value  and  paid.  This  was  the  magnificent  bust  afterwards  obtained  by 
Congress,  and  placed  in  its  library  and  destroyed  there  by  fire  in  1851.  Mr.  Madison's 
exceedingly  fine  medallion  (worth  to  our  eye  all  the  other  likenesses  of  him  extant)  is  in 
the  possession  of  James  C.  McGuire,  Esq..  of  Washington.  Hamilton's  bust  has  been 
familiarized  to  the  public  eye  by  engravings,  and  is  the  adopted  one  in  his  biography 
and  in  his  recently  published  works.  None  understood  better  than  Ceracchi  the  art  of 
so  idealizing  his  subject  as  to  make  the  marble  convey  to  the  beholder  the  loftiest  and 
noblest  impression  which  the  original  ever  conveyed,  instead  of  chiselling  a  meagre  copy 
of  mere  physical  lineaments,  like  that  engraved  bust  of  Meyer,  placed  in  the  first  volume 
of  Tucker's  Life  of  Jefferson. 

While  Jefferson  and  Madison  have  been  stamped  on  the  memory  of  posterity  as  a 


CHAP.  IV.]  DEBATE   ON    ORDERING    GENET   AWAY.  201 

It  will  not,  it  is  believed,  illustrate  Mr.  Jefferson's  personal 
or  political  history  in  any  new  light  to  follow  out  step  by  step, 
with  the  considerable  degree  of  detail  hitherto  employed,  his 
remaining  acts  and  correspondence,  while  he  continued  in  his 
present  office.  A  few  more  important  facts  only  will  be  men 
tioned  without  much  attention  to  their  connections. 

On  the  8th  of  November,  the  Secretary  of  State  read,  in  a 
Cabinet  meeting,  several  letters  from  Genet,  and  on  finishing 
one  of  them,  asked  what  should  be  the  answer.  The  President 
thereupon  submitted  the  question  whether  it  would  not  be  pro 
per  to  discontinue  his  functions  and  order  him  away.  He  went 
at  large  into  the  subject,  commenting  on  the  consequences  of 
the  minister's  attempts  to  array  the  people,  the  State  govern 
ments,  and  Congress  against  the  Executive.  Mr.  Jefferson  says  : 
"  he  showed  he  felt  the  venom  of  Genet's  pen,  but  declared  he 
would  not  choose  his  insolence  should  be  regarded  any  further 
than  as  migh"  be  thought  to  affect  the  honor  of  the  country." 
Hamilton  and  Knox  ;t  readily  and  zealously  argued  for  dismiss 
ing  Genet."  Randolph  "  opposed  it  with  firmness  and 
lengthily."  The  President  "  replied  to  him  lengthily,"  but  not- 
wishing  the  question  "  hastily  decided,"  deferred  its  further 
consideration  until  his  return  from  a  journey.1 

Mr/ Jefferson  wrote  Mr.  Madison  on  the  17th,  that  not  a  case 
of  yellow  fever  then  existed  in  Philadelphia — u  no  new  infec 
tion  having  taken  place  since  the  great  rains  of  the  1st  of  the 
month,  and  those  before  infected  being  dead  or  recovered."  And 
the  following  remark  occurs  in  relation  to  the  French  Minister: 

"  Genet,  by  more  and  more  denials  of  powers  to  the  President,  and  ascribing 
them  to  Congress,  is  evidently  endeavoring  to  sow  tares  between  them,  and  at  any 
event  to  curry  favor  with  the  latter,  to  whom  he  means  to  turn  his  appeal,  finding 
it  was  not  likely  to  be  well  received  by  the  people." 

couple  of  plump,  placid-looking  old  gentlemen,  it  has  been  Hamilton's  (or  rather  his 
friends')  good  fortune,  that  his  lineaments  have  gone  down,  ennobled  by  the  genius  of 
Cerac-jhi :  anl  tint  sole:na  ail  mije^tic  face  (which  would  not  have  been  particularly 
striking  under  any  ordinary  hand)  is  literally  a  part  of  his  fame.  Let  him  whose 
untrained  eye  cannot  conceive  the  diff3rence  between  sufficiently  correct  portraits  of  the 
same  (physical)  man,  under  such  handling,  and  that  of  every-day  artists,  imagine  to  him 
self  a  true  likeness  of  Patrick  Henry  shouting,  "give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death,"  and 
a  true  likeness  of  Patrick  Henry  ready  to  drop  into  a  doze  after  too  hearty  a  dinner — or 
Job's  war-horse,  his  neck  clothed  with  thunder,  ami  swallowing  the  ground  with  tierce- 
ness  and  rage,  and  the  same  animal  quietly  eating  oats  in  a  stable  ! 

For  an  original  letter  of  poor  Ceracchi  and  some  melancholy  further  details  of  hi* 
closing  career,  see  APPENDIX,  No.  11. 

'  See  Ana. 


i5U2  EXPLANATION    OF   THE    PROCLAMATION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

On  the  18th,  the  Cabinet  discussed  the  subjects  of  the  com 
munications  to  be  made  to  Congress  at  its  opening  by  the  Presi 
dent.  The  first  point  was  an  explanation  of  the  proclamation, 
usually  termed  the  "Proclamation  of  Neutrality."  Randolph 
read  a  statement  which  he  had  prepared.  Hamilton  did  not 
like  it,  asserting  that  a  declaration  of  neutrality  by  the  Pre 
sident  would  not  bind  Congress,  yet  the  former  had  a  right  to 
give  his  opinion  ;  and  he  was  against  any  explanation  which 
should  concede  that  the  President,  did  not  intend  that  foreign 

c"5 

nations  should  "  consider  it  as  a  declaration  of  neutrality  future 
as  well  as  present " — that  he  [Hamilton]  "  understood  it  ;is 
meant  to  give  them  that  sort  of  assurance  and  satisfaction  ;  and 
to  say  otherwise  now,  would  be  a  deception  on  them."  He  was 
for  the  President's  "  using  such  expressions  as  would  neither 
am* nn  his  right  to  make  such  a  declaration,  nor  yield  it."  '  Jef 
ferson  and  Randolph  opposed  the  President's  right  to  declare 
Anything  future  to  the  effect  there  should  or  should  not  be  war ; 
and  asserted  that  no  such  thing  was  at  the  time  intended.2  And 
they  further  took  the  unanswerable  ground  that  a  proclamation 
of  neutrality  would  have  been,  in  effect,  a  determination  in  ad 
vance,  on  the  sole  responsibility  of  the  President,  that  our 
guaranty  in  our  treaty  with  France,  of  her  West  Indian  posses 
sions,  should  in  no  case  be  acted  on.  This  would  give  the  Pre 
sident  power  to  disregard,  or  entirely  set  aside,  treaties  at  will. 
Randolph  said  he  meant  that  foreign  nations  should  understand 
the  proclamation  "  as  an  intimation  of  the  President's  opinion 
that  neutrality  would  be  our  interest."  Jefferson  declared  he 
intended  foreign  nations  "  should  understand  no  such  thing : 
that  on  the  contrary  he  would  have  chosen  them  to  be  doubtful, 
and  to  come  and  bid  for  our  neutrality."  He  admitted  that  the 
President  might  proclaim  anything  necessary  to  preserve  peace 
till  the  meeting  of  Congress.  Thereupon  : 

"  The  President  declared  he  never  had  an  idea  that  he  could  bind  Congress 
against  declaring  war,  or  that  anything  contained  in  his  proclamation  could  look 
beyond  the  first  day  of  their  meeting.  His  main  view  was  to  keep  our  people  in 
peace;  he  apologized  for  the  use  of  the  term  neutrality  in  his  answers,  and  justified 
it,  by  having  submitted  the  first  of  them  (that  to  the  merchants,  wherein  it  waa 

1  The  quotations  from  Hamilton's  remarks  on  this  occasion  are  from  Jefferson's  Ana 
Nov.  18th.  The  Draft  of  the  President's  Speech,  on  this  topic,  which  Hamilton  prepared, 
will  be  found  in  his  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  486. 

'  See  ante,  p.  123. 


CHAP  iv.]      GENET'S  KENVOI  DISCUSSED — HIS  EZCALL.  203 

used)  to  our  consideration,  and  we  had  not  objected  to  the  term.  He  conclude  I  in 
the  end,  that  Colonel  Hamilton  should  prepare  a  paragraph  on  this  subject  for  the 
speech,  and  it  should  then  be  considered."  1 

The  Cabinet  adjourned  for  dinner,  and  on  their  reassembling, 
the  President  himself  reopened  the  discussion  in  regard  to 
Genet,  by  proposing  to  send  him  out  of  the  country.  Jeiferson 
thus  continues  the  details  of  a  remarkable  debate: 

"  I  opposed  it  on  these  topics.  France,  the  only  nation  on  earth  sincerely  our 
friend.  The  measure  so  harsh  a  one,  that  no  precedent  is  produced  where  it  has 
not  been  followed  by  war.  Our  messenger  has  no\v  been  gone  eighty-four  days  ; 
consequently,  we  may  hourly  expect  the  return,  and  to  be  relieved  by  their  revoca 
tion  of  him.  Were  it  now  resolved  on,  it  would  be  eight  or  ten  days  before  the 
matter  on  which  the  order  should  be  founded,  could  be  selected,  arranged,  dis 
cussed,  and  forwarded.  This  would  bring  us  within  four  or  five  days  of  the  meet 
ing  of  Congress.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  wait  and  see  how  the  pulse  of  that 
Duuj,  new  as  it  is,  would  beat  ?  They  are  *.vith  us  now,  probably,  but  such  a  step 
as  this  mav  carry  many  over  to  Genet's  side.  Genet  will  not  obey  the  order,  etc., 
etc.  The  Prebider.t  asked  me  w'.^t  1  would  do  if  Genet  sent  the  accusation  to  us 
to  be  communicated  to  Congress,  as  he  threatened  in  the  letter  to  Moultrie  ?  I 
said  I  would  not  send  it  to  Congress  ;  but  either  put  it  in  the  newspapers,  or  send 
it  back  to  him  to  be  published  if  he  pleased.  Other  questions  and  answers  were 
put  and  returned  in  a  quicker  altercation  than  I  ever  before  saw  the  President  use. 
Hamilton  was  for  the  renvoi ;  spoke  much  of  the  dignity  of  the  nation  ;  that  they 
were  now  to  form  their  character ;  that  our  conduct  now  would  tempt  or  deter 
other  foreign  ministers  from  treating  us  in  the  same  manner ;  touched  on  the  Presi 
dent's  personal  feelings  ;  did  not  believe  France  would  make  it  a  cause  of  war ;  if 
she  did,  we  ought  to  do  what  was  right,  and  meet  the  consequences,  etc.  Knox  on 
the  same  side,  and  said  he  thought  it  very  possible  Mr.  Genet  would  either  declare 
us  a  department  of  France,  or  levy  troops  here  and  endeavor  to  reduce  us  to  obe 
dience.  Randolph  of  my  opinion,  and  argued  chiefly  on  the  resurrection  of  popu 
larity  to  Genet,  which  might  be  produced  by  this  measure.  That  at  present  he 
was  dead  in  the  public  opinion,  if  we  would  but  leave  him  so.  The  President 
lamented  there  was  not  unanimity  among  us  ;  that  as  it  was,  we  had  left  him 
exactly  where  we  found  him  ;  and  so  it  ended." 

Probably  no  reflecting  man  will  now  doubt  that,  on  all 
accounts,  it  was  most  fortunately  permitted  so  to  end.  Genet 
was  in  due  time  recalled  in  disgrace  by  his  own  nation.2  His 

1  Ana,  Nov.  18th. 

2  On  the  8th  day  of  October,  Mr.  Morris  received  and  instantly  communicated  to 
M.  Defourges,  the  French  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  the  dispatches  of  the  United  States 
Government,  asking  the  recall  of  Genet.     On  the  10th,  the  French  Minister  replied  : 

"  I  shall  give  the  Council  an  account  of  the  punishable  conduct  of  their  agent  in  the 
United  States,  and  I  can  assure  you,  beforehand,  that  they  will  regard  the  strange  abuse 
of  their  confidence  by  this  agent,  as  I  do,  with  the  liveliest  indignation.  The  Piesident 
of  the  United  States  has  done  justice  to  our  sentiments,  in  attributing  the  deviations  of 
the  citizen  Genet  to  causes  entirely  foreign  from  his  instructions :  and  we  hope  that  the 
measures,  which  are  to  be  taken,  will  more  and  more  convince  the  head  and  the  members 
of  your  Government,  that  so  far  from  having  authorized  the  proceedings  and  criminal 


A   FORTUNATE    CONCLUSION.  !~CHAP. 


expulsion,  if  it  did  not  produce  the  precise  effect  predicted  by 
Randolph,  might  have  produced  a  far  more  formidable  one. 

The  reflecting  men  of  all  parties  felt  that  Genet's  presump 
tuous  and  most  offensively  managed  attempt  to  measure  his 
power,  weight,  and  popularity  against  the  President's  had  justly 
consigned  him  to  the  indignation  of  the  Government  and  people. 
They  expected  and  desired  that  his  recall  be  demanded.  But 
a  vast  majority  of  the  American  people  still  regarded  France 
with  deep  partiality  as  a  friendly  and  a  republican  power.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  did  not  regard  as  a  friendly  power  one 
whose  morning  and  evening  guns  daily  roared  sullen  defiance 
from  as  many  as  eight  fortresses  forcibly  held  within  the  conceded 
boundaries  of  the  United  States — which  had  every  year  since  the 
treaty  of  peace  impressed  seamen  at  pleasure  from  American 
vessels — which  was  now,  while  conceding  the  alacrity  with 
which  we  had  recently  met  its  demands  in  our  construction  of, 
and  action  under,  our  neutrality  laws,  framing  and  persisting  in 
measures  to  drive  our  commerce  from  the  ocean.  When  it 
should  further  become  known  that  England's  Minister  had 
hardly  brought  a  conciliatory  word  to  our  Government — that  he 
had  even  neglected  to  answer  its  repeated  calls  for  information 
—that  he  had,  on  several  occasions,  exhibited  all  the  arrogance 
of  tone  which  he  could  do  short  of  insult ;  when  the  news  should 
arrive  that  still  another  hostile  order  in  council  against  our  com 
merce  was  set  in  operation — would  the  public  impression  of 
Great  Britain's  friendship  be  likely  to  be  increased  ? 

manoeuvres  of  citizen  Genet,  our  only  aim  has  been  to  maintain  between  the  two  nations 
the  most  perfect  harmony." — Life  and  Writing?  of  Gaverneur  Morris,  vol.  ii.  p.  358. 

Very  soon  afterwards,  M.  Defourges  informed  Mr.  Morris  that  Genet  should  be 
"  punished  " — that  three  or  four  Commissioners  would,  as  soon  as  some  embarrassments 
in  r  -gard  to  the  appointment  of  one  of  them  could  be  settled,  proceed  at  once  to  the 
United  States,  and  send  Genet  home  a  "prisoner." — Ib.  vol.  ii.  p.  371. 

On  the  12th  of  November,  Mr.  Morris  wrote  the  President  that  the  Commission  was 
appointed  consisting  of  M.  Fauchet,  to  act  as  Minister,  and  three  other  persons  whom  he 
named.  He  speaks  of  two  of  them,  whom  he  knows,  very  favorably;  and  has  no  doubt 
that  France  has  the  most  sincere  desire  to  be  on  the  most  cordial  terms  with  us. — Ib. 
vol.  ii.  p.  377. 

A  new  phase  in  affairs  at  the  French  capital  delayed  these  measures.  Fauchet 
•  reached  the  United  States  in  February.  1794,  bringing  assurances  that  his  Government 
entirely  disapproved  of  the  conduct  of  Genet.  He  applied  to  the  President  for  leave  to 
arrest  Genet,  to  send  him  a  prisoner  to  France,  which  was  denied.  He  asked,  on  behalf 
of  the  Republic  of  France,  the  recall  of  Governeur  Morris.  This  was  conceded,  and  the 
President  sent  Colonel  Monroe  to  fill  his  place. 

Genet  did  not,  of  course,  choose  to  voluntarily  return  to  France.  He  married  a 
daughter  of  Governor  George  Clinton,  of  New  York,  and  settled  permanently  near 
Albany,  in  that  State.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  he  married  a  daughter  of  Snmuel 
Osgood,  the  first  Postmaster-General  of  the  United  States  under  the  Constitution. 
Genet  subsided  into  a  useful  and  public-spirited  American  citizen,  and  was  widely 
respected.  He  died  in  1834. 


CHAP  iv.]  THE  PRESIDENT'S  VIEWS.  205 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  it  should  be  known  that  France 
had  relieved  us  from  our  West  India  guaranty — put  our  com 
merce  on  the  footing  of  her  own  l — not  only  recalled  her  offend 
ing  Minister  at  the  first  intimation,  but  ordered  him  to  be 
brought  home  a  close  prisoner  and  put  on  trial  for  his  life — 
there  could  be  little  likelihood  that  the  popular  feeling  for 
that  country  would  be  diminished  either  by  the  facts  or  the  con 
trast. 

Had,  at  such  a  moment,  the  spectacle  been  presented  of  our 
own  Government,  very  modestly  and  undisturbedly  "  urging" 
England  to  do  us  justice,  while  we  were  (as  nations  view  such 
things)  defying  France  by  expelling  its  Minister  before  asking 
his  recall — expelling  him,  too,  under  circumstances  offering  a 
casus  belli  on  the  very  eve  of  the  meeting  of  Congress — can  there 
be  much  doubt  that  a  reactionary  feeling  would  have  been  roused 
on  the  side  of  France  which  nothing  could  have  withstood? 

When  Congress  met,  we  shall  see  that  without  this  provoca 
tion,  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  this  body  could  be 
prevented  from  entering  upon  such  retaliatory  measures  towards 
England  as  would  have  provoked  instant  war  with  that  power. 
Another  drop  in  the  cup  of  national  feeling  would  have  caused 
an  overflow. 

General  Washington  could  have  expressed  but  very  tran 
sient  feelings  on  this  subject.  He  was  not  outnumbered  in  the 
Cabinet  on  the  question.  Half  of  its  members  were  eager  for  the 
step  and  its  consequences.  It  required  but  his  casting  vote  or 
voice  to  decide  in  favor  of  the  renvoi  according  to  the  usual 
forms  of  Cabinet  proceeding.  Had  the  President  entertained  a 
fixed  opinion  that  the  honor  of  the  country  required  such  a  step, 
is  there  anything  in  his  history  to  lead  us  to  suppose  he  would 
have  hesitated  to  take  as  much  moral  responsibility  in  the 
decision  as  he  asked  each  of  his  subordinates  to  take  ? 

On  the  21st  of  November  the  Cabinet  met  to  compare 
drafts  which  it  had  been  arranged  should  be  prepared  by  Ran 
dolph  and  Hamilton,  of  the  manner  of  explaining  to  Con 
gress  the  intentions  of  the  President's  proclamation.2  Ran 
dolph's  draft  assumed  that  its  intention  was  to  keep  our  citizens 

1  We  ought  to  say,  however,  that  the  retaliatory  decree  against  neutrals,  from  which 
our  ships  were  originally  excepted,  was  extended  indiscriminately  to  all  before  the  meet 
ing  of  Congress. 

2  See  -Ana  of  this  date. 


206  CABINET   DISCUSS    PRESIDENT^    SPEECH.  [CHAP.  IV. 

quiet,  and  to  intimate  to  foreign  nations  that  it  was  the  Presi 
dent's  opinion  that  the  interests  and  dispositions  of  this  country 
were  for  peace.  Hamilton's  said  nothing  which  "  could  be  laid 
hold  of  for  any  purpose,"  leaving  the  proclamation  to  explain 
itself.  In  his  argument  in  the  Cabinet,  he  took  as  high  ground 
as  on  the  18th.  Jefferson  declared  for  Randolph's  draft, 
though  it  gave  the  proclamation  "  more  objects  than  he  had 
contemplated."  Knox  supported  Hamilton's  : 

"  The  President  said  he  had  had  but  one  object,  the  keeping  our  people  quiet 
till  Congress  should  meet ;  that,  nevertheless,  to  declare  he  did  not  mean  a  declara 
tion  of  neutrality,  in  the  technical  sense  of  the  phrase,  might  perhaps  be  crying 
peccavi  before  he  was  charged.  However,  he  did  not  decide  between  the  two 
drafts." 

He  finally  rejected  both,  and  adopted  one  more  nearly  con 
forming  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  views  than  even  that  presented  by 
Randolph.1 

Another  Cabinet  consultation  was  held  on  the  23d.  Hamil 
ton  was  prevented  from  attending  by  illness.2  The  heads  of  the 
speech,  as  submitted  by  the  different  members,3  were  further 
discussed.  The  proposition,  from  Hamilton's  draft,  to  recom 
mend  Congress  to  fortify  the  principal  sea-ports  first  came  up. 
Knox  was  for.  and  Jefferson  and  Randolph  were  against  it,  The 
President  doubted  the  expediency  of  Congress  entering  upon 
such  an  undertaking.  It  was  amended,  therefore,  by  substi 
tuting  a  proposition  "  to  adopt  means  for  enforcing  respect,  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  within  its  waters."  4  The 
next  topic,  taken  from  the  President's  draft,  was  the  recommen 
dation  of  a  military  academy.  Knox  was  for  it.  Jefferson 
objected  "  that  none  of  the  specified  powers  given  by  the  Con 
stitution  to  Congress  would  authorize  this."  Randolph  ex- 

1  The  following  is  from  his  speech  delivered  at  the  opening  of  Congress  . 

"As  soon  as  the  war  in  Europe  had  embraced  those  powers  with  whom  the  United 
States  have  the  most  extensive  relations,  there  was  reason  to  apprehend  that  our  inter 
course  with  them  might  be  interrupted,  and  our  disposition  for  peace  drawn  into  ques 
tion  by  suspicions  too  often  entertained  by  belligerent  nations.  It  seemed,  therefore,  to 
be  my  duty  to  admonish  our  citizens  of  the  consequence  of  a  contraband  trade,  and  of 
hostile  acts  to  any  of  the  parties :  and  to  obtain,  by  a  declaration  of  the  existing  state 
of  things,  an  easier  admission  of  our  rights  to  the  immunities  belonging  to  our  situation. 
Under  these  impressions,  the  proclamation  which  will  be  laid  before  you  was  issued." 

2  Hamilton  to  Washington,  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  489. 

3  The  President,  Hamilton  and  Randolph  prepared  drafts  of  heads  of  the  subjects 
which  they  considered  it  expedient  to  lay  before  Congress  in  the  opening  speech  of  the 
Prescient,  or  in  his  subsequent  messages.    They  will  be  found  brought  together  in  Ham 
ilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  pp.  482-485. 

4  We  quote  from  the  Ana  of  same  date. 


CIIA.P.  TV.]  DRAFTS    OF   MESSAGES    DISCUSSED.  207 

pressed  no  opinion.  The  President  tlionght  it  would  be  a  good 
thing,  but  did  not  wish  "  to  bring  on  anything  which  might 
generate  heat  and  ill  humor." 

The  Cabinet  met  on  the  28th,  to  consider  the  draft  of  the 
President's  speech  prepared  by  Randolph.  A  clause  recom 
mending  a  military  academy  was  inserted.  Jefferson  again 
opposed  it.  Hamilton  and  Knox  approved  it  without  discussion. 
Randolph  defended  it  on  the  ground  that  the  words  of  the 
Constitution  which  authorized  Congress  to  lay  taxes,  etc.,  ''for 
the  common  defence,"  might  include  it.  The  President  declared 
he  would  not  choose  to  recommend  anything  against:  the  Con 
stitution,  but  if  it  was  doubtful,  he  was  so  convinced  of  the 
necessity  of  this  measure,  that  he  would  place  the  question 
before  Congress,  and  leave  them  to  decide  whether  it  was  con 
stitutional  or  not.1 

After  dinner,  Mr.  Jefferson  produced  drafts  of  messages  on 
the  subject  of  France  and  England — proposing  that  the  one 
relative  to  Spain  should  be  subsequent  and  secret.3  The  cha 
racteristic  debate  which  ensued  is  thus  described  in  the  Ana : 

u  Hamilton  objected  to  the  draft  in  toto ;  said  that  the  contrast  drawn 
between  the  con-duct  of  France  and  England  amounted  to  a  declaration  of  war ;  he 
denied  that  France  had  ever  done  us  favors  ;  that  it  was  mean  for  a  nation  to 
acknowledge  favors  ;  that  the  dispositions  of  the  people  of  this  country  towards 
France,  he  considered  as  a  serious  calamity  ;  that  the  Executive  ought  not,  by  an 
echo  of  this  language,  to  nourish  that  disposition  in  the  people  ;  that  the  offers  in 
commerce  made  us  by  France,  were  the  offspring  of  the  moment,  of  circumstances 
which  would  not  last,  and  it  was  wrong  to  receive  as  permanent,  things  merely 
temporary  ;  that  he  could  demonstrate  that  Great  Britain  showed  us  more  favors 
than  France.  In  complaisance  to  him  I  whittled  down  the  expressions  without 
opposition  ;  struck  out  that  of  '  favors  antient  and  recent '  from  France  ;  sof  ened 
some  terms,  and  omitted  some  sentiments  respecting  Great  Britain.  He  still  waa 
against  the  whole,  but  insisted  that,  at  any  rate,  it  should  be  a  secret  communica 
tion,  because  the  matters  it  stated  were  still  depending.  These  were,  1  The  inex- 
ecution  of  the  treaty  ;  2.  The  restraining  our  commerce  to  their  own  ports  and 
those  of  their  friends.  Knox  joined  Hamilton  in  everything.  Randolph  was  for 
the  communications  ;  that  the  documents  respecting  the  first  should  be  given  in  as 
public  ;  but  that  those  respecting  the  second  should  not  be  given  to  the  Legislature 
at  all,  but  kept  secret.  I  began  to  tremble  now  for  the  whole,  lest  all  should  be 
kept  secret.  I  urged,  especially,  the  duty  now  incumbent  on  the  President,  to  lay 
before  the  Legislature  and  the  public  what  had  passed  on  the  inexecution  of  the 
treaty,  since  Mr.  Hammond's  answer  of  this  month  might  be  considered  as  the  last 

1  Ana,  Nov.  28th. 

2  This  shows  that  an  agreement  on  the  23d,  mentioned  by  Jefferson  in  Ana,  tha/ 
Randolph  draw  the  Speech  and  Messages,  did  not  include  all  of  the  latter. 


208  JEFFERSON'S  SHARE  IN  DRAFTING  PAPERS.     [CHAP.  iv. 

we  should  ever  have  ;  that,  therefore,  it  could  no  longer  be  considered  as  a  nego 
tiation  pending.  I  urged  that  the  documents  respecting  the  stopping  our  corn 
ought  also  to  go,  but  insisted  that  if  it  should  be  thought  better  to  withhold  them, 
the  restrictions  should  not  go  to  those  respecting  the  treaty  ;  that  neither  of  these 
subjects  was  more  in  a  state  of  pendency  than  the  recall  of  Mr.  Genet,  on  which, 
nevertheless,  no  scruples  had  been  expressed.  The  President  took  up  the  subject, 
with  more  vehemence  than  I  have  seen  him  show,  and  decided  without  reserve, 
that  not  only  what  had  passed  on  the  inexecution  of  the  treaty  should  go  in  as  pub 
lic  (in  which  Hamilton  and  Knox  had  divided  in  opinion  from  Randolph  and 
myself),  but  also  that  those  respecting  the  stopping  our  corn  should  go  in  as  public 
(wherein,  Hamilton,  Knox,  and  Randolph  had  been  against  me).  This  was  the 
first  instance  I  had  seen  of  his  deciding  on  the  opinion  of  one  against  that  of  three 
others,  which  proved  his  own  to  have  been  very  strong." 

On  the  2d  of  December,  the  Secretary  of  State  sent  the 
President  a  fair  copy  of  his  draft  of  the  message  respecting 
France  and  Great  Britain,  with  the  amendments  embodied,  and 
a  written  argument  against  making  that  in  regard  to  Great 
Britain  confidentially  to  Congress,  as  urged  by  the  Secretaries 
of  the  Treasury  and  War.  His  viewrs  on  this  subject,  and  that 
the  one  in  regard  to  Spain  should  be  secret,  were  acted  upon  by 
the  President ;  and  his  drafts  of  the  messages — after  the  unim 
portant  u  whittling  down "  of  that  in  regard  to  England, 
already  mentioned,  were  adopted  and  submitted  to  Congress. 

This  is  almost  the  only  instance,  so  far  as  we  recollect,  in 
which  Jefferson  has  left  any  record  of  his  drafting  papers  which 
were  to  go  before  the  public  as  the  President's  own,  and  signed 
by  his  name.  We  take  it  for  granted  that  more  of  this  class  of 
papers  were  prepared  for  the  President  by  Randolph  and  Hamil 
ton,  and  especially  by  the  latter,  than  by  Jefferson.  There  were 
two  or  three  reasons  for  this.  Hamilton  had  almost  from  his 
boyhood  acted  as  a  draftsman  of  papers  for  General  Washing 
ton.  He  and  "Randolph  had  but  little  of  this  kind  of  labor  to  do 
in  their  official  departments,  so  far  as  important  State  papers 
were  concerned,  at  least  little  compared  with  that  which  de 
volved  upon  the  Secretary  of  State.  And,  lastly,  the  "  assumed 
American  primate "  (as  Judge  Pendleton  termed  Hamilton) 
probably  was  as  fond  of  being  employed  in  this  capacity,  as  he 
was  of  giving  his  aid  in  every  other  department  of  the  Govern 
ment.  On  all  great  leading  questions  of  foreign  policy,  he  had 
been  consrantly  under  the  necessity  of  enduring  the  ascendency 
of  Jefferson,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  some  counterbalancing 
evidence?  of  trust  and  confidence  were  considered  necessary. 


CRAP.  IV.]  WHY   IT   CANNOT   BE   KNOWN.  209 

It  would  not,  in  our  judgment,  seriously  detract  from  Gene 
ral  Washington's  reputation,  were  it  conclusively  shown  that  al- 
his  papers  were  rough-drafted,  or  even  completed,  by  other 
pens.  That  ablest  monarch,  perhaps,  who  had  sat  on  the  throne 
of  England  for  ages,  and  who  actually  and  personally  controlled 
its  entire  general  policy,  Queen  Elizabeth,  left  drafting  to  Cecil 
and  Walsingharn  and  other  instruments.  We  doubt  whether 

D 

her  equal  in  statesmanship,  the  mighty  Protector,  would  not 
have  preferred  again  heading  the  cavalry  charge  at  Marston 
Moor,  to  attempting  an  elaborate  State  paper.  We  fancy  Wil 
liam  III.  decided  on  the  contents  of  fifty  dispatches  where  he 
wrote  one.  But  if,  instead  of  coming  down  from  the  period 
of  Elizabeth,  we  should  go  backwards,  we  should  soon  reach 
statesmen,  under  whose  resounding  tread  empires  shook,  who 
could  not  write  their  own  names.  Shaven  monks,  or  secre 
taries  who  had  scarcely  looked  out  of  closets,  were  generally 
their  draftsmen,  and  put  their  thoughts  on  parchment.  Which 
suffered  the  shame  ?  Which  deserved  the  credit  ? 

But  the  modern  world,  in  which  the  ruler  is  also  educated 
to  the  duties  of  a  secretary,  does  not  view  the  subject  in  exactly 
this  light.  There  are  writings  of  routine,  and  others  which  by 
custom  are  expected  to  emanate  from  all  the  members  of  a 
cabinet,  and  whieh  may,  therefore,  come  indifferently  from  the 
pen  of  either.  But  in  regard  to  papers  of  a  more  personal 
character,  even  though  they  come  officially  or  semi- officially 
before  the  public,  and  in  regard  to  all  purely  personal  papers,  it 
would  unquestionably  be  considered  as  enhancing  any  states 
man's  or  other  individual's  fame  that  he  was  the  direct  author 
of  the  really  great  written  productions  bearing  his  name.  For 
example,  it  would  be  felt  more  creditable  to  General  Washing 
ton  that  he  substantially  wrote  or  dictated  his  "  Farewell 
Address,"  than  to  suppose  that  celebrated  production  was 
thought  out  and  written  out  by  another  man  for  his  use. 

Consequently,  it  is  a  matter  of  considerable  delicacy  for  the 
real  author  to  come  forward  and  reclaim  any  such  production 
which  bears  the  signature  of  another  man.  He  who  is  perfectly 
qualified  to  write  for  himself,  may  be  hurried,  may  be  ill,  may 
(in  regard  to  official  papers)  wish  to  reserve  his  judgment  for 
that  unbiased  decision,  which  is  best  reached,  oftentimes,  by 

VOL.    II. 14 


21 0  JEFFERSON'S  SHARE  IN  DRAFTING  PAPERS.      [CHAP.  rv, 

seeing  how  the  thing  will  look  completed — without  becoming 
previously  warped,  or  warmed,  into  favoring  any  set  of  views, 
or  manner  of  treatment,  by  originating  them  or  writing  them 
out.  Under  these  and  various  other  circumstances,  which  will 
readily  suggest  themselves  to  reflecting  men,  a  man  borne  down 
with  weighty  responsibilities,  and  without  vanity  of  authorship, 
would  be  likely  to  call  in  the  aid  of  other  competent  pens,  if 
personal  or  official  circumstances  entitled  him  to  command 
them.  In  private  life,  there  are  few  who  wield  ready  and 
vigorous  pens  who  have  not  had  their  services  thus  taxed  by 
friends,  or  by  associates. 

What  rule  does  good  sense  and  delicacy  impose,  in  regard  to 
the  actual  authors  claiming  any  productions,  which  another  has 
fathered — taken  the  responsibility  of — and  perhaps,  in  fact,  ori 
ginally  suggested  in  all  the  material  substance  ?  We  think  the 
well  settled  rule,  among  gentlemen,  is  that  the  publication  of 
the  authorship  shall  depend  entirely  upon  the  will  of  the  osten 
sible  author.  If  he  chooses  to  make  the  real  authorship  known, 
he  certainly  may  ;  if  he  oinits  to  do  so  by  any  declaration  or 
memoranda  (whether  his  object  be  merely  to  avoid  unnecessary 
explanations,  unfounded  inferences,  or  to  consult  any  other  mo 
tive  whatsoever)  it  is  to  be  presumed  he  does  not  choose  to  have 
it  known.  It  is  not  necessary  that  he  place  any  obligation  of 
personal  secrecy  on  the  real  writer,  because  the  commonest  deli 
cacy  among  gentlemen,  by  universal  consent,  imposes  that  obli 
gation.  Nay,  among  men  of  any  breeding,  to  make  such  a 
requirement  wrould  be  to  imply  a  suspicion  verging  on  an  insult. 

Do  public  papers  stand  on  any  d;fferent  footing  ?  Would 
the  omission  of  the  ostensible  author  to  ask  his  amanuensis  or 
secretary  to  destroy  the  original  draft,  authorize  the  latter  to 
carefully  preserve  it,  so  that  some  day  or  other  it  should 
turn  up  to  claim  (and  perhaps  really  most  falsely  claim) 
the  merit  of  the  authorship  on  the  strength  of  the  handwriting 
or  the  drafting  ?  There  can  be  no  shadow  of  pretence  that  one 
man's  having  thus  privately  assisted  another  in  preparing  either 
a  public  or  private  paper,  is  a  historical  fact  which  the  world  is 
entitled  to  know  at  some  future  day,  and  which,  therefore, 
authorizes  the  party  rendering  the  assistance  to  store  away 
proofs  of  it  for  the  next  generation.  We  make  bold  to  say  there 
is  not  a  more  abominable  doctrine,  base  in  object  and  scandalous 


CHAP.  IV.]  MEETING   OF   CONGRESS.  211 

in  consequence — than  that  death  snaps  one  bond  of  personal  and 
private  confidence.  If  we  have  not  a  right  to  "kiss  and  tell" 
with  the  living,  we  have  not  a  right,  merely  to  gratify  vanity, 
to  utter  over  the  grave  what  would  have  shamed  or  pained  the 
living.  We  might  expect  that  such  a  thing  as  an  occasional 
draft  of  papers  prepared  for  another  would  accidentally  get 
mingled  with  the  manuscripts  of  the  drafter,  and  thus,  without 
his  intention,  descend  to  his  posterity.  But  if  long  and  un 
broken  files  were  found,  ranging  from  mere  scraps  up  to  elabor 
ate  addresses,  we  should  be  apt  to  suspect  it  evinced  a  particular 
and  unmistakable  purpose. 

It  is  not  presumed  that  Mr.  Jefferson  prepared  many  papers 
of*  any  kind  for  General  Washington's  signature,  for  the  reasons 
already  stated.  But  we  have  sufficiently  explained  why,  at  all 
events,  no  "  drafts'*  of  his  are  preserved  of  any  of  the  President's 
official  papers  which  are  not  by  common  custom  parcelled  out 
among  the  heads  of  departments.  We  think  we  have  in  view 
upwards  of  twenty  instances  where  Mr.  Jefferson  drafted — 
wrote  out — important,  in  several  instances  celebrated,  papers  for 
other  men.  Some  of  those  instances  are  not  doubted  among 
those  who  ought  to  know  the  truth.  We  never  have  heard  of  a 
draft  of  one  of  them  among  Jefferson's  manuscripts;  never  have 
found  a  remote  allusion  to  their  authorship  in  his  most  confi 
dential  writings ;  never  have  traced  an  oral  claim  to  him  of 
this  kind  among  those  who  lived  for  years  under  the  same 
roof. 

Congress  met  December  2d.  The  violences  of  Genet,  Du 
Plaine,  etc.,  and  especially  the  seeming  appeal  of  the  former  to 
the  people  against  the  Government,  had  produced  a  ferment  in 
the  public  mind  which  operated  unfavorably  towards  the  Re 
publicans,  and  carried  over  to  the  Federalists  some  members,  of 
Congress  who  were  not  elected  as  such.  Notwithstanding  this, 
Frederick  A.  Muhlenburg,  the  Republican  candidate  for  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  elected  by  a  majority  of 
ten  over  Theodore  Sedgwick,  his  Federal  competitor. 

It  is  worthy  of  passing  remark  that  the  representation  of  the 
State  which  was  the  residence  of  the  President  and  Secretary 
of  State,  was  decidedly  Republican.  The  Federal  leader  in  the 
Cabinet  nad  not  been  so  fortunate  at  home.  We  omitted  to 
mention,  also,  that  at  the  late  Presidential  election  f^ery  elector 


'21  '2  JEFFERSON'S  REPORT  ON  COMMERCE.          [CHAP,  iv 

from  both  Virginia  and  New  York  voted  against  the  Federal 
candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 

The  President  sent  the  messages  to  Congress  in  regard  to 
France  and  England,  prepared  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  2d  of 
December,  and  the  confidential  one,  containing  the  diplomatic 
correspondence  with  Spain,  on  the  16th. 

On  the  latter  named  day,  the  Secretary  of  State  made  a 
report  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  entitled  a  "  Report 
on  the  Privileges  and  Restrictions  on  the  Commerce  of  the 
United  States  in  Foreign  Countries,"  made  in  pursuance  of  a 
resolution  of  the  House,  February  23d,  1791.  He  stated  that 
"  it  was  put  into  its  present  form  in  time  to  have  been  given 
in  to  the  last  session  of  Congress,"  but  why  not  so  given,  is 
not  mentioned. 

Our  imports  from  Spain,  Portugal,  France,  Great  Britain, 
the  United  Netherlands,  Denmark,  and  Sweden,  and  their 
American  possessions — the  tonnage  of  onr  vessels  entering  our 
ports  from  those  nations — our  commercial  articles  received  in 
return  by  them — and  the  terms  on  which  they  respectively  put 
our  commerce — were  succinctly  stated.  He  then  inquired  how 
the  restrictions  on  our  commerce  and  navigation  might  be  best 
removed,  modified,  or  counteracted  ?  After  stating  this  might 
be  done  by  friendly  arrangements  with  the  several  nations,  or 
"  by  the  separate  acts  of  our  own  Legislatures  for  countervailing 
their  effects,"  he  pronounced  the  first  resort  by  far  the  most 
eligible  one.  He  said  : 

"  Instead  of  embarrassing  commerce  under  piles  of  regulating  laws,  duties  and 
prohibitions,  could  it  be  relieved  of  all  its  shackles  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  could 
every  country  be  employed  in  producing  that  which  nature  has  best  fitted  it  to 
produce,  and  each  be  free  to  exchange  with  others  mutual  surpluses  for  mutual 
wants,  the  greatest  mass  possible  would  then  be  produced  of  those  things  which 
contribute  to  human  life  and  human  happiness ;  the  numbers  of  mankind  would  be 
increased,  and  their  condition  bettered. 

"  Would  even  a  single  nation  begin  with  the  United  States  this  system  of  free 
commerce,  it  would  be  advisable  to  begin  it  with  that  nation  ;  since  it  is  one  by 
one  only  that  it  can  be  extended  to  all.  Where  the  circumstances  of  either  party 
render  it  expedient  to  levy  a  revenue,  by  way  of  impost,  on  commerce,  its  freedom 
might  be  modified  in  that  particular,  by  mutual  and  equivalent  measures,  preserving 
it  entire  in  all  others." 

But  where  nations  refused  a  liberal  reciprocity,  the  following 
alternative  was  suggested  : 


CFIA.P.  iv.]  JKFFEKSON'S  REFORT  ON  COMMERCE.  213 

"  But  should  any  nation,  contrary  to  our  wishes,  suppose  it  may  better  find  its 
advantage  by  continuing  its  system  of  prohibitions,  duties,  and  regulations,  it 
behooves  us  to  protect  our  citizens,  their  commerce  and  navigation,  by  counter 
prohibitions,  duties,  and  regulations,  also.  Free  commerce  and  navigation  are  not 
to  be  given  in  exchange  for  restrictions  and  vexations ;  nor  are  they  likely  to  pro 
duce  a  relaxation  of  them." 

Five  rules  were  proposed  to  carry  out  the  principle  of  reta 
liation,  where  it  became  necessary. 

It  was  asserted  that  the  establishment  of  some  of  the  princi 
ples  by  Great  Britain  for  which  these  rules  were  proposed  as 
retaliations  bad  already  lost  to  the  United  States,  in  their  com 
merce  with  that  country  and  its  possessions,  "  between  eight  and 
nine  hundred  vessels  of  near  40,000  tons  burden,  according  to 
statements  from  official  materials  ;"  that  this  involved  a  propor 
tionate  loss  of  seamen,  shipwrights,  and  ship-building;  and 
"  was  too  serious  a  loss  to  admit  forbearance  of  some  effectual 
remedy."  He  subsequently  said  : 

"  Proposals  of  friendly  arrangement  have  been  made  on  our  part,  by  the 
present  Government,  to  that  of  Great  Britain,  as  the  message  states ;  but,  being 
already  on  as  good  a  footing  in  law,  and  a  better  in  fact,  than  the  most  favored 
nation,  they  have  not,  as  yet,  discovered  any  disposition  to  have  it  meddled  with." 

And  the  following  paragraph  characterized  our  commercial 
relations  with  France : 

"  France  has,  of  her  own  accord,  proposed  negotiations  for  improving  by  a 
new  treaty  on  fair  and  equal  principles,  the  commercial  relations  of  the  two  coun 
tries.  But  her  internal  disturbances  have  hitherto  prevented  the  prosecution  of 
them  to  eifect,  though  we  have  had  repeated  assurances  of  a  continuance  of  the 
disposition." 

This  report  furnished  its  author  a  legitimate  opportunity  to 
utter  some  views  in  regard  to  a  class  of  our  foreign  relations, 
where  he  was  not  compelled  to  suffer  the  ''whittling  down  "  of 
"two  and  a  half"  of  his  Cabinet  colleagues ;  and  like  a  warrior 
about  to  leave  the  field,  he  seemed  disposed  to  give  his  foes,  and 
the  foes  of  his  cause,  a  parting  salutation  to  be  remembered. 
The  javelin  went  to  the  centre  of  the  mark.  There  was  no 
apparent  elaboration  about  this  paper,  but  it  had  the  success, 
peculiar  to  so  many  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  writings,  and  which  con 
stitutes  the  most  decisive  test  of  his  greatness.  It  henceforth 
became  the  text,  nay,  the  chart  of  a  great  party.  Perhaps 


214  EFFECT   OF   HIS   REPORT LEADERSHIP.  [CHAP  IV. 

others  had  pressed  the  same  views  before,  in  part  or  ill  whole ; ' 
Mr.  Jefferson  himself  certainly  had  pressed  them  in  private  long 
before  ;  but  it  establishes  rather  than  detracts  from  our  impres 
sions  of  that  singular  influence  which  he  seems,  spontaneously, 
to  have  exerted  over  the  minds  of  men,  that  previously  enounced 
ideas  came  with  the  force  of  something  as  original  and  striking 
as  true,  when  they  dropped  from  his  lips. 

No  better  proof  of  apostolical  mission  is  to  be  found  than 
that  moral  maxims  older  than  Socrates  and  Confucius,  as  old  as 
the  first  created  man,  could  be  proclaimed,  in  their  naked  sim 
plicity,  with  a  power  which  not  only  shook  rulers  on  the  judg 
ment-seat,  but  which  penetrated  with  controlling  efficacy  to  the 
heart's  core  of  great  bodies  of  mankind,  either  changing  estab 
lished  currents  of  thought,  or  giving  them  the  new  authority  of 
divine  enactments.  We  would  be  guilty  of  no  irreverence  in 
comparing  the  things  of  this  world  to  those  of  a  holier  one — but 
occasionally  in  the  ages  there  come  men  who,  if  not  clothed 
with  the  same  authority  (which  no  one  pretends),  appeal  with  a 
corresponding  eifect  to  the  convictions  of  men  while  laying  down 
maxims  tor  the  guidance  of  important  temporal  concerns. 
Minds  that  would  resist  or  fail  to  heed  the  clearest  deductions 
of  logic — hearts  that  no  eloquence  would  permanently  move — in 
common  with  those  susceptible  of  nobler  impressions — hear  and 
obey,  where  neither  piercing  logic  nor  moving  words  are  in  the 
least  employed.  Far  more  than  any  other  American  political 
thinker,  Jeiferson  exercised  this  un  explain  able  power.  And  we 
have  brought  up  this  inferior  instance  purposely  to  show  that 
his  power  was  not  limited  to  stately  generalizations — to  great 
democratical  truths  falling  on  a  soil  craving  such  seed — but 
<>veri  to  the  commoner  things  of  business  and  every  day  expe 
diency.  When  Jefferson's  report,  which  we  have  under  view, 
went  to  its  destination,  a  chart  of  the  future  action  of  the 
Republican  party  was  laid  down.  Come  what  intervening 
storms  there  might,  the  vessel  was  bound  on  her  course,  with 
no  alternatives  but  to  go  down  or  reach  the  prescribed  port ! 

Jefferson's  last  political  act  of  importance,  in  the  Cabinet  of 
General  Washington,  was  to  make  a  communication  to  Genet 
on  the  31st  of  December.  The  Minister  had  sent  copies  of  his 
instructions  to  the  President,  with  the  impudent  intimation  that 

1  Madison  had  in  Congress,  but  we  think  they  originated  vrith  Jefferson. 


CTIAP.  IV.]       HIS    RESIGNATION   AND    PRESIDENT'S    REPLY.  215 

he  desired  the  latter  to  lay  them  before  Congress.     The  Secre 
tary  of  State,  among  other  things,  replied  : 

"  I  have  it  in  charge  to  observe,  that  your  functions,  as  the  missionary  of  a 
foreign  nation  here,  are  confined  to  the  transactions  of  the  affairs  of  your  nation 
with  the  Executive  of  the  United  States ;  that  the  communications,  which  are  to 
pass  between  the  Executive  and  Legislative  branches,  cannot  be  a  subject  for  your 
interference,  and  that  the  President  must  be  left  to  judge  for  himself  what  matters 
his  duty  or  the  public  good  may  require  him  to  propose  to  the  deliberatious  of 
Congress.  I  have,  therefore,  the  honor  of  returning  you  the  copies  sent  for  dis 
tribution,  and  of  being,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your  most  obedient,  and  most  hum 
ble  servant." 

On  the  *21st  of  December  the  President  made  an  effort  to 
induce  Mr.  Jefferson  again,  for  the  third  or  fourth  time,  to  post 
pone  his  resignation,  but  without  effect.1  On  the  same  day  that 
the  above  letter  to  Genet  was  written  (December  3 1st),  accord 
ing  to  the  arrangement  entered  into  some  months  before  with 
the  President,  Mr.  Jefferson  sent  in  his  resignation,  couched  in 
the  following  words : 

PHILADELPHIA,  Dec.  31,  1798. 
DEAR  SIR: 

Having  had  the  honor  of  communicating  to  you  in  my  letter  of  the  last  of 
July,  my  purpose  of  retiring  from  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  at  the  end  of 
the  month  of  September,  you  were  pleased,  for  particular  reasons,  to  wish  its  post 
ponement  to  the  close  of  the  year.  That  term  being  now  arrived,  and  my  propen 
sities  to  retirement  becoming  daily  more  and  more  irresistible,  I  now  take  the 
liberty  of  resigning  the  office  into  your  hands.  Be  pleased  to  accept  with  it  my 
sincere  thanks  for  all  the  indulgences  which  you  have  been  so  good  as  to  exercise 
towards  me  in  the  discharge  of  its  duties.  Conscious  that  my  need  of  them  has 
been  great,  I  have  still  ever  found  them  greater,  without  any  other  claim  on  my 
part,  than  a  firm  pursuit  of  what  has  appeared  to  me  to  be  right,  and  a  thorough 
disdain  of  all  means  which  were  not  as  open  and  honorable,  as  their  object  was 
pure.  I  carry  into  my  retirement  a  lively  sense  of  your  goodness,  and  shall  con 
tinue  gratefully  to  remember  it.  With  very  sincere  prayers  for  your  life,  health, 
and  tranquillity,  I  pray  you  to  accept  the  homage  of  the  great  and  constant  respect 
and  attachment  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  dear  sir,  your  most  obedient, 
and  most  humble  servant. 

The  President  made  the  following  feeling  and  beautiful 
reply : 

PHILADELPHIA,  Jan.  1st,  1T94. 
DEAR  SIR:^ 

I  yesterday  received  with  sincere  regret,  your  resignation  of  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State.  Since  it  has  been  impossible  to  prevail  upon  you  to  forego  ant 

1  We  think  this  is  nowhere  mentioned  but  in  a  private  letter  from  Mr.  Jefferson  to  hi* 
daughter  Martha,  of  December  22d,  given  near  the  close  of  this  chapter. 


216  JEFFERSON'S  GENERAL  POPFLAKITY.  [CHAP.  iv. 

longer  the  indulgence  of  your  desire  for  private  life,  the  event,  however  anxious  I 
am  to  avert  it,  must  be  submitted  to. 

But  I  cannot  suffer  you  to  leave  your  station  without  assuring  you,  that  the 
opinion  which  I  had  formed  of  your  integrity  and  talents,  and  which  dictated  your 
original  nomination,  has  been  confirmed  by  the  fullest  experience  ;  and  that  both 
have  been  eminently  displayed  in  the  discharge  of  your  duty. 

Let  a  conviction  of  my  most  earnest  prayers  for  your  happiness  accompany 
\ou  in  your  retirement;  and  while  I  accept,  with  the  warmest  thanks,  your  solici 
tude  for  my  welfare,  I  beg  you  to  believe  that  I  am.  dear  sir,  etc.1 

On  the  5th  of  January  Mr.  Jefferson  set  out  for  the  quiet 
shades  of  Monticello.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he  left 
office  with  a  degree  of  popularity  which  it  has  been  the  good 
fortune  of  few  Cabinet  officers,  officiating  in  a  period  so  exciting 
and  when  party  spirit  ran  so  high,  ever  to  carry  with  them  into 
retirement.  When  his  diplomatic  correspondences  were  com 
municated  to  Congress,  an  expression  of  hearty  approbation 
burst  spontaneously — irrepressibly — from  all  parties.  The  pre 
eminent  ability  of  his  dispatches — their  calm,  just  tone — their 
felicity  of  style — their  dignity  in  expressing  the  resolve  of  a 
young  and  comparatively  weak  nation  to  preserve  its  honor  at 
the  hazard  of  its  existence,  without  any  of  that  boastfulness 
which  lias  disfigured  so  many  later  American  State  papers — 
were  then,  as  among  readers  now,  themes  of  universal  admiration.8 
Towards  England,  to  the  surprise  of  the  Federalists,  he  had  pre 
served  a  moderation  of  language  which  did  not  disclose  a  lurk 
ing  personal  antipathy.  Against  the  improper  pretensions  of 
France,  or  those  claims  from  her  which  it  was  inexpedient  to 
grant  and  just  to  withhold,  he  had  shown  unshaken  firmness. 
His  view  of  our  duties  to  that  power,  under  the  treaties  of  1778, 

i  Washington's  Works,  vol.  x.  p.  390. 

*  One  of  the  greatest  of  his  successors  in  the  State  Department  (Mr.  Webster),  and 
one  whose  political  prejudices  did  not  incline  him  to  look  with  any  peculiar  partiality  on 
Mr.  Jefferson,  has  said  : 

"  Immediately  on  his  return  to  his  native  country,  at  the  organization  of  the  gov 
ernment  under  the  present  Constitution,  his  talents  and  experience  recommended  him  to 
President  Washington  for  the  first  office  in  his  gift.  He  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
department  of  State.  In  this  situation,  also,  he  manifested  conspicuous  ability.  His  cor 
respondence  with  the  ministers  of  other  powers  residing  here,  and  his  instructions  to  our 
diplomatic  agents  abroad,  are  among  our  ablest  State  papers.  A  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  laws  and  usages  of  nations,  perfect  acquaintance  with  the  immediate  subject  before 
him,  great  felicity,  and  still  greater  facility  in  writing,  show  themselves  in  whatever 
effort  his  official  situation  called  on  him  to  make.  It  is  believed  by  competent  judges, 
that  the  diplomatic  intercourse  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  from  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Continental  Congress  in  1774  to  the  present  time,  taken  together,  would 
not  suffer,  in  respect  to  the  talent  with  which  it  has  been  conducted,  by  comparison 
with  anything  which  other  and  older  States  can  produce  :  and  to  the  attainment  of  thig 
respectability  and  distinction,  Mr.  Jefferson  has  contributed  his  full  part." 

To  prevent  imputations  on  Mr.  Webster's  delicacy,  it  is  to  be  remembered  these  words 
were  written  before  he  himself  became  Secretary  of  State. 


CHAP.  IV.]  HIS    OFFICIAL    CONDUCT.  217 

had  precisely  accorded  with  General  "Washington's.  He  had 
manfully  resisted  the  insolence  of  the  Minister  of  France,  with 
out  stooping  on  one  side  to  that  petty  and  angular  style  of 
altercation  (soon  to  be  introduced1),  or,  on  the  other,  making  a 
rebuke  to  the  agent  cover  an  insult  to  his  country.  In  short, 
beyond  a  few  furious  partisans,  in  either  extreme,  Congress 
received  his  dispatches  with  acclamations — and  these  were 
redoubled,  and  burst  from  the  whole  people,  as  the  papers  were 
made  public. 

Judge  Marshall,  a  successor  in  the  department,  says : 

"  This  gentleman  withdrew  from  political  station  at  a  moment  when  he  stood 
particularly  high  in  the  esteem  of  his  countrymen.  His  determined  opposition  to 
the  financial  schemes  which  had  been  proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  approved  by  the  Legislative  and  Executive  departments  of  the  Government ; 
his  ardent  and  undisguised  attachment  to  the  Revolutionary  party  in  France  ;  the 
dispositions  which  he  was  declared  to  possess  in  regard  to  Great  Britain  ;  and  the 
popularity  of  his  opinions  respecting  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  had 
devoted  to  him  that  immense  party  whose  sentiments  were  supposed  to  comport 
with  his,  on  most,  or  all  of  these  interesting  subjects.  To  the  opposite  party  he  had, 
of  course,  become  particularly  unacceptable.  But  the  publication  of  his  correspon 
dence  with  Mr.  Genet  dissipated  much  of  the  prejudice  which  had  been  excited  against 
him.  He  had,  in  that  correspondence,  maintained  with  great  ability  the  opinions 
embraced  by  the  Federalists  on  those  points  of  difference  which  had  arisen  between 
the  two  republics  ;  and  which,  having  become  universally  the  subjects  of  discussion, 
had  in  some  measure  displaced  those  topics  on  which  parties  were  previously  divided. 
The  partiality  for  France  that  was  conspicuous  through  the  whole  of  it.  detracted 
nothing  from  its  merit  in  the  opinion  of  the  friends  of  the  administration,  because, 
however  decided  their  determination  to  support  their  own  Government  in  a  contro 
versy  with  any  nation  whatever,  they  felt  all  the  partialities  for  that  republic  which 
the  correspondence  expressed.  The  hostility  of  his  enemies,  therefore,  was,  for  a 
time,  considerably  lessened,  without  a  corresponding  diminution  of  the  attachment  of 
his  friends.  It  would  have  been  impracticable,  in  office,  long  to  preserve  these  dis 
positions.  And  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  maintain  that  ascendency  which  he 
held  over  the  minds  of  those  who  had  supported,  and  probably  would  continue  to 
Bupport,  every  pretension  of  the  French  republic,  without  departing  from  princi 
ples  and  measures  which  he  had  openly  and  ably  defended." — Life  of  Washington, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  298. 

These  suggestions  as  to  the  fortunateness  (to  himself)  of 
the  time  which  Mr.  Jefferson  selected  for  his  retirement  have 
been,  with  great  injustice  to  the  author,  construed  by  not  a  few 
into  an  intimation  that  Mr.  Jefferson  selected  this  occasion 
because  it  was  a  fortunate  one.2  The  language  does  not  fairly 
admit  of  this  construction.  It  was  immediately  prefaced,  too, 

1  By  Mr.  Pickering. 


But  later  writers  have  not  only  intimated,  but  substantially  declared  this. 


218  HIS   OFFICIAL   CONDUCT.  [CHAP.  IV. 

by  a  statement  that  Mr.  Jefferson  had,  "  in  the  preceding  sum 
mer,"  "  signified  to  the  President  his  intention  to  retire,  in  Sep 
tember,  from  the  public  service,  and  had,  with  some  reluctance, 
consented  to  postpone  the  execution  of  this  intention  to  the  close 
of  the  year."  Of  course,  Judge  Marshall  did  not  intend  ab 
surdly  to  intimate  that  in  fixing  this  time,  so  long  in  advance, 
Mr.  Jefferson  had  superhuman  knowledge  of  the  precise  state 
and  point  of  progress  in  which  it  would  find  our  public  affairs. 

The  supposition  advanced, that  it  would  have  been  impracti 
cable  for  Jefferson  long  to  preserve  the  favorable  dispositions  of 
all  sides,  may,  or  may  not  be  true.  If  we  concede  the  former, 
we  concede  nothing  which  weighs  against  his  character  or 
statesmanship.  He  now  alone,  of  the  subordinate  members  of 
the  Cabinet,  enjoyed  that  general  favor;  and  it  is  certain  that 
he  lived  to  emerge  from  more  serious  difficulties  with  popularity 
unbroken.  He  had  not  blenched  from  the  side  of  the  President 
at  the  most  critical  moment  to  his  own  popularity  which  had 
ever  occurred ;  and  he  encountered  the  danger  voluntarily,  or 
at  least  to  gratify  his  superior,  for  he  had  a  perfectly  good 
excuse  to  retire  in  an  arrangement  long  previously  fixed. 
When  ho  consented  to  relinquish  that  arrangement,  he  did  so 
with  his  eyes  open  to  the  fact  that  a  diplomatic  rupture  was 
imminent  with  the  representative  of  that  country  which  had  all 
the  partialities  of  his  own  political  friends — and  that  he  would 
be  called  upon,  by  his  position,  to  conduct  the  controversy 
against  that  representative.  And,  finally,  when  he  retired,  this 
danger  seemed  to  be  over — the  controversy  substantially  dis 
posed  of.  If,  then,  the  time  of  his  retirement  was  a  fortunate 
one.  his  own  dangers  and  labors  had  contributed  their  full  share 
to  render  it  so. 

It  has  been  a  favorite  theory  with  detractors  that  he  retired 
because  he  found  his  influence  waning  in  the  Cabinet ; :  in 
other  words,  because  the  President  was  losing  confidence  in 
him.  Were  this  so,  General  Washington's  repeated  importu 
nities  to  him  to  remain — repeated  but  nine  days  before  his 
resignation  took  effect,  and  the  language  of  his  parting  letter, 
would  not  seem  to  be  altogether  reconcilable  with  the  high 
sincerity  which  ever  marked  Washington's  character.  He  would 
not  have  desired  his  stay,  if  Jefferson  had  lost  his  confidence ; 

1  See,  for  example,  Life  of  John  Adams,  by  his  grandson. 


CHAP.  IV.]  LETTERS    TO    HIS   DAUGHTERS.  219 

he  could  not  have  solicited  it,  if  he  did  not  desire  it.  And  we 
find  nothing  in  the  history  of  the  Cabinet  to  sustain  such  a 
theory ;  on  the  contrary  we  find  Jefferson  voted  down  and 
his  opinion  acted  against,  far  fewer  times  than  happened  in 
the  case  of  any  other  member.  We  do  not  discover  a  solitary 
instance,  from  first  to  last,  where  Washington  proceeded  against 
his  advice  on  a  great  leading  question  of  foreign  policy. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  events  described  in  this  chapter 
Mr.  Jefferson  made  entries  in  his  Ana,  in  regard  to  some  of  the 
forms  and  ceremonies  practised  about  the  Presidential  mansion, 
which  have  excited  discussion,  and  in  some  instances  contra 
diction.  We  have  not  chosen  to  break  in  upon  a  narration, 
already  sufficiently  disconnected  by  the  nature  of  its  topics,  with 
this  extraneous  matter.  For  some  information  on  the  subject,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  Appendix.1 

Maria  Jefferson  did  not  return  with  her  father  to  the  capital 
after  his  last  preceding  visit  home  in  September.  We  therefore 
find  her  name  recurring  in  the  subjoined  correspondence : 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

GERMAN-TOWN,  Nov.  \lth,  1T93. 

No  letter  yet  from  my  dear  Maria,  who  is  so  fond  of  writing,  so  punctual  in  her 
correspondence.  I  enjoin  as  a  penalty  that  the  next  be  written  in  French.  Now 
for  news.  The  fever  is  entirely  vanished  from  Philadelphia :  not  a  single  person 
has  taken  infection  since  the  great  rains  about  the  1st  of  the  month.  And  those 
who  had  it  before  are  either  dead  or  recovered.  All  the  inhabitants  who  had  fled 
are  returning  into  the  city,  probably  will  all  be  returned  in  the  course  of  the  ensu 
ing  week.  The  President  has  been  into  the  city,  but  will  probably  remain  here  till 
the  meeting  of  Congress  to  form  a  point  of  union  for  them  before  they  will  have 
had  time  to  gather  knowledge  and  courage. 

I  have  not  yet  been  in,  not  because  there  is  a  shadow  of  danger,  but  because  I 
am  afoot.  Thomas  is  returned  into  my  service.  His  wife  and  child  went  into  town 
the  day  we  left  them.  They  then  had  the  infection  of  the  yellow  fever,  were  taken 
two  or  three  days  after,  and  both  died.  Had  we  stayed  those  two  or  three  days 
longer,  they  would  have  been  taken  at  our  house.  I  have  heard  nothing  of  Miss 
Cropper.  Her  trunk  remains  at  our  house.  Mrs.  Fullarton  left  Philadelphia.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Rittenhouse  remained  there,  but  have  escaped  the  fever.  Follow  closely 
your  music,  reading,  sewing,  housekeeping,  and  love  me  as  I  do  you,  most 
affectionately. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

P.  S. — Tell  Mr.  Randolph  that  Gen.  Wayne  has  had  a  convoy  of  twenty-tw« 
wagons  of  provisions  and  seventy  men  cut  off  in  his  rear  by  the  Indians. 

1  See  APPENDIX,  No.  12. 


220  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.  IV 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Dec.  15<A,  1793. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

I  should  have  written  to  you  the  last  Sunday  in  turn,  but  business  required 
my  allotting  your  turn  to  Mr.  Randolph,  and  putting  off  writing  to  you  till  this  day. 
I  have  now  received  yours  and  your  sister's  letters  of  November  27  and  28.  I 
agree  that  Watson  shall  make  the  writing-desk  for  you.  I  called  the  other  day  on 
Mrs.  Fullarton  and  there  saw  your  friend  Sally  Cropper.  She  went  up  to  Trenton 
the  morning  after  she  left  us,  and  stayed  there  till  lately.  The  maid-servant  who 
waited  on  her  and  you  at  our  house,  caught  the  fever  on  her  return  to  town  and 
died.  In  my  letter  of  last  week,  I  desired  Mr.  Randolph  to  send  horses  for  me  to 
be  at  Fredericksburg  on  the  12th  of  January.  Lest  that  letter  should  miscarry,  I 
repeat  it  here,  and  wish  you  to  mention  it  to  him.  I  also  informed  him  that  a 
person  of  the  name  of  Eli  Alexander  would  set  out  this  day  from  Elktown  to  take 
charge  of  the  plantations  under  Byrd  Rogers,  and  praying  him  to  have  his  accom 
modations  at  the  place  got  ready  as  far  as  should  be  necessary  before  my  arrival. 
I  hope  to  be  with  you  all  about  the  loth  of  January,  no  more  to  leave  you.  My 
blessings  to  your  dear  sister  and  little  ones ;  affections  to  Mr.  Randolph  and  your 
friends  with  you.  Adieu,  my  dear, 

Yours  tenderly, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 
(Extract.) 

"PHILADELPHIA,  Dec.  22e?,  1793. — In  my  letter  of  this  day  fortnight  to  Mr. 
Randolph,  and  that  of  this  day  week  to  Maria,  I  mentioned  my  wish  that  my 
horses  might  meet  me  at  Fredericksburg  on  the  12th  of  January.  I  now  repeat  it, 
lest  those  letters  should  miscarry.  The  President  made  yesterday,  what  I  hope  will 
be  the  last  set  at  me  to  continue  ;  but  in  this  I  am  now  immovable  by  any  consi 
derations  whatever.  My  books  and  remains  of  furniture  embark  to-morrow  lor 
Richmond.  [Domestic  details.]  I  hope  that  by  the  next  post  I  shall  be  able  to 
send  Mr.  Randolph  a  printed  copy  of  our  correspondence  with  Mr.  Genet  and  Mr. 
Hammond,  as  communicated  to  Congress.  Our  affairs  with  England  and  Spain 
have  a  turbid  appearance.  The  letting  loose  the  Algerines  on  us,  which  has  been 
contrived  by  England,  has  produced  peculiar  irritation.  I  think  Congress  will 
indemnify  themselves  by  high  duties  on  all  articles  of  British  importation.  If  this 
should  produce  war,  though  not  wished  for,  it  seems  not  to  be  feared." 

The  publication  of  the  following  letter  has  been  left  to  our 
discretion,  and,  we  believe,  we  exercise  a  sound  discretion  in 
presenting  it,  as  an  illustration  of  the  writer's  genuine  kindness 
of  heart,  and  of  that  quiet  firmness  with  which  he  always 
asserted  his  independence  of  personal  and  social  action,  and 
taught  the  same  lesson  to  his  family.  The  letter  was  written 
while  he  was  Secretary  of  State.  It  sufficiently  explains  itself. 


CHAP.  IV.]  LETTERS    TO   HIS    DAUGHTERS.  221 

By  omitting  all  other  dates  and  names,  we  trust  we  shall  avoid 
awakening  unpleasant  recollections  in  any  quarter. 

To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 
MY  DEAR  MARTHA  : 

I  am  now  very  long  without  a  letter  from  Monticello,  which  is  always  a 
circumstance  of  anxiety  to  me.  I  wish  I  could  say  that  Maria  was  quite  well.  I 
think  her  better  for  this  week  past,  having  for  that  time  been  free  from  the  little 
fevers  which  had  harassed  her  nightly. 

A  paper  which  I  some  time  ago  saw  in  the  ******  under  the  signature 
of  *  *  *  *  proved  to  me  the  existence  of  a  rumor  which  I  had  otherwise  heard 
of  with  less  certainty.  It  has  given  me  great  uneasiness,  because  I  knew  that  it- 
must  have  made  so  many  others  unhappy,  and  among  these  Mr.  Randolph  and 
yourself. 

Whatever  the  case  may  be,  the  world  is  become  too  rational  to  extend  to  one 
person  the  acts  of  another.  Every  one  at  present  stands  on  the  merit  or  demerit 
of  their  own  conduct.  I  am  in  hopes,  therefore,  that  neither  of  you  feel  any 
uneasiness  but  for  the  pitiable  victim,  whether  it  be  of  error  or  of  slander.  In 
either  case  I  see  guilt  in  but  one  person,  and  not  in  her.  For  her  it  is  the  moment 
of  trying  the  affection  of  her  friends,  when  their  commiseration  and  comfort 
become  value  to  her  wounds.  I  hope  you  will  deal  them  out  to  her  in  full  measure, 
regardless  of  what  the  trifling  or  malignant  may  think  or  say.  Never  throw  off  the 
best  affections  of  nature  in  the  moment  when  they  become  most  precious  to 
their  object ;  nor  fear  to  extend  your  hand  to  save  another,  lest  you  should  sink 
yourself.  You  are  on  firm  ground  :  your  kindness  will  help  her,  and  count  in  your 
own  favor  also.  I  shall  be  made  very  happy  if  you  are  the  instruments  not  only 
of  supporting  the  spirits  of  your  afflicted  friend  under  the  weight  bearing  on  them, 
but  of  preserving  her  in  the  peace  and  love  of  her  friends.  I  hope  you  have 
already  taken  this  resolution,  if  it  were  necessary.  I  have  no  doubt  you  have. 
Yet  I  wish  it  too  much  to  omit  mentioning  it  to  you.  I  am,  with  sincere  love  to  Mr. 
Randolph  and  yourself,  my  dear  Martha, 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


CHAPTEK   Y. 

.:£"  1794—1795. 

Jefferson's  Return  to  Private  Life— His  Health,  etc — His  Family— Maria  Jefferson- 
Martha  (Jefferson)  Randolph — Thomas  Mann  Randolph — Jefferson's  Ideal  of  Retire 
ment — A  Flash  of  the  old  Spirit — Threatened  War  with  England — Proceedings  in  Con 
gress — Jay  sent  Minister  to  England  —  Chasm  in  Jefferson's  Correspondence— His 
avowed  desire  for  Permanent  Retirement— Was  he  sincere  in  these  Avowals? — Mania 
for  Office  not  yet  introduced — The  first  Offices  "  went  a  begging  " — Jefferson's  Private 
Pursuits — His  Land-roll  in  1794 — Farm  Census— Exhausted  Soils  and  Beggarly  Account 
of  Empty  Bins — Farm  Operations  of  1794 — Pennsylvania  Insurrection — The  Govern 
ment  Measures,  how  regarded  by  the  two  Parties — Republican  View  of  Hamilton's 
Conduct — Washington  invites  Jefferson  to  return  to  the  Cabinet — Did  Washington 
willingly  abandon  a  Balance  of  Parties  in  his  Cabinet? — Bradford's  Political  Attitude — 
Politics  of  Others  who  were  offered  Seats  in  the  Cabinet — Madison's  Course  considered 
— Had  the  Republicans  a  Good  Excuse  for  Non- Acceptance? — Reasons  rendered  by 
John  Adams — His  own  Peculiar  Situation  at  the  Time — Hamilton's  Influence— A  Dif 
ferent  Theory  offered — The  President's  Objects  in  instituting  Jay's  Mission — The 
Selection  of  Jay  unfortunate — Bad  Republican  Tactics — The  President  forced  from  his 
Neutrality — Jefferson's  Views — Session  of  Congress  1794-5 — Sharp  Contest  on  Denun 
ciation  of  Democratic  Societies — Jefferson's  Strictures — His  Refusal  to  be  a  Presidential 
Candidate — Hamilton's  Resignation — Jefferson  to  D'lvernois — Madison's  Letter  to  Jef 
ferson  on  his  refusal  to  be  a  Presidential  Candidate — Jefferson  repeats  his  Refusal — 
Jay's  Treaty  received  and  approved  by  Senate — Jay's,  Hamilton's  and  Washington's 
Recorded  Disapprobation  of  it — Renewal  of  Orders  in  Council  pending  its  Ratification — 
Impressments — British  attempt  to  seize  French  Ambassador  in  United  States — Wash 
ington's  Expressions  of  Indignation  at  these  Outrages — Hamilton  declares  Ratification 
now  disreputable — John  Adams's  View  of  English  Feelings  towards  America — Different 
Mettle  of  the  Cabinet — Wolcott's  Remarkable  Reasons  for  Ratification — Washington's 
Proceedings  in  the  Affair — The  Treaty  ratified — Had  Fauchet's  intercepted  Dispatches 
any  Influence? — Public  Explosion  on  the  Publication  of  the  Treaty — Meetings  on  the 
Subject  and  the  Actors  in  them — Jefferson's  Strictures  on  Jay — His  further  Views — 
''  Camillus's"  Defence  of  the  Treaty — Bradford's  Death  and  Successor — Virginia  Elec 
tion  and  Legislative  Action — Meeting  of  Fourth  Congress — Contest  in  regard  to  the 
Address  of  the  House — Rutledge's  Rejection — Jefferson's  Comments  on  Randolph's 
Vindication — Relations  with  France — Conduct  of  Adet  in  the  United  States — Monroe's 
Reception  in  France— Exchange  of  Flags  and  other  Proceedings — Monroe's  Assurances 
in  respect  to  Jay's  Mission — Monroe  censured  by  his  Government — Justifies  himself  on 
his  Instructions — Washington's  Reply — Misunderstandings  between  Monroe  and  Jay— 
Adet's  Remonstrances  against  Treaty  of  London — His  Complaints  considered — Adet's 
Delivery  of  French  Colors,  and  President's  Reply — Proceedings  of  both  Houses  of  Con 
gress — Washington's  Sincerity  in  his  Address  to  Adet — He  did  not  concur  in  the 
Feelings  of  the  Federalists — The  Republicans  drive  him  from  his  Political  Neutrality — 
The  Consequences— The  Reaction  first  sets  against  Monroe— Washington's  and  Adams's 
Censures  on  him — A  curious  Example  of  Political  "Sea-change" — A  larger  Champion 
than  Monroe  in  the  field. 

ON  the  16th  of  January  (1794),  Mr.  Jefferson  reached  home, 

fondly  imagining,  as  many  other  public  men  have  done  at  some 
222' 


CHAP,  v.]         JEFFERSON'S  HEALTH — HIS  DAUGHTERS.  223 

momentary  lull  in  the  very  midst  of  their  public  careers,  that  he 
now  had  reached  the  long-desired  haven  of  rest — that  hence 
forth,  in  his  calm  and  delightful  retreat,  he  was  to  look  out, 
only  as  an  unconcerned  spectator,  on  party  struggles — on  the 
roar  and  strife  of  the  busy  world  !  It  was  but  a  delusive  dream  ! 
But  that  one  who  had  been  twenty-four  years  in  the  official  har 
ness — more  than  half  of  that  time  entirely  cut  off  from  his  private 
affairs — should  feel  thus  at  least  for  a  period,  until  the  agreeable 
novelty  of  new  pursuits  and  associations  should  gradually  wear 
away,  would  be  expected  by  all  who  have  any  correct  appreci 
ation  of  public  life. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  now  fifty  years  old.  His  hair  was  slightly 
touched  with  white.  When  the  excitement,  by  which  he  had 
so  long  been  surrounded,  suddenly  ceased,  and  the  natural  pros 
tration  of  reaction  followed,  he  fancied  for  a  time  that  he  had 
grown  old,  that  his  constitution  was  seriously  shattered.  It  was, 
however,  but  a  fancy.  His  form  was  erect,  his  tread  was  elastic, 
his  strength  was  really  unimpaired.  The  strict  temperance  and 
abstinence  which  had  attended  him  onward  from  his  youth — hig 
regularity  of  exercise  in  all  weather  and  under  all  circumstances 
and,  indeed,  his  prudent  and  uniform  habits  in  every  particular, 
had  scarcely  yet  allowed  him  to  land  on  the  hither  shore  of  a 
hale  and  vigorous  old  age. 

And  here  let  us  take  another  direct  glimpse  of  his  family. 
Maria,  who  had  resided  with  him  at  Philadelphia,  until  his  last 
trip  but  one  home,  was  now  sixteen — in  mind  and  gentle  sweet 
ness  of  character,  bearing  out  all  the  promise  which  Mrs.  Adams 
had  discovered  in  her  childhood — in  person,  a  dazzling  vision  of 
beauty.  While  her  older  sister — herself  a  woman  of  dignified 
and  highly  agreeable  appearance — bore  too  many  of  her  father's 
lineaments  to  be  termed  beautiful,  Maria  closely  resembled  that 
parent  who  had  gone  so  early  to  the  grave;  and  whom,  alas! 
she  was  so  soon  to  follow.  Her  beauty,  indeed,  was  of  that  ex 
quisitely  delicate  cast  which  betrays  an  organization  too  fine 
and  fragile  to  long  withstand  the  physical  and  other  vicissi 
tudes  of  life. 

Martha  (Mrs.  Randolph)  was  the  mother  of  a  fine  healthy 
son,  and  a  daughter.1  Though  a  highly  accomplished  woman, 
conspicuously  attractive  in  manners  and  conversation,  and  as 

J  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Ann  Carey  Randolph. 


224:  THOMAS  MA^N  RANDOLPH.  [CHAP.  V 

gentle  and  amiable  as  any  of  her  sex,  her  highest  charm,  to 
those  who  were  familiarly  acquainted  with  her,  was  in  the 
solid  traits  of  her  character — a  firm  good  sense  which  always 
judged  wisely  but  benevolently — a  perfect  sincerity  to  all,  and 
an  entire  and  unselfish  devotion  to  her  friends  and  her  family. 
No  man  judged  female  grace  or  excellence  by  a  loftier  standard, 
or  with  a  more  fastidious  hypercriticism,  than  Martha's  kinsman 
by  blood  and  by  marriage,  Randolph  of .  Roanoke.  On  one 
occasion,  long  after  his  utter  alienation  from  Mr.  Jefferson, 
and  when  he  was  only  on  terms  of  speaking  with  his  family, 
Martha's  health  was  offered  in  a  company  of  gentlemen  where 
John  Randolph  sat  at  the  table.  He,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  immedi 
ately  rose  with  his  glass  in  his  hand.  His  piercing,  haughty  eye 
rolled  round  the  circle  as  if  challenging  criticism  on  his  course, 
while  in  his  clear  shrill  tones  he  deliberately  uttered  :  "  I  drink, 
gentlemen,  to  her — to  the  sweetest  woman  in  Virginia !" 

Thomas  Mann  Randolph,  the  husband  of  Martha,  had  yet 
scarcely  turned  thirty.  He  was  what  we  have  described  him 
four  years  earlier,  only  new  business  cares,  and  new  responsi 
bilities,  had  stamped  more  thoughtfulness  on  his  brow.  His 
rapid  impulsiveness  and  vehemence  of  character  may  be  sup 
posed  to  have  unfitted  him  for  agreeable  habitual  association 
with  his  father-in-law  ;  who  if  he  felt  deeply,  always  judged  and 
acted  deliberately,  and  suppressed  every  outward  exhibition  of 
excitement.  But  Randolph,  to  the  wide  and  varied  informa 
tion  which  has  been  mentioned,  added  an  excellent  literary  taste. 
He  also  possessed  very  considerable  scientific  attainments,  par 
ticularly  in  two  widely  separated  departments — arms  and  natu 
ral  history.  In  the  latter,  he  was,  for  example,  so  thorough  and 
so  ardent  a  botanist  that  the  celebrated  Abbe*  Correa,  in  making 
his  annual  visits  to  Monticello  in  after  years,  spent  more  time  in 
rambling  the  fields  and  forests  with  him,  than  he  devoted  to  his 
host,  Mr.  Jefferson.  We  have  already  seen  that  it  was  on  a  visit 
to  him  and  his  kinsmen,  that  Professor  Leslie  visited  America. 

He  had  other  traits  which  commended  him  to  Mr.  Jefferson. 
He  was  a  man  of  unbounded  generosity  of  character.  He  had 
that  physical  nerve  and  hardihood  which  the  former  warmly 
admired,  and  considered,  if  not  a  part  of  character,  at  least,  the 
foundation  from  which  many  of  the  noblest  traits  of  character 
necessarily  spring.  If  his  father-in-law  was  a  bold  rider,  he  was 


CHAP.  V.]  THOMAS    MANX    RANDOLPH.  225 

a  desperate  one.  Darkness,  the  swollen  ford,  the  rushing  river 
the  wildly  beating  storm,  stopped  not  his  journey  when  his 
horse's  head  was  pointed  homeward.  The  tall  spare  figure 
wrapped  in  a  horseman's  cloak,  the  blazing  but  abstracted  eye, 
the  powerful  blood-horse  '  splashed  with  mud  and  foam  and 
dashing  swiftly  onward,  are  yet  familiar  objects  in  the  recollec 
tions  of  many.  Scott's  description  of  William  of  Delioraine  was 
often  applied  to  him  by  his  friends: 

"  Alike  to  him  were  time  and  tide, 
December's  snow  or  July's  pride  ; 
Alike  to  him  were  tide  and  time, 
Moonless  midnight,  or  matin  prime." 

It  was  his  exaggerated  generosity  of  character,  coupled  with 
this  reckless  contempt  of  exposure,  which  ultimately  cost  him 
his  life.2 

He  possessed,  or  was  before  long  to  possess,  a  large  property 
— his  two  principal  estates  being  Edgehill3  (joining  Shadwell, 
and  about  three  miles  from  Monticello),  and  Varina,  an  extensive 
plantation  a  few  miles  below  Richmond.  He  managed  both  of 
these  estates.  His  residence  was  nominally  on  the  first  named, 
but  he  found  himself  unable  to  occupy  it,  except  at  short  inter 
vals.  When  Mr.  Jefferson  was  at  home,  it  was  impossible  to 
keep  the  lather  and  daughter  separated,  and  more  especially  now, 
when  infant  grandchildren  enlivened  the  household.  These  Mr. 
Jefferson  would  not  have  taken  from  him  !  Randolph  struggled 
to  keep  a  home  of  his  own,  for  a  time,  but  finally  gave  it  up, 
and  became  a  pretty  regular  part  of  the  family  at  Monticello. 
From  Mr.  Jefferson's  return  home,  in  1794,  we  find  the  old 
entries  in  the  account-book,  "paid  for  Patsy ,"  "gave 

»  Randolph  selected  his  horses  for  their  speed  and  endurance — for  that  reckless 
courage  and  unconquerable  "bottom"  which  marked  his  own  organization.  He  had  no 
dandyism  in  horseflesh— none  of  the  feeling1  of  an  ancestor  whose  horse  "  Shakespeare" 
was  kept  in  a  stable  wainscoted  like  a  parlor,  his  groom  sleeping  in  an  alcove  !  Thomas 
Mann  Randolph's  horses  fared  as  he  fared,  and  they  were  apt  to  look  as  he  looked,  gaunt 
and  rough.  One  of  his  best  remembered  horses  through  the  country  side  (one  of  his 
last)  was  "Camel,"  so  called  for  withers  which  rose  before  the  saddle  like  a  camel's 
hump.  To  ride  this  powerful  animal  eighty  miles  a  day  (the  distance  from  one  of  his 
Lalting-places  to  Monticello),  when  the  roads  were  deep  and  sticky  with  mud — and  then, 
at  nightfall,  to  take  the  Rivanna  at  full  bank  to  save  riding  round  by  the  bridge— were  no 
uncommon  feats  with  him. 

2  On  review,  we  apprehend   our  picture  conveys  an  impression  of  Gov.  Randolph  at 
a  later  period  than  the  one  under  consideration  (1794) — after  misfortune  and  sorrow  had 
subtracted  something  from  the  rounder  and  warmer-tinted  lineaments  o '  young  man 
hood. 

3  His  grandfather  William  Randolph's  patent— 400  acres  of  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
were  sliced  off  (for  a  bowl  of  arrack  punch)  to  give  Peter  Jefferson  a  more  eligible  build- 
'ng-spot  on  Shadwell. 

VOL.  II. 15 


AN    IDEAL    OF   RETIREMENT.  [CHAP-   V. 

Patsy ,  for  small  expenses,"  etc.,  etc.,  constantly  recurring,  as 

in  earlier  days. 

The  whole  family  we  have  described,  were  assembled  under 
the  paternal  roof-tree  to  welcome  Mr.  Jefferson  on  his  return, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  winter  wore  away  happily,  not  to  say 
gaily.  On  the  3d  of  February  he  wrote  his  successor  in  the 
State  department,  Mr.  Randolph  i1 

DEAR  SIR: 

I  have  to  thank  you  for  the  transmission  of  the  letters  from  General  Gates, 
La  Motte,  and  Hauterieve.  I  perceive  by  the  latter,2  that  the  partisans  of  the  one 
or  the  other  principle  (perhaps  of  both)  have  thought  my  name  a  convenient  cover 
for  declarations  of  their  own  sentiments.  What  those  are  to  which  Hauterieve 
alludes,  I  know  not,  having  never  seen  a  newspaper  since  I  left  Philadelphia 
(except  those  of  Richmond),  and  no  circumstances  authorize  him  to  expect  that  I 
should  inquire  into  them,  or  answer  him.  I  think  it  is  Montaigne  who  has  said, 
that  ignorance  is  the  softest  pillow  on  which  a  man  can  rest  his  head.  I  am  sure 
it  is  true  as  to  everything  political,  and  shall  endeavor  to  estrange  myself  to  every 
thing  of  that  character.  I  indulge  myself  on  one  political  topic  only,  that  is,  in 
declaring  to  my  countrymen  the  shameless  corruption  of  a  portion  of  the  Represen 
tatives  to  the  first  and  second  Congresses,  and  their  implicit  devotion  to  the 
Treasury.  I  think  I  do  good  in  this,  because  it  may  produce  exertions  to  reform 
the  evil,  on  the  success  of  which  the  form  of  the  government  is  to  depend." 

We  have  here  the  ancient  ideal  of  retirement — the  busy 
occupations  which  yesterday  employed  the  now  political  anchor 
ite,  and  all  that  can  direct  attention  or  recollection  to  them  to 
be  shut  out — except  a  pet  topic  or  two  left  for  patriotic  atten 
tion  !  Such  seclusions  may  have  been  practicable  before  the 
day  of  newspapers,  and  of  mails  to  carry  written  letters.  They 
have  not  been  so  since — though  many  a  philosophic  mind,  in 
its  weariness  or  its  disgust,  has,  for  a  time,  dreamed  over  this 
antiquated  dream. 

Here  is  a  flash  of  the  old  spirit  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison  : 

MOHTICKLLO,  April  3d,  1794. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

Our  post  having  ceased  to  ride  ever  since  the  inoculation  began  in  Rich 
mond,  till  now,  I  received  three  days  ago,  and  all  together,  your  friendly  favors  of 
March  the  2d,  9th,  12th,  14th,  and  Colonel  Monroe's  of  March  the  3d  and  16th.  I 
have  been  particularly  gratified  by  the  receipt  of  the  papers  containing  your  and 
Smith's  discussion  of  your  regulating  propositions.  These  debates  had  not  been 
seen  here  but  in  a  very  short  and  mutilated  form.  I  am  at  no  loss  to  ascribe 

1  On  Mr.  Jefferson's  retirement  from  the  Cabinet,  the  President  transferred  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  to  the  State  department,  and  made  Mr.  William  Bradford,  of  Pennsylvania, 
Attorney-General. 

a  Hauterieve  was  the  French  Consul  at  New  York. 


C1IAP.  V.]  A   FLASH    OF    THE    OLD    SPIRIT.  227 

Smith's  speech  to  its  true  father.  Every  tittle  of  it  is  Hamilton's  except  the  intro 
duction.  There  is  scarcely  anything  there  which  I  have  not  heard  from  him  in  our 
various  private,  though  official  discussions.  The  very  turn  of  the  arguments  is  the 
same,  and  others  will  see  as  well  as  myself  that  the  style  is  Hamilton's.  The  sophis 
try  is  too  fine,  too  ingenious,  even  to  have  been  comprehended  by  Smith,  much  less 
devised  by  him.  His  reply  show?  he  did  not  understand  his  first  speech  ;  as  its 
general  inferiority  proves  its  legitimacy,  as  evidently  as  it  does  the  bastardy  of  the 
original.  You  know  we  had  understood  that  Hamilton  had  prepared  a  counter 
report,  and  that  some  of  his  humble  servants  in  the  Senate  were  to  move  a  refer 
ence  to  him  in  order  to  produce  it.  But  I  suppose  they  thought  it  would  have  a 
better  effect,  if  fired  off  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  I  find  the  report,  how 
ever,  so  fully  justified,  that  the  anxieties  with  which  I  left  it  are  perfectly  quieted. 
In  this  quarter,  all  espouse  your  propositions  with  ardor,  and  without  a  dissenting 
voice. 

The  "  regulating  propositions  "  of  Madison  referred  to  were 
a  series  of  resolutions  offered  by  that  gentleman  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  Jan.  4th,  embracing  and  carrying  out  the 
ideas  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  regard  to  the  regulation  of  our  com 
merce  with  foreign  nations,  submitted  in  his  celebrated  report 
of  the  16th  of  the  preceding  December.1  The  House  took  up 
the  resolutions  January  13th,  and  Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina 
—whom  we  have  repeatedly  had  occasion  to  observe  as  one  of 
the  most  devoted  champions  of  Hamilton's  views  and  plans — 
made  that  elaborate  reply  to  Madison's  powerful  opening 
speech,  which  is  attributed  to  Hamilton  himself  in  the  above 
quotation.  That  it  was  correctly  so  attributed,  appears  by  one 
of  the  carefully  preserved  "  drafts "  published  in  Hamilton's 
writings.1 

In  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  letter  of  the  3d,  he 
informed  Mr.  Madison  that  the  people  of  Virginia  seemed  ready 
for  a  war  with  England  should  it  ensue,  but  lie  "  hoped  it  would 
not  come  to  that."  He  thought  the  guaranty  of  the  French 
West  Indies  contained  in  our  treaty  with  France,  must  be  kept, 
and  that  at  the  proper  time  we  should  declare  both  to  that 
nation  and  to  England,  "that  these  islands  were  to  rest  with 
France,  and  that  wre  would  make  a  common  cause  with  the 
latter  for  that  object."  He  had  no  doubt  the  bills  for  various 
kinds  of  armaments  and  fortifications  before  Congress  would  pass, 

1  The  resolutions  proposed  to  increase  the  duty  on  the  manufactures  and  on  the  ton 
nage  of  vessels,  of  nations  having  no  commercial  treaty  with  the  United  States— and  to 
reduce  duties  on  the  tonnage  of  the  vessels  of  nations  having  commercial  treaties  with  us, 
and  to  retaliate  the  restrictions  on  our  navigation.  This  of  course  was  a  measure  which 


would  effectually  reach  England. 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  by  his  son,  vol.  v.  p. 


80. 


228  LUCERNE   AND    POTATOES.  [CHAP,    v . 

not  that  the  "  Monocrats  and  paper  men  "  wanted  war,  but  that 
they  wanted  "  armies  and  debts."  Though  the  Republicans  had 
a  small  majority  in  the  House,  "he  had  always  observed"  that 
where  "jobs"  were  to  be  distributed,  "some  few  would  be 
debauched."  In  conclusion,  he  expressed  himself  thoroughly 
weaned  from  public  affairs — believed  he  never  should  take 
another  newspaper  of  any  sort — and  was  totally  absorbed  in  his 
rural  occupations ! 

He  wrote  to  the  Vice-President,  Mr.  Adams,  April  25th : 

"DEAR  SIR: 

"  I  am  to  thank  you  for  the  book  jou  were  so  good  as  to  transmit  me,  as 
well  as  the  letter  covering  it,  and  your  felicitations  on  my  present  quiet.  The 
difference  of  my  present  and  past  situation  is  such  as  to  leave  me  nothing  to  regret, 
but  that  my  retirement  has  been  postponed  four  years  too  long.  The  principles  on 
which  I  calculated  the  value  of  life,  are  entirely  in  favor  of  my  present  course.  I 
return  to  farming  with  an  ardor  which  I  scarcely  knew  in  my  youth,  and  which  has 
got  the  better  entirely  of  my  love  of  study.  Instead  of  writing  ten  or  twelve  let 
ters  a  day,  which  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  as  a  thing  in  course,  I  put  off 
answering  my  letters  now,  farmer-like,  till  a  rainy  day,  and  then  find  them  some 
times  postponed  by  other  necessary  occupations.  The  case  of  the  Pays  de  Vaud  is 
new  to  me.  The  claims  of  both  parties  are  on  grounds  which,  I  fancy,  we  have 
taught  the  world  to  set  little  store  by.  The  rights  of  one  generation  will  scarcely 
be  considered  hereafter  as  depending  on  the  paper  transactions  of  another.  My 
countrymen  are  groaning  under  the  insults  of  Great  Britain.  I  hope  some  means 
will  turn  up  of  reconciling  our  faith  and  honor  with  peace.  I  confess  to  you  I  have 
seen  enough  of  one  war  never  to  wish  to  see  another.  With  wishes  of  every 
degree  of  happiness  to  you,  both  public  and  private,  and  with  my  best  respects  to 
Mrs.  Adams,  lam  your  affectionate  and  humble  servant." 

To  Tench  Coxe,  May  1st: 

44 DEAR  SIR: 

"Your  several  favors  of  February  22d  and  27th,  and  March  16th,  which  have 
been  accumulating  in  Richmond  ....  were  lately  brought  to  me Your  let 
ters  give  a  comfortable  view  of  French  affairs,  and  later  events  seem  to  confirm  it. 
Over  the  foreign  powers  I  am  convinced  they  will  triumph  completely,  and  I  cannot 
but  hope  that  that  triumph,  and  the  consequent  disgrace  of  the  invading  tyrants,  is 
destined,  in  the  order  of  events,  to  kindle  the  wrath  of  the  people  of  Europe  against 
those  who  have  dared  to  embroil  them  in  such  wickedness,  and  to  bring  at  length, 
kings,  nobles,  and  priests,  to  the  scaffolds  which  they  have  been  so  long  deluging  with 
human  blood.  I  am  still  warm  whenever  I  think  of  these  scoundrels,  though  I  do 
it  as  seldom  as  I  can,  preferring  infinitely  to  contemplate  the  tranquil  growth  of 
my  lucerne  and  potatoes.  I  have  so  completely  withdrawn  myself  from  these 
spectacles  of  usurpation  and  misrule,  that  I  do  not  take  a  single  newspaper,  nor 
read  one  a  month :  and  I  feel  myself  infinitely  the  happier  for  it. 

"  We  are   alarmed   here  with   the  apprehensions  of  war;  and  sincerely  anxious 
that  it  may  be  avoided  ;  but  not  at  the  expense  either  of  our  faith  or  honor.     It 


CHAP.  V.]       TO  THE  PRESIDENT WAR  OR  PEACE.  229 

seems  much  the  general  opinion  here,  the  latter  has  been  too  much  wounded  not  to 
require  reparation,  and  to  seek  it  even  in  war,  if  that  be  necessary.  As  to  myself, 
I  love  peace,  and  I  am  anxious  that  we  should  give  the  world  still  another  useful 
lesson,  by  showing  to  them  other  modes  of  punishing  injuries  than  by  war,  which  is 
as  much  a  punishment  to  the  punisher  as  to  the  sufferer.  I  love,  therefore,  Mr. 
Clarke's  proposition  of  cutting  off  all  communication  with  the  nation  which  has 
conducted  itself  so  atrociously.  This,  you  will  say,  may  bring  on  war.  If  it  does,  we 
will  meet  it  like  men  ;  but  it  may  not  bring  on  war,  and  then  the  experiment  will 
have  been  a  happy  one,  I  believe  this  war  would  be  vastly  more  unanimously 
approved  than  any  one  we  ever  were  engaged  in ;  because  the  aggressions  have 
been  so  wanton  and  bare-faced,  and  so  unquestionably  against  our  desire." 

To  the  President,  May  14th: 

"  I  find  on  a  more  minute  examination  of  my  lands  than  the  short  visits  hereto 
fore  made  to  them  permitted,  that  a  ten  years'  abandonment  of  them  to  the  ravages 
of  overseers,  has  brought  on  them  a  degree  of  degradation  far  beyond  what  I  had 
expected.  As  this  obliges  me  to  adopt  a  milder  course  of  cropping,  so  I  findi  that 
they  have  enabled  me  to  do  it,  by  having  opened  a  great  deal  of  lands  during  my 
absence.  I  have  therefore  determined  on  a  division  of  my  farms  into  six  fields,  to 
be  put  into  this  rotation :  first  year,  wheat ;  second,  corn,  potatoes,  peas  ;  third, 
rye  or  wheat,  accordhiff  to  circumstances:  tourth  and  nfth.  clover  where  the  fields 
will  bring  it,  a:;d  buckwheat  dressings  where  they  will  not;  sixth,  folding,  and 
buckwheat  dressings.  But  it  will  take  me  from  three  to  six  years  to  get  this  plan 
under  way.  I  am  not  yet  satisfied  that  my  acquisition  of  overseers  from  the  head 
of  Elk  has  been  a  happy  one,  or  that  much  will  be  done  this  year  towards  rescuing 
my  plantations  from  their  wretched  condition.  Time,  patience,  and  perseverance 
must  be  the  remedy  :  and  the  maxim  of  your  letter,  'slow  and  sure,'  is  not  less  a 
good  one  in  agriculture  than  in  politics.  I  sincerely  wish  it  may  extricate  us  from 
the  event  of  a  war,  if  this  can  be  done  saving  our  faith  and  our  rights.  My  opinion 
of  the  British  Government  is,  that  nothing  will  force  them  to  do  justice  but  the 
loud  voice  of  their  people,  and  that  this  can  never  be  excited  but  by  distressing 
their  commerce.  But  I  cherish  tranquillity  too  much  to  suffer  political  things  to 
enter  my  mind  at  all.  I  do  not  forget  that  I  owe  you  a  letter  for  Mr.  Young;  but 
I  am  waiting  to  get  full  information.  With  every  wish  for  your  health  and  happi 
ness,  and  my  most  friendly  respects  for  Mrs.  Washington,  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
dear  sir,  your  most  obedient  and  most  humble  servant." 

To  Mr.  Madison,  May  15th: 

v'  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  I  wrote  you  on  the  3d  of  April,  and  since  that  have  received  yours  of 
March  24,  26,  31,  April  14  and  28,  and  yesterday  I  received  Colonel  Monroe's  of 
the  4th  instant,  informing  me  of  the  failure  of  the  Xon-importation  Bill  in  the 
Senate.  This  body  was  intended  as  a  check  on  the  will  of  the  Representatives 
when  too  hasty.  They  are  not  only  that,  but  completely  so  on  the  will  of  the  peo 
ple  also  ;  and  in  my  opinion  are  heaping  coals  of  fire,  not  only  on  their  persona, 
but  on  their  body,  as  a  branch  of  the  Legislature.  I  have  never  known  a  measure 
more  universally  desired  by  the  people  than  the  passage  of  that  bill.  It  is  not 


230  BKITISH    ORDERS    IN   COUNCIL.  [CHAP.  V, 

X 

from  my  own  observation  of  the  wishes  of  the  people  that  I  would  decide  what  they 
are,  but  from  that  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  who  move  much  with  them,  and  by 
their  intercommunications  with  each  other,  have,  under  their  view,  a  greater  por 
tion  of  the  country  than  any  other  description  of  men  It  seems  that  the  opinion 
is  fairly  launched  into  public  that  they  should  be  placed  under  the  control  of  a  more 
frequent  recurrence  to  the  will  of  their  constituents.  This  seems  requisite  to  com 
plete  the  experiment,  whether  they  do  more  harm  or  good.  I  wrote  lately  to  Mr. 
Taylor  for  the  pamphlet  on  the  bank.  Since  that  I  have  seen  the  '  Definition  of 
Parties,'  and  must  pray  you  to  bring  it  for  me.  It  is  one  of  those  things  which 
merits  to  be  preserved." 


These  allusions  to  a  threatened  war  with  England  had  been 
produced  by  a  still  more  aggressive  order  in  council  than  that 
of  June,  1793.  It  was  dated  November  6th,  1793,  but  not  pub 
lished  until  about  the  close  of  the  year ;  and  it  directed  British 
armed  vessels  additionally  to  seize  and  carry  into  port  for  adju 
dication,  all  ships  laden  with  goods  the  produce  of  any -colony 
belonging  to  France,  or  carrying  provisions  or  other  supplies  to 
any  such  colony. 

Under  this  atrocious  outrage  on  the  rights  and  interests  of 
the  United  States  as  a  neutral  nation,  this  contemptuous  insult 
to  its  power,  the  war  spirit  of  1776  again  blazed  throughout  the 
land.  Some  even  of  the  leading  Federalists  were  swept  along 
by  the  excitement.  Sedgwick  moved,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  to  raise  fifteen  regiments  of  troops,  and  Smith  (of 
South  Carolina)  moved  a  Committee  to  take  into  consideration 
the  propriety,  where  our  citizens  suffered  spoliations  under  this 
order  in  council,  of  immediately  compensating  them  and  then 
demanding  indemnity  from  England.  Dayton  of  New  Jersey 
moved  to  sequester  all  British  debts  to  form  an  indemnity  fund. 
Madison's  resolutions  coming  up,  some  opposed  them  as  inade 
quate  to  the  crisis ;  but  Ames  denounced  them  as  having 
French  stamped  on  their  face.  Parker  of  Virginia  hotly 
replied  that  he  wished  all  had  stamps  on  their  foreheads  to 
show  whether  they  were  for  France  or  England  !  The  galleries 
clapped,  and  the  House  ordered  the  galleries  cleared. 

Lord  Dorchester's  supposed  speech  to  an  Indian  deputation 
at  Quebec,  in  February,  declaring  that  a  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  would  probably  take  place  during 
the  year,  and  that  a  new  line  must  then  be  drawn  between 
them  by  the  sword,  came  to  swell  the  excitement.  Sedgwick's 
motion,  however,  did  not  prevail,  and  before  the  House  carne  to 


CHAP,  v.]  JAY'S  MISSION.  231 

any  determination  on  the  proposition  to  sequester  British  debts, 
Clarke  of  New  Jersey  moved  to  suspend  all  commercial  inter 
course  with  Great  Britain,  until  she  should  make  restitution  for 
her  aggressions  on  our  neutral  rights,  and  until  she  should  sur 
render  the  American  posts  held  by  her.  This  is  the  proposition 
alluded  to  so  favorably  by  Mr.  Jeiferson  in  the  preceding  quota 
tions,  and  the  rejection  of  which  by  the  Senate  called  out  his 
severe  strictures  (of  May  loth)  on  that  body. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  a  letter  from  Mr.  Pinckney  was  laid 
before  Congress  containing  a  new  British  order  in  council,  dated 
January  8th,  revoking  that  of  November  6th,  so  far  as  to  make 
it  only  apply  to  vessels  laden  with  the  produce  of  the  French 
islands,  and  on  a  direct  voyage  from  those  islands  to  Europe. 
On  these  partial  concessions,  the  Federalists,  as  a  party,  veered 
about  and  "strenuously  opposed  all  measures  which  were  irri 
tating  in  their  tendency  "  1  towards  England.  The  Republicans 
— aided  by  a  small  body  of  Federalists  headed  by  Dayton — still 
favored  non-intercourse  and  other  decided  measures. 

Pending  these  discussions  (on  the  16th  of  April),  the  Pre 
sident  sent  to  the  Senate  the  nomination  of  John  Jay,  then 
Chief  Justice,  as  Envoy  Extraordinary  of  the  United  States,  to 
the  court  of  Great  Britain,2  avowing,  in  his  message  containing 
the  nomination,  that  he  had  taken  the  step,  "  as  peace  ought  to 
be  pursued  with  unremitted  zeal,  before  the  last  resource  which 
has  so  often  been  the  scourge  of  nations,  and  could  not  fail  to 
check  the  advanced  prosperity  of  the  United  States." 

The  measure  met  the  opposition  of  a  party  who  believed  the 
presence  of  our  Minister  already  in  England  was  sufficient,  and 


1  Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  322. 

a  In  a  long  letter  from  Hamilton  to  Washington,  dated  April  14th,  he  presses  this 
measure.  He  states  that  he  is  not  unapprised  that  he  himself  was  one  of  the  persons 
whom  General  Washington  had  in  contemplation  for  the  place,  and  intimates  that  he 
understands  the  President's  biases  to  be  in  his  favor,  but  on  account  of  the  "  collateral 
obstacles"  which  exist,  requests  the  President  to  drop  him  and  take  Mr.  Jay.  (Hamil 
ton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  519.)  The  "collateral  obstacles"  probably  existed  in  the 
Senate.  Colonel  Monroe,  of  that  body,  wrote  the  President,  April  8th,  "that  he  should 
deem  such  a  measure  [the  nomination  of  Hamilton]  not  only  injurious  to  the  public 
interest,  but  also  especially  so  to"  the  President's;  and  he  asked  an  interview  to  explain 
his  objections.  (Sparks's  Washingion,  vol.  x.  p.  557.)  The  President  declined  the 
interview,  requesting  Colonel  Monroe  to  communicate  his  objections  in  writing.  (Ib. 
vol.  x.  p.  339.)  Here  the  matter  seems  to  have  dropped.  Had  Hamilton  been  nominated, 
there  is  probably  little  or  no  doubt  that  ho  would  have  been  rejected  by  the  Senate.  His 
supposed  English  partialities  were  too  strong  for  even  the  moderate  Federalists  in  their 
present  phase  of  feeling.  The  vote  on  Clarke's  non-intercourse  resolutions  in  the 
Senate  will  show  the  existing  temper  of  that  body  towards  England. 


ACTION    OF    SENATE    AND    liubSE.  [CHAP.  V. 

that  further  extraordinary  overtures  to  that  country,  under  the 
particular  circumstances,  were  uncalled  for,  and  derogatory 
to  our  self-respect.  Mr.  Jay's  nomination  was  approved  in  the 
Senate  by  a  majority  of  ten  votes ;  but  in  the  House,  though 
further  action  on  Clarke's  resolution  was  opposed  on  the  ground 
that  it  would  be  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  proposed  negoti 
ation,1  and  in  the  present  state  of  things,  an  act  of  indelicacy 
towards  the  Executive,  if  not  a  direct  infringement  on  his  right 
to  negotiate,  it  passed  by  fifty -eight  to  thirty-eight  votes.  A- 
bill  based  on  it  was  then  passed,  fifty-eight  to  thirty-four.  It 
was  thrown  out  in  the  Senate,  only  by  the  casting  vote  of  Vice- 
President  Adams.  Some  other  divisions,  at  about  the  same 
period,  indicated  a  similar  temper  in  Congress,  and  it  was  evi 
dent  that  a  far  more  serious  breach  had  occurred  between  the 
Republican  party  and  the  President  personally  than  ever  before.2 

1  In  Hamilton's  letter  to  the  President  of  April  14th,  this  measure  proposed  by  Clarke 
was  mentioned  as  a  hostile  one  towards  England,  which  would  probably  lead  to  war, 
and  the  proposal  of  it  was  one  of  the  reasons  for  his  urging  the  appointment  of  an  envoy. 

a  Judge  Marshall  records  this  as  a  defeat  of  the  Administration  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives;  and  it  would  seem  that  the  course  of  the  President  himself,  was  now,  perhaps, 
for  the  first  time,  directly  criticised  in  that  body.  The  objection  to  Clarke's  resolutions, 
that  they  were  an  infringement  on  the  powers  of  and  an  indelicacy  towards  the  Execu 
tive,  was  met  by  the  assertion  that  Congress  had  the  sole  right  to  regulate  commerce, 
and  if  there  had  been  any  indelicacy,  it  was  on  the  part  of  the  Executive.  (Life  of 
Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  326.)  The  same  author  states  the  following,  as  the  views  of  those 
who  were  opposed  to  any  step  which  might  lead  to  a  war  with  England,  and  he  says, 
"  their  aid  was  not  requisite  to  confirm  the  judgment  of  the  President  on  this  interesting 
subject :" 

"  That  war  with  Britain  during  the  continuance  of  the  passionate  and  almost  idolatrous 
devotion  of  a  great  majority  of  the  people  to  the  French  Republic,  would  throw  America 
so  completely  into  the  arms  of  France,  as  to  leave  her  no  longer  mistress  of  her  own 
conduct,  was  not  the  only  fear  which  the  temper  of  the  day  suggested.  That  the  spirit 
which  triumphed  in  that  nation,  and  deluged  it  with  the  blood  of  its  revolutionary  cham 
pions,  might  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  desolate  the  hitherto  safe  and  peaceful  dwellings  of 
the  American  people,  was  an  apprehension  not  so  entirely  unsupported  by  appearances, 
as  to  be  pronounced  chimerical.  With  a  blind  infatuation,  which  treated  reason  as  a 
criminal,  immense  numbers  applauded  a  furious  despotism,  trampling  on  every  right,  and 
sporting  with  life,  as  the  essence  of  liberty;  and  the  few  who  conceived  freedom  to  be 
a  plant  which  did  not  flourish  the  better  for  being  nourished  with  human  blocd,  and 
who  ventured  to  disapprove  the  ravages  of  the  guillotine,  were  execrated  as  the  tools  of 
the  coalesced  despots,  and  as  persons  who,  to  weaken  the  affection  of  America  for 
France,  became  the  calumniators  of  that  republic.  Already  had  an  imitative  spirit,  cap 
tivated  with  the  splendor,  but  copying  the  errors  of  a  great  nation,  reared  up  in  every 
part  of  the  continent  self-created  corresponding  societies,  who,  claiming  to  be  the  peo 
ple,  assumed  a  control  over  the  Government,  and  were  loosening  its  bands.  Already 
were  the  Mountain  (a  well  known  term  designating  the  most  violent  party  in  France)  and 
a  revolutionary  tribunal,  favorite  toasts ;  and  already  were  principles  familiarly  pro 
claimed,  which,  in  France,  had  been  the  precursors  of  that  tremendous  and  savage  des 
potism,  which,  in  the  name  of  the  people,  and  by  the  instrumentality  of  affiliated  societies, 
had  spread  its  terrific  sway  over  that  fine  country,  and  had  threatened  to  extirpate  all 
that  was  wise  and  virtuous.  That  a  great  majority  of  those  statesmen  who  conducted  the 
opposition  would  deprecate  such  a  result,  furnished  no  security  against  it.  When  the 
physical  force  of  a  nation  usurps  the  place  of  its  wisdom,  those  who  have  produced  such 
a  state  of  things  no  longer  control  it." — Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  323. 

That  General  Washington  entertained  very  serious  fears  of  the  effects  of  +he  "  self- 
created  corresponding  societies" — the  "Democratic  Societies"  of  that  day — that  hisiaitt 


CHAP,  v.]        JEFFERSON'S  CORRESPONDENCE  IN  1Y94.  233 

If  we  assume  the  speaker's  election  to  be  a  test  of  party  strength, 
it  appears  that  a  body  of  Federalists  participated  in  the  feelings 
and  action  of  the  Republicans. 

A  chasm  of  nearly  four  months  occurs  in  Mr.  Jefferson's 
correspondence,  after  the  letter  last  given,  showing  that  his 
isolation  from  public  concerns  was  not  altogether  imaginary. 
His  passion  for  contemplating  "  the  tranquil  growth  of  his 
lucerne  and  potatoes,"  his  "  thorough  weaning "  from  public 
.affairs,  have  provoked  a  good  many  sarcasms,  in  the  light  of  the 
other  extracts  we  have  made.  But  during  the  entire  year  1794, 
just  nine  letiers  appear  in  his  published  correspondence.  Not 
all  of  these  are  political.  Those  that  are,  were  addressed  to  old 
and  familiar  correspondents,  and  as  they  show,  usually  in  an 
swer  to  nearly  half  a  dozen  intervening  letters  received  from 
those  correspondents.  They  do  not  in  the  remotest  manner 

in  the  good  sense  and  sound  patriotism  of  the  "  physical  force"  of  the  nation,  was  not 
as  strong  as  that  of  the  Democratic  leaders,  is  clearly  enough  manifested  in  his  contem 
poraneous  correspondence;  but  that  he  believed  that  "a  great  mnjority  of  the  people" 
of  the  Uuited  States  in  their  hearts  approved  of  the  sanguinary  excesses  of  the  French 
Revolution— that  all  they  needed  was  the  further  affiliation  with  France  which  would  be 
produced  by  fighting  at  the  same  time  a  common  foe,  to  rush  madly  into  al!  those 
excesses,  desolating  "the  hitherto  safe  and  peaceful  dwellings  of  the  American  people  " 
by  tiie  guillotine,  deluging  the  land  with  blood,  etc. — we  do  not,  we  will  not  believe, 
even  on  so  high  seeming  authority.  Judge  Marshall  does  not  profess  to  speak  from  any 
personal  knowledge  of  General  Washington's  views,  but  simply  (as  we  understand  it) 
from  an  inspection  of  papers,  now  accessible  to  all.  We  have  studied  these  closely  for 
the  authority  for  his  assertion — his  inference — that  General  Washington  entertained  the 
opinions  expressed  in  the  above  paragraph;  and  putting  all  of  the  declarations  of 
the  latter  together,  and  putting  what  seems  to  us  the  most  just  construction  upon 
them,  we  have  failed  to  discover  such  authority.  It  is  true  that  he  considered  the 
•'Democratic  Societies"  as  off-hoots  of  the  Jacobin  clubs — and  in  one  place  at  least,  he 
declares  he  believes  they  will  destroy  our  Government  if  they  "cannot  be  discounte 
nanced."  But  he  nowhere,  that  we  discover,  expresses  the  belief  that  they  cannot  be 
discountenanced,  or  that  a  war  with  England  would  place  them  where  they  could  not  be 
discountenanced.  We  shall  cite  some  of  General  Washington's  expressions,  which  may 
throw  light  on  this  subject,  before  this  chapter  is  closed. 

That  Judge  Marshall,  however,  expressed  the  feelings  of  the  ultra-Federalists  of  that 
day — "  the  few"  who  did  not  think  the  plant  of  freedom  "  flourished  the  better  for  being 
nourished  with  human  blood" — the  self-arrogated  "wisdom"  of  the  nation,  as  contra 
distinguished  from  its  "  physical  force,"  from  the  "great  majority  of  the  people,"  from 
the  "  immense  numbers,  etc. — is  beyond  all  question.  And  we  make  no  doubt  that  the 
learned  judge  candidly  mistook  his  own  inferences  for  the  motives  and  feelings  of  the 
Presdent. 

Professor  Tucker  calls  attention  to  the  different  ensemble  given  by  himself  and  Judge 
Marshall  of  the  proceedings  of  Congress  in  the  session  of  1791-1792,  remarking  that  the 
read  u-  will  perceive  "  that  the  variance  consists  principally  in  this,  that  some  facts  which 
he  [Tucker]  had  supposed  important  in  the  history  of  parties,  had  been  omitte-1  by  him 
[Marshall]."— Tucker' s  Jefferson,  vol.  i.  p.  404— note. 

We  have  considered  it  no  part  of  our  business  to  look  for  the  constant  discrepancies 
or  variances  between  our  statements  and  Marshall's — only  turning  attention  to  a  few  of 
them  more  particularly  bearing  on  Jefferson,  and  to  which  the  learned  judge's  position, 
as  a  family  accredited  biographer  of  Washington  (to  say  nothing  of  the  weight  of  his  own 
nara?),  seemed  to  give  an  especial  importance.  Our  ensemble  of  the  facts,  however  (like 
Tucker's),  constantly  varies  from  his.  We  shall  not  say  by  whose  inaccuracies  or  omia- 
sions  this  has  been  produced.  We  may  prove  in  error  more  than  once  in  regard  to  facts 
which  are  but  incidental  and  collateral  to  our  narrative.  We  shall  ask  but  one  privilege, 
however,  where  we  vary  from  Judge  Marshall,  and  that  is,  that  the  reader  will  consult 
the  original  sources  of  information  to  ascertain  where  the  error  lies. 


HIS  ASSERTED  WISH  FOR  RETIREMENT.  [CHAP.  V. 

allude  to  any  details  of  partisan  management,  but  only  to  a 
few  great  questions  which  were  then  rocking  our  whole  country 
like  an  earthquake,  which  were  being  warmly  discussed  not 
only  in  every  quiet  hamlet,  and  even  farm-house,  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  States,  but  in  the  cabins  of  the  armed  border 
ers  on  the  farther  banks  of  the  Illinois  and  the  Alabama.  Mr. 
Jefferson's  isolation,  therefore — plunging  into  it  as  he  did  sud 
denly  from  the  very  vortex  of  public  affairs — appears  to  us  to 
have  been  carried  to  an  extraordinary  pitch — a  more  extra 
ordinary  one  than  would  be  either  practicable  or  justifiable  for  a 
much  longer  period. 

We  take  it  for  granted  that  the  four  months'  chasm  did  not 
extend  to  oral  communications.  We  presume  that  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  saw  company  during  that  period,  and  that  when  it  consisted 
of  well-informed  gentlemen,  his  conversation  manifested  the 
same  freedom  with  his  earlier  and  later  letters. 

It  has  been  imagined  in  some  quarters  that  his  declarations 
on  the  subject  of  retirement  were  pure  pretences — unfelt — and 
only  designed  to  play  off  a  stale  game  to  deceive  the  public, 
while  he  was  as  busy  as  a  spider  secretly  weaving  his  political 
webs ; l  setting  on  foot  political  machinations  to  favor  his  own 
progress  to  the  Presidency;  in  fact,  "pulling  all  the  wires," 
and  dictating  all  the  secret  arrangements  of  his  party.  This 
would  suppose  him  very  blind  (for  a  man  concededly  so  shrewd) 
to  the  fact,  that  such  pretensions,  whether  true  or  false,  would 
not  actually  weigh  a  feather  towards  the  accomplishment  of  the 
supposed  object.  An  officious  ambition  sometimes  damages 
the  popularity  of  aspirants  to  public  favor.  But  mere  profes 
sions  of  a  desire  to  retire,  probably  have  not  exercised  a  very 
strong  influence  since  some  primitive  age  when  a  disinclina 
tion  to  serve  the  public  might  have  been  considered  a  peculiar 
merit  in  a  public  servant !  And  the  false  and  true  modesty 
(supposing  modesty  to  l>e  the  alleged  motive)  have  been  so 
often  exhibited  alongside,  that  nobody  pays  much  attention 
to  either.  Where  the  public  credit  the  declaration,  they  at 
least  know,  that  the  competent  man  will,  and  from  the  nature 
of  things  must,  obey  the  call  of  his  country,  when  his  services 
are  demanded.  Professions  of  love  of  retirement,  therefore, 
weigh  nothing,  and  amount  to  nothing.  If  made  falsely  by  a 

1  This  is  a  simile  used  on  this  occasion  by  one  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  assailants. 


CHAP.  V.]  SAME    ASSERTIONS    BY    OTHERS.  235 

sensible  man,  it  must  spring  purely  from  a  love  of  the  false — 
the  false,  too,  clothed  in  one  of  the  stalest  and  most  threadbare 
of  its  forms.  And  Jefferson,  if  practising  it,  was  practising  it 
upon  no  uninitiated  simplicity — upon  no  simple-hearted  youth, 
no  retired  student,  no  trusting  clerical  friend — who  was  to  gr> 
forth  astonished  at  such  antique  disregard  of  pomp  and  power, 
and  to  spread  it  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven !  If  Jefferson  was 
aiming  to  mislead  anybody,  it  was  the  grave  and  practised 
statesmen  who  had  known  him  best,  Washington,  Madison,  etc. 

It  is  curious  that  we  find  nearly  all  the  American  corres 
pondences  of  this  period  filled  with  this  kind  of  what  now 
would  be  regarded  as  self-denying  declarations.  Washington 
had  them  ever  on  his  lips  in  his  private  correspondence,  in  his 
addresses,  and  even  in  his  official  speeches.  Fifty  instances  of 
his  pointed  declarations  that  he  had  resumed  public  life  with 
the  most  earnest  reluctance  after  the  war,  and  of  his  constant  dis 
inclination  to  continue  in  it,  can  be  readily  brought  together. 
They  are  to  .be  found  in  his  first  inaugural  speech,  and  in  his 
Farewell  Address.  Similar  declarations  are  almost  as  common 
in  the  mouths  of  all  the  eminent  men  of  the  day. 

Another  fact  would  probably  appear  still  more  curious  to 
many  persons  now.  There  are  strong  reasons  for  believing  that 
most  of  these  declarations  were  sincere!  No  man  will,  pro 
bably,  presume  seriously  to  doubt  Washington's  sincerity.1 
We  have  seen  how  often  Jefferson  put  aside  office  u  on  the 
Lupercal" — when  he  had  no  particular  reasons  for  supposing 
any  officious  Anthony  would  again  attempt  to  thrust  it  on  him. 
He  was  three  or  four  times  appointed  a  foreign  minister,  with  some 
years  of  interval  between  the  appointments,  before  he  accepted. 
He  more  than  once  declined  an  election  to  Congress.  He  went 
into  the  first  President's  Cabinet  with  avowed  reluctance.  He 
made  repeated  efforts  to  retire,  before  any  crisis  of  affairs  was 
reached  besides  mere  Cabinet  differences,  and  when  in  the  ques 
tions  of  his  own  department,  and  for  which  he  was  in  anywise 
responsible,  he  was  uniformly  successful.  Beyond  the  mere  desire 
for  quiet,  after  upwards  of  twenty  years  of  public  labor  and  excite 
ment,  he  had  other  special  and  good  reasons  for  that  retirement, 

1  John  Adams  somewhere  writes  a  correspondent  (Jefferson  we  think),  that  Wash 
ington  did  not  really  meditate  retirement  at  the  close  of  his  second  term — but  that  it 
been  me  necessary  from  his  inability  to  fill  his  Cabinet  with  suitable  officers.  This  was  ous 
of  Mr.  Adams's  most  absurd  declarations. 


236  MANIA   FOE    OFFICE   NOT   YET    COMMENCED.          [CHAP.  V. 

which  we  have  seen  expressed  in  Vis  letters,  and  particularly 
those  to  his  daughter  and  to  Mr.  Madison. 

Indeed  the  mania  for  office  seems  not  yet  to  have  spread 
among  our  public  men.  Swift  rotations  were  a  recent  feature  of 
government,  and  the  public  appetite  had  not  been  whetted  to 
take  advantage  of  the  consequences  of  them.  It  was  actually 
hard  work,  as  incontestable  facts  show,  to  fill  some  of  the  fore 
most  offices  of  the  Government  with  anything  like  the  pick  of 
our  public  men. 

It  was  difficult  to  obtain  the  consent  of  "first  class"  talents 
and  experience,  to  take  seats,  for  example,  even  in  the  United 
States  Senate.  He  who  looks  over  the  list  of  senators  during 
General  Washington's,  and  some  of  the  other  early  adminis 
trations,  will  find  his  knowledge  of  minute  and  local  history 
severely  taxed,  to  make  out  wrho  were  many  of  the  men  who 
filled  this  high  office — and  especially  what  they  had  ever  done 
previously,  which  would  seem  to  establish  their  particular  fitness 
to  hold  it.  Most  of  the  congressional  leaders  acquired  all  their 
reputation  in  Congress.  The  first  foreign  missions  were  repeat 
edly  refused,  and  sometimes  refused  two  or  three  times  before 
they  could  be  filled  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Executive.  After 
Jefferson's  retirement,  and  again  after  Hamilton's  and  Randolph's, 
President  Washington  had  the  utmost  difficulty  in  suitably 
filling  their  places  ;  and  whether  he  ultimately  succeeded,  his 
tory  must  judge.  Five  or  six  eminent  men  refused  the  appoint 
ment  of  Secretary  of  State,  and  others  were  not  applied  to  only 
from  a  despair  of  securing  their  services.  Hamilton's  place 
was  filled  by  a  man  who  had  been  a  subordinate  in  his  office — 
a  managing,  cunning,  rather  able  man,  as  he  proved,  but  one 
of  no  previous  high  standing  before  the  country.1  The  Secretary 
of  State's  office  was  also  finally  conferred  on  a  man8  who  ha'd 
been  filling  subordinate  departments  in  the  Executive  adminis 
tration — and  who  had  none  of  the  large  parts,  information,  or 
dispositions  to  fit  him  for  his  place.  The  War  department  went 
into  the  hands  of  a  gentleman,  avowedly  taken  as  a  "Hobson's 
choice,"8  who,  though  devoted  to  Hamilton,  Hamilton  himself 
declared  must  be  removed  for  incompetency,  if  an  anticipated 
war  took  place.4  The  Attorney-Generalship  was  twice  filled  with 

1  Wolcott.  2  Pickering. 

8  These  were  General  Washington's  own  words  in  regard  to  McHenry. 
4  This  assertion  appears  in  Hamilton's  published  Works. 


CHAP.  V.]  LAND  ROLL  IN  1Y94.  237 

youngish  men,  of  no  great  established  fame  in  their  profession 
— of  none  to  compare  with  that  of  other  lawyers  in  their  respec 
tive  States.1 

In  this  cabinet  of  secondary  men,  General  "Washington  was 
more  than  once  overruled  !  He  sadly  learned  that  the  want 
of  fame  or  experience  in  the  higher  walks  of  statesmanship,  was 
accompanied  by  no  corresponding  lack  of  assurance — no  dimi 
nution  of  jealousy  of  personal  consequence  and  interest. 

In  the  letter  of  Mr.  Jeiferson  to  the  President,  of  May  14th, 
already  quoted,  the  latter  gave  some  idea  of  the  condition  in 
which  he  found  his  lands  "  after  a  ten  years'  abandonment  of 
them  to  the  ravages  of  overseers,"  and  of  his  plans  for  their 
renovation.  To  these  calm  pursuits  we  willingly  follow  him. 
We  will  begin  by  showing  the  amount  of  his  landed  property, 
quoted  verbatim  from  his  farm-book  : 

LAND  ROLL  IN  1794. 

Acres.  Acres. 

l,052i  MONTICELLO,  viz.,  1,000     patented  by  Peter  Jefferson  1735,  July  19. 

27-$-  recM  in  exchange  by  T.  Jeiferson  from  N. 
Lewis. 

25i  purch'd  by  T.  Jefferson  from  Richard  Overtoil. 

57H  MONTALTO,      part  oi    483     acres    purchased    by    T.  Jefferson    from    E. 

Carter;  12£  the  residue  were  conveyed  by 
T.  J.  to  N.  Lewis  in  exchange. 
64|  purchased   by   T.   Jefferson   from   Benjamin 

Brown. 
40     purchased  by  do.  from  T.  Wells. 

800    TUFTON,          viz.,        150    called  Tufton,  pat'd  by  P.  Jefferson,  1755, 

Sept.  10. 

150     called    Portobello,    pat'd    by    P.    Jefferson, 
1740,  Sept.  16. 

400  SHADWELL,  .         .         .     purchased  by  P.  Jefferson  of  William  Ran 

dolph. 

81 9£  LEGO,          ....     purchased  T.  Jefferson  of  Thomas  Garth. 
81 9^  PANTOPS,  viz.,     650     purchased  by  P.  Jefferson  of  the  Smiths. 

169i  purchased  by  T.  Jefferson  of  Walter  Mousley. 

730 viz.,     485     surveyed  in  the  name  of  T.  Jefferson. 

245     an  undivided  moiety  of  40  surveyed  for  J. 
Harvie. 

1  We  allude  here  to  Bradford  and  Lee.    No  man,  however,  of  his  age?  promised  better 
ttwn  the  honest  and  pure  Bradford,  soon  remove4  by  death. 


8  LAND   KOLL   AND    FARM    CENSUS    IN    1794.  [CHAP.  V. 

Acres.  Acres. 

400     POUNCEYS,          viz.,     300     part  of  the    400  pat'd  by  P.  Jefferson,  1756. 

Aug.  16. 

100  residue  thereof  devised  by  P.  Jefferson  to 
Speirs,  and  repurchased  by  T.  Jefferson 
of  Speirs. 

4     LIMESTONE,       .         .         .     purchased  by  T.  Jefferson  from  Robert  Sharpe. 
66$  LIMESTONE,       .  .an  undivided  sixth  of  400  acres  on  waters  of 

Hardware,  pat'd  by  Philip  Mayo,  Sept.    1, 
1749. 
222     --      .         .         .on   McGehee's   road,  pat'd  by  T.  Jefferson, 

1788,  April  12. 

196    —  ...     on  waters  of  Buck  Island,  puv'd  by  T.  Jeffer 

son,  1788,  April  12. 

6,591$  in  ALBEMARLE  Co. 

4,627  £  POPLAR  FOREST,  viz.  3,000     part  of  4,000  pat'd  by  Stith,  1,000  thereof 

conveyed  to  T.  M.  and  M.  Randolph. 
256     pat'd  by  Daniel  Robertson 
380     pat'd  by  Callaway. 
183     pat'd  by  J.  Robertson. 
800     surveyed  for  J.  Wayles,  1770,  Oct.  25. 
8i  pat'd  by  T.  Jefferson. 

474    TULLOS'S,       viz.,          374    pat'd  by  Tullos. 

100  purchased  by  J.  Wayles  of  Richard  Stith, 
pat'd  by  T.  J. 


in  BEDFORD  and  CAMPBELL  Go's. 
157     NATURAL  BRIDGE,  in  ROCKBRIDGE  Co.,  pat'd  by  T.  Jefferson,  1774,  July  5. 


10,647  acres. 

4  lots  in  Beverly  town,  viz.,  IsTo.  57,  107,  108,  151,  this  last  the 
Ferry  lot  ;  Part  of  lot  335  in  Richmond,  containing  825  square 
yards,  purch'd  by  T.  J.  of  Wm.  Byrd. 

Of  the  between  five  and  six  thousand  acres  of  his  land  in 
Albemarle,  only  about  twelve  hundred  were  under  cultivation, 
exclusive  of  "  the  range  "  —  a  designation  sometimes  applied  in 
the  Southern  States  to  worn  fields  thrown  out  to  spontaneous 
pasturage,  without  being  kept  under  inclosure.  The  amount 
under  tillage  at  Poplar  Forest  was  not  far  from  eight  hundred 
acres.  His  force  of  slaves  was  one  hundred  and  fifty-four.  The 
census  of  his  domestic  animals,  taken  the  month  after  his  return, 
comprised  (to  descend  to  definite  facts)  thirty-four  horses  (eight 
of  them  saddle  horses  !)  five  mules,  two  hundred  and  forty- 
nine  cattle,  three  hundred  and  ninety  hogs,  and  three  sheep. 
This  was  a  slim  "  stock  "  for  two  thousand  acres  of  cultivated 


OHAF.   V.]  STATE   OF   HIS    FARM — CROPS.  239 

land  ;  and  the  disproportion  between  what  may  be  termed  the 
necessary  and  the  "  fancy  "  sorts — as  for  example,  between  the 
sheep  and  the  riding-horses — will  remind  the  keen  farmer  of 
Falstaff's  comparative  expenditures  for  bread  and  sack  !  The 
overseers  doubtless  had  required  about  two  riding-horses  apiece 
to  carry  on  their  "  ravages  "  thoroughly.  Mr.  Jefferson's  soils 
were  quite  as  badly  deteriorated  as  he  described  them — and  the 
practical  man  need  not  be  told  what  a  slow  and  wearisome  task 
it  is  to  renovate  large  bodies  of  exhausted  land  under  the 
excessively  adverse  conditions  of  rearing  few  domestic  animals — 
of  being  out  of  the  reach  of  artificial  manures,  faster  than  they 
can  be  grown  on  the  soil — and  of  being  obliged  annually  to 
draw  a  revenue  from  these  very  lands  sufficient  to  support  an 
extensive  establishment.  Mr.  Jefferson  could  accomplish  little 
in  the  summer  of  1794,  because  the  necessary  preparations 
(plowing)  had  not  been  made  the  preceding  fall ;  and,  most 
unfortunately,  his  supervision  of  the  work  the  ensuing  fall,  to 
get  things  in  a  state  of  forwardness  for  the  summer  of  1795,  was 
wholly  prevented  by  illness.  He  was  attacked  by  inflammatory 
rheumatism  about  the  first  of  September,  and  remained  confined 
to  his  house  or  its  immediate  vicinity,  till  the  close  of  Novem 
ber. 

The  entries  in  the  farm-book  for  1794  are  very  meagre,  and 
they  make  a  still  more  meagre  exhibit  of  profits.  One,  for 
instance,  is  as  follows  :  "On  both  sides  of  the  river  we  have  made 
thirty-seven  and  a  half  bushels  of  wheat  above  what  has  been 
sowed  for  next  year."  This  is  spoken  of  his  home  property,  and 
if  it  includes  Monticello,  Tufton,  Shadwell,  etc. — which  we  can 
hardly  believe,  though  one  would  infer  so  from  his  speaking  of 
"  both  sides  of  the  river  " — it  is  as  "  beggarly  "  an  "  account  of 
empty  "  bins  as  could  well  be  imagined.  He  commences  the 
farm  account  of  1795  with  the  following  statement : 

"  The  fall  of  1794  had  been  fine,  yet  little  plowing  was  done,  partly  from  the 
want  of  horses,  partly  by  neglect  in  the  overseers,  and  a  three  months'  confinement 
by  sickness  in  myself,  viz.  c  from  September  1st  till  the  latter  end  of  November. 
Petit  came  to  Monticello  about  the  middle  of  November,  and  soon  after  they  began 
to  plow  on  both  sides  [of  the  Rivanna],  first  with  one  plow,  then  two,  then  three. 
They  did  not  get  the  fourth  plow  each  till  the  second  week  in  March.  In  the 
meantime  eight  horses  for  each  had  been  made  up  by  purchasing  five.  Before 
Christmas,  at  Tufton.  the  high-field  of  about  thirty-five  acres,  and  at  Monticello,  a 
part  of  the  River  field,  to  wit,  about  twenty  acres,  and  about  fifteen  acres  for  ar 


240  AGKICULTUEAL   IMPROVEMENTS    BEGUN.  [CHAP.  V. 

oatfield  were  plowed,  say  about  seventy  acres.     On  the  other  side,  about  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  acres  of  the  square  field  were  plowed." 

December  again  found  Mr.  Jefferson  out  of  doors,  and  he  at 
once  entered  upon  the  execution  of  a  much  needed  improve 
ment.  His  lands  had  been  inclosed  into  fields  of  different  sizes, 
and  of  every  conceivable  shape,  as  piece  after  piece  had  been 
u  cleared  "  by  overseers,  and  divided  from  the  adjoining  forest 
by  fences  which  followed  the  line  accidentally  left  between  the 
clearing  and  forest,  in  vast  contempt  of  mathematical  regularity. 
As  the  plow  was  obliged  to  keep  at  a  respectful  distance  from 
the  zig-zag  "  rail  fence,"  the  strip  of  land  left  uncultivated  was 
soon  covered  with  bushes  and  all  varieties  of  rank  weeds, 
scattering  their  seeds  over  the  fields  at  every  breeze.  Then  a 
new  piece  of  forest  was  cleared,  and  a  new  fence,  with  its 
accompanying  hedge-row  of  bushes  and  weeds,  established — no 
overseer  ever  dreaming  of  attempting  to  extirpate  those  left 
behind.  The  result  of  this,  in  course  of  time,  would  be  evident. 
It  was  painfully  evident  to  Mr.  Jefferson — the  windows  and 
doors  of  his  house  commanding  nearly  every  acre  of  his  dilapi 
dated  estate. 

He  now  set  about  dividing  his  arable  land  into  regular  fields 
of  forty  acres  each  ;  and  in  the  place  of  the  unsightly  fences,  he 
substituted  merely  straight  rows  of  peach  trees,  planted  at  the 
usual  intervals.  This  arrangement  was  a  very  decided  improve 
ment  in  appearances  ;  and  it  was  a  very  comfortable  one  to  both 
master  and  man  for  many  years  afterwards,  as  it  afforded  a 
superabundance  of  a  fruit  which  acquired  its  finest  flavor  on 
the  warm  slopes  of  Monticello.  In  a  farming  point  of  view,  it 
made  as  good  a  division  as  any  other  between  fields  exclusively 
devoted  to  grain  crops,  and  others  not  to  be  fed  on  the  soil. 
But  it  (unless  at  vast  inconvenience)  prevented  the  keeping  of 
any  large  number  of  domestic  animals1 — a  rather  indispensable 
item  in  good  husbandry.  As  substitutes  for  animal  manures,  he 
proposed  buckwheat  dressings  (that  is,  buckwheat  crops  plowed 
under  as  fertilizers)  and  folding.3  An  entry  in  the  farm-book 

1  They  could  not  be  at  large  on  the  inclosed  part  of  the  farm,  except  when  all  other 
crops  beside  grass  were  off,  and  then  they  would  all  run  promiscuously  together — a  thing 
which  it  would  be  hard  for  a  good  farmer  to  tolerate,  being  as  detrimental  to  all  decent 
convenience  as  to  profit. 

8  Not  folding  sheep  to  feed  off  root  crops,  as  in  England,  but  (we  suppose)  simply 
penning  up  the  farm  stock  nightly  in  littered  inclosures,  to  bring  together  accumulations 
of  manure,  to  be  carried  from  thence  and  distributed  over  the  land. 


CHAP.  V.]  PENNSYLVANIA   DISTURBANCES.  24:1 

shows  that  he  made  space  for  and  planted  "  eleven  hundred  and 
fifty -one  "  peach  trees  in  December,  1794. 

To  keep  up  the  connection  between  Mr.  Jefferson's  cor 
respondence  and  the  public  events  transpiring,  we  shall  bo 
often  obliged  to  take  brief  historical  glimpses  of  the  times. 

The  people  inhabiting  that  portion  of  Pennsylvania  which 
lies  west  of  the  Alleghan y  Mountains,  had,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  from  the  first  passage  of  the  United  States  law  imposing 
duties  on  domestic  distilled  spirits,  looked  upon  it  with  great 
disapprobation,  and  had  attempted  to  evade  its  execution. 
Congress  passed  a  new  act  for  the  purpose  of  better  enforcing 
this,  and  serious  disturbances  followed  in  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1794.  Indictments  being  found  against  a  number  of 
distillers  who  refused  to  comply  with  the  law,  and  warrants 
issued,  the  Marshal  and  Inspector  were  forcibly  interrupted  in 
the  execution  of  their  duties,  and  driven  away.  The  Inspector's 
house  was  assaulted  about  the  middle  of  July,  and  the  assailants 
being  fired  upon,  several  of  them  were  killed  or  wounded.  The 
disturbances  went  on  increasing  and  widening,  until  most  of  the 
federal  officers  were  driven  away,  or  compelled  to  pledge  them 
selves  not  to  attempt  to  serve  processes.  The  rioters  called  a 
general  convention  of  deputies  to  meet  at  Parkinson's  Ferry  on 
the  14th  of  August,  Affidavits  of  these  facts  were  laid  before 
the  President,  and  on  his  submitting  them  to  one  of  the  asso 
ciate  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  certificate  was  issued 
which  authorized  the  President  to  call  out  the  militia  to  aid  the 
civil  power.  Before  employing  military  force,  the  law  further 
required  the  Executive  to  issue  a  proclamation  calling  upon 
those  resisting  the  laws  to  disperse  within  a  specified  time.  This 
was  done  on  the  7th  of  August.  Three  commissioners  were  also 
appointed  by  the  General  Government,  and  two  by  the  execu 
tive  of  Pennsylvania,  to  proceed  to  the  scene  of  disturbance  and 
offer  a  full  pardon  for  past  offences,  on  condition  of  future  obe 
dience  to  the  laws. 

The  Secretary  of  State  (Randolph),  and  Governor  Mifflin, 
were  for  resorting  to  this  measure  before  calling  out  troops, 
thinking  it  would  be  more  effectual  without  any  accompanying 
menace  ;  but  Hamilton,  Knox,  and  Bradford,  urged  the  immedi 
ate  requisition  of  troop?,  and  that  the  insurgents  be  formally 
until  the  14-th  of  September  to  submit,  and  on  their  failure 

VOL.  II. 16 


THE   TROOPS   MARCH.  [CHAP.  V.. 

to  do  so,  that  the  troops  i immediately  march.  This  advice  pre 
vailed,  and  a  requisition  was  made  on  the  Governors  of  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  for  an  army  of* 
twelve — afterwards  augmented  to  fifteen — thousand  men.  "  The 
insurgent  country,"  says  Judge  Marshall,  "  contained  sixteen 
thousand  men  able  to  bear  arms,  and  the  computation  was,  that 
they  could  bring  seven  thousand  into  the  field."  '  Meanwhile, 
he  commissioners  failed  in  the  object  of  their  mission,  and  on 
.he  25th  of  September  the  President  issued  a  new  proclamation, 
announcing  the  advance  of  the  troops,  and  his  fixed  resolution 
"to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed."'  The  prin 
cipal  command  was  given  to  Governor  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia. 
The  President  visited  both  the  advancing  divisions  of  the  army, 
and  then  returned  himself  to  Philadelphia,  leaving  "  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  accompany  it." 

The  troops  crossed  the  Alleghanies  late  in  October,  in  heavy 
rains,  and  over  roads  rendered  nearly  impassable  by  mud.  On 
arriving  in  the  disaffected  district,  no  resistance  was  offered, 
and  not  a  drop  of  blood  was  shed.3  The  mortality  resulting 
from  the  expedition — ultimately  not  trifling — was  confined  to 
the  troops  who  had  suffered  such  exposures.  Various  arrests 
were  made,  and  the  army  retired,  leaving  two  thousand  five 
hundred  men  to  winter  in  the  district.  Two  of  the  prisoners 
were  finally  found  guilty  of  capital  offences — one  for  arson, 
and  one  for  robbing  the  mail — but  they  were  pardoned  by  the 


1  Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  344.  In  a  letter  (or  perhaps  we  should  rather 
oall  it  a  Cabinet  opinion)  to  the  President,  dated  August  2d,  Hamilton  said  : 

"  'Tis  computed  that  the  four  opposing  counties  contain  upwards  of  sixteen  thousand 
males  of  sixteen  years  and  more,  and  that  of  these,  about  seven  thousand  may  be 
expected  to  be  armed.  'Tis  possible  that  the  union  of  the  neighboring  counties  of  Vir 
ginia  may  augment  this  force.  'Tis  not  impossible  that  it  may  receive  an  accession  from 
some  adjacent  counties  of  this  State  on  this  side  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  To  be 
prepared  for  the  worst,  I  am  of  opinion  that  12,000  militia  ought  to  be  ordered  to 
assemble  ;  9,000  foot  and  3,000  horse." — Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  577. 

It  was  subsequently  thought  necessary  to  augment  this  force,  as  stated  in  the  text. 

a  Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  347.     Hamilton  wrote  the  President,  Sept.  19th: 

"  In  a  Government  like  ours,  it  cannot  but  have  a  good  effect  for  the  person  who  is 
nnderstood  to  be  the  adviser  or  proposer  of  a  measure,  which  involves  danger  to  his  fel 
low  citizens,  to  partake  in  that  danger ;  while  not  to  do  it.  might  have  a  bad  effect.  I 
therefore  request  your  permission  for  the  purpose." — Hamilton's  JVorks,  vol.  v.  p.  30. 

In  the  same  volume  appears  Hamilton's  "drafts"  of  the  President's  Proclamation, 
and  even  of  several  of  Randolph's  letters  to  Mifflin,  etc.  Hamilton  seems  to  have  borne 
entirely  the  leading  part  claimed  by  him  in  the  transactions  of  the  "  Whisky  War." 

8  Perhaps  this  is  too  unqualified.  A  man  whom  a  soldier  was  attempting  to  arrest 
for  "insulting  an  officer,"  seized  hold  of  the  soldier's  bayonet,  and  was  thereupon  run 
through  the  body ;  and  a  boy  was  shot,  by  mistake,  by  a  cavalry  soldier.  But  the  inten 
tional  and  unintentional  homicides  in  these  cases  were  delive  ed  over  to  tho  civil 
authorities  for  trial. 


CHAP.  Y.  ]  DIFFERENT    VIEWS    OF   THE    AFFAIK.  243 

President  Such  was  the  final  conclusion  of  what  was  popularly 
termed  the  "  Whisky  War." 

This  whole  affair  was  looked  upon  very  differently  by  the 
two  great  political  parties.  The  Federalists  regarded  it  as  the 
legitimate  fruit  of  the  doctrines  maintained  hy  French  sympa 
thizers  in  America,  and  especially  the  fruit  of  the  action  of  the 
u  Democratic  Societies."  These,  in  their  view,  were  the  pre 
cise  counterparts  of  the  bloody  Jacobin  clubs  of  France,  and 
were  not  slowly  preparing  the  minds  of  the  American  people  for 
the  same  scenes  of  anarchy,  mob-sway,  and  wild  violence. 
According  to  them,  the  Pennsylvania  insurrection  was  to  have 
been  a  prelude  to  these  disorders — and  they  were  prevented 
only  by  the  energy  of  the  Executive  and  the  aroused  patriotism 
of  the  country.1 

The  Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  looked  upon  the  war 
like  demonstration  which  had  been  made,  as,  if  not  essentially 
unnecessary,  a  grossly  disproportioned  one  ;  and  many  of  them 
broadly  ridiculed  the  march  of  a  force  twice  as  large  as  the  dis 
affected  counties  were  believed  under  any  circumstances  capable 
of  bringing  into  the  field,  even  were  they  resolved  on  the  dire 
extremity  of  open  civil  war — and  then  the  wintering  of  twenty- 
five  hundred  men  in  a  district  where  not  a  trigger  had  been 
pulled.  They  denounced  the  law,  the  political  spirit  which  had 
dictated  it,  and  which  had  dictated  such  an  armament  on  the  eve 
of  a  meeting  of  Congress.  The  whole  measure,  from  beginning 
to  end,  was  mainly  attributed  by  them  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Especially  was  this  the  case  in  regard  to  the  magni 
tude  of  the  armament.  It  was  well  known  that  since  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  had  left  the  Cabinet,  Hamilton's  superior  genius  and  his 
haughty  will  had  reduced  the  other  heads  of  departments  and 
the  new  Attorney-General  to  the  condition  of  mere  followers 
or  inconsiderable  opponents.  Indeed  all  evidently,  if  not 
avowedly,  belonged  to  the  former  class  except  Randolph.  And 
nothing  could  be  more  disagreeable  than  the  position  of  the  lat 
ter.  His  ingenious  "  compromises  "  were  now  trampled  under 
foot  by  those  who  had  once  found  them  convenient  to  fall  back 
upon,  to  save  their  own  utter  defeat.  On  the  present  occasion, 

1  General  Washington's  views  on  this  subject  will  be  found  in  Sparks's  Washington, 
vol.  x  pp.  426,  429,  437,  440,  443,  444,  454,  etc.  etc.  He  appears  to  have  been  led  by  the 
representations  of  facts  made  to  him  by  his  Cabinet,  to  have  taken  a  very  similar  view 
of  the  -;ase  with  that  we  have  attributed  to  the  Federalists. 


^44  JEFFERSON'S    RETURN   TO   CABINET    ASKED.          [CHAP.  V. 

he  had  fears  and  scruples  and  doubts  enough,  for  he  could  not 
forget  his  principles  or  shut  his  ears  to  the  comments  of  his  old 
political  friends  ;  but  his  opposition  was  of  no  avail  with  the 
iron  majority  now  arrayed  against  him.1 

Hamilton's  accompanying  the  troops  was  very  unfavorably 
criticised  by  the  Republicans.  They  regarded  him  as  the  vir 
tual  commander  of  the  expedition,  as  they  supposed  he  could 
not  have  any  other  explainable  object  in  attending  it  in  such  a 
region  and  at  such  a  period  of  the  year.  As  he  anticipated,  in 
a  letter  just  quoted,8  they  "  understood  "  him  u  to  be  the  adviser 
or  proposer  of  the  measure  ;"  but  instead  of  giving  him  the  cre 
dit  of  gallantry,  for  being  willing  to  "  partake  in  that  danger  " 
which  he  had  brought  others  into,  as  he  also  seemed  to  antici 
pate,  they  regarded  it  as  a  new  evidence  of  his  severe  and  anti- 
popular  dispositions  ;'  and  they  claimed  that  it  was  no  proper  or 
decorous  place  for  one  of  the  constitutional  advisers  of  the  Pre 
sident,  because  he  might  thus  be  called  in,  hot  with  the  flush  of 
battle  and  dripping  with  the  blood  of  his  fellow  citizens,  to  vote 
in  the  Cabinet  on  propositions  involving  nice  questions  of  the 
extent  of  rigor  or  mercy  it  would  be  proper  to  show  to  those  he 
had  just  met  as  enemies. 

It  has  often  been  claimed  that  on  the  retirement  of  Jefferson 
the  President  not  only  gave  up,  but  willingly  gave  up,  all 
further  attempt  to  maintain  a  balance  between  parties  in  his 
Cabinet — that,  tired  of  the  struggle,  he  purposely  allowed  the 
Federalists  the  ascendency,  and  this  too,  while  Hamilton  him 
self  remained  to  dictate  terms  to  the  majority.  This  is  wholly 
untrue.  In  the  very  height  of  the  Pennsylvania  disturbances 
he  made  an  effort,  through  Randolph,  to  procure  Jefferson's 
return  to  his  former  place  in  the  Cabinet.  The  communication 


1  On  referring  to  Hamilton's  "  drafts  "  of  the  period,  it  will  be  found  that  he  drew  up 
many  of  the  papers  which  Randolph  was  required  to  officially  sign;  and  if  we  remember 
aright,  this  even  extends  to  some  of  Randolph's  communications  to  foreign  ministers  ! 

2  See  note  2d,  p.  242. 

3  Hamilton  wrote  Senator  Rufus  King,  Oct.  30th,  from  Jones's  Mill,  that  "all  was 
essentially  well,"  that  there  was  "  no  appearance  of  opposition,"  but  that  the  expense 
incurred  would  be  "  essentially  fruitless."  unless  Congress  would  raise  a  body  of  500 
infantry  and  100  horse,  "  to  be  stationed  in  the  disaffected  country."     He  adds: 

"  A  law  regulating  a  peace  process  of  outlawry  is  also  urgent ;  for  the  best  objects 
of  punishment  will  fly.  and  they  ought  to  be  compelled  by  outlawry  to  abandon  their 
property,  homes,  and  the  United  States.  This  business  must  not  be  skinned  over.  The 
political  putrefaction  of  Pennsylvania  is  greater  than  I  had  any  idea  of.  Without  rigor 
evervwhere.  our  tranquillity  is  likely  to  be  of  very  short  duration,  and  the  next  storm 
will  be  infinitely  worse  than  the  present  one." — Hamilton's  Works,  by  his  son,  vol.  v. 
p.  611. 


.  V.]  HIS    ANSWER.  245 

appears  to  have  been  sent  by  an  express,  and  it  received  the  fol 
lowing  reply  : 

To  THE  SECRETARY  OP  STATE. 

MONTICBLLO,  September  7,  1794. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

Your  favor  of  August  the  28th  finds  me  in  bed,  under  a  paroxysm  of  the 
rheumatism  which  has  now  kept  me  for  ten  days  in  constant  torment,  and  presents 
no  hope  of  abatement.  But  the  express  and  the  nature  of  the  case  requiring  imme 
diate  answer,  I  write  you  in  this  situation.  No  circumstances,  my  dear  sir,  will 
ever  more  tempt  me  to  engage  in  anything  public.  I  thought  myself  perfectly 
fixed  in  this  determination  when  I  left  Philadelphia,  but  every  day  and  hour  since 
has  added  to  its  inflexibility.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  retain  the  esteem  and 
approbation  of  the  President,  and  this  forms  the  only  ground  of  any  reluctance  at 
being  unable  to  comply  with  every  wish  of  his.  Pray  convey  these  sentiments,  and 
a  thousand  more  to  him,  which  my  situation  does  not  permit  me  to  go  into.  *  * 


have  also  seen  the  President's  declaration  that  Mr.  Ma 
dison  would  have  been  his  first  choice,  to  succeed  Mr.  Jefferson, 
did  he  not  know  that  the  former  would  not  accept  the  place. 

We  have  not  made  investigations  which  enable  us  to  speak 
with  certainty  of  the  politics  of  Bradford,  the  Attorney-General, 
when  he  entered  the  Cabinet.  He  was  a  young  1  man  of  fine 
powers,  singular  modesty,  and  of  genuine  integrity.  His  father 
had  been  a  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  army  —  and  himself  a 
a  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  troops  until 
compelled  by  ill-health  to  resign.  He  was  the  loved  prote'ge  of 
Joseph  Reed,  who.  as  President  of  Pennsylvania,  had  appointed 
Bradford  Attorney-General  of  the  State  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five,  and  when  he  had  been  but  one  year  in  the  practice  of  the 
law  ;  and  Reed  had  been  the  particular  friend  of  General 
Washington  and  his  military  seci*etary.  Bradford  was  the  son- 
in-law  of  Elias  Boudinot,  a  distinguished  Federalist  ;  but  he 
was  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania, 
commissioned  as  late  as  August,  1791,  by  the  zealously  Republi 
can  Governor  Mimin.  He  remained  in  that  position  until  called 
into  the  Cabinet  (January,  1794)  ;  and  it  would  be  singular,  if 
the  President,  in  the  existing  critical  condition  of  public  affairs  in 
Pennsylvania,  selected  a  Cabinet  officer  from  that  State  who, 
he  had  reasons  to  think,  would  be  unacceptable  on  political  or 
any  other  grounds  to  Governor  Mifnin,  the  able  Chief-  Justice 
McKean,  and  nearly  all  the  leading  men  of  the  State.  Brad 

1  He  was  born  in  1755. 


PABTffiB    DF  THE    CABDTET.  [CHAP.  V. 

ford,  having  occupied  his  judicial -position  for  the  preceding  four 
years,  ?nay  very  likely  have  taken  little  or  no  part  in  politics ; 
but  it  would  be  difficult  to  reconcile  his  appointment,  if  a 
declared  Federalist,  under  all  the  circumstances,  with  some  other 
facts  and  with  those  maxims  of  prudence  which  General  Wash 
ington  would  be  expected  to  consult- 
But  the  strong  tide  of  circumstances,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
intellectual  supremacy  and  inflexible  wifl  of  Hamilton,  at  once 
absorbed  Bradford  into  the  Federal  side  of  the  Cabinet.  The 
Republicans  of  Philadelphia  were  far  more  alarmed  at  the  pro 
gress  of  the  "  Whisky  War  ~  than  their  remoter  associates,  or 
they  were  more  inflamed  by  the  excitement  produced  by  the 
active  preparations  of  the  Cabinet  in  their  midst.  Mrfflin  acted 
verv  zealouslv  in  arraying  the  quota  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was 
one  of  the  commanders  of  the  expedition.  Bradford  voted  and 
acted  with  Hamilton,  and  thenceforth  there  was  no  retreat  for 
him.  Mifflin  and  his  Republican  associates  could,  if  they  chose 
to  remain  with  their  party,  escape  odium  by  assuming  the  pos 
ture  «f  instrument.  Bradford  had  acted  as  a  voluntary  adviser, 
and  that  path  was  not  open  to  him,'  even  if  he  had  desired  10 
follow  it — a  feet  of  which  there  is  not,  so  far  as  we  know,  any 
proof. 

Other  njeii  beside>  Madison,  to  whom  the  President  would 
have  mo*t  gladly  given  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State,  were 
understood  to  be  Republicans,  and  some  of  them  had  been 
recommt-nded  by  Jefferson  And  if  any  other  proof  is  wanting 
of  Washington's  wish  to  maintain  his  previous  attitude,  it  is 
furnished  by  the  decisive  fact,  that  after  finding  that  the  balance 
of  parties  in  his  Cabinet  was  destroyed,  he  desired  to  call  back 
'  -.  ~  - 

We  think  Jefferson  had  ample  excuse  for  retiring,  under  all 
the  circumstances  which  have  been  stated.  We  are  not  so  clear, 
by  any  means,  that  other  Republicans  were  entirely  justifiable 
in  refusing  to  take  his  place.  Madison's  disinclination  to  the 
office  vanished  when  Jefferson  became  President.  It  would 
seem  hard  that  the  stately  chief  who  had  sacrificed  so  much  for 
his  country — who  had  sacrificed  all  his  inclinations,  and  that 
repose  which  his  age  and  his  partly  broken  health  demanded, 
in  accepting  his  present  office— could  not  have  been  allowed  to 
rarrv  cut  that  programme  of  political  action  which  he  had  de- 


CHAP.  T.]         PKESTOIIST  SEEKS  TO  f  *!•**!  A  BALANCE. 

liberate!  v  chosen,  and  which  be  clang  to  as  long  as  it  was  of  any 
avail.  We  readily  grant  that  no-partyism  is  bat  a  day-dream 
among  free  and  elective  institutions.  Bat  the  attitude  in  which 
Washington  wished  to  stand  was  as  graceful  and  appropriate  in 
the  Father  of  his  Country,  as  it  was  noble  in  the  motive  ;  and 
we  wish  he  eonld  hare  been  allowed  to  try  out  the  experiment 
to  his  own  satisfaction,  and  if  be  found  it  necessary  to  terminate 
itT  freely  to  choose  his  own  time  and  manner  for  so  doing. 

John  Adams  was  wont  to  say  that  die  refusals  of  prominent 
men  to  serve  in  Washington's  Cabinet,  after  its  first  organiza 
tion  was  broken  op,  arose  from  their  disinclination  to  encounter 
the  arrogance  and  influence  of  Hamilton.  But  do  we  find  that 
Hamilton  had  any  preponderating  influence  in  the  Cabinet 
while  Jefferson  was  a  member  ?  If  able  men  refused  seats,  could 
it  be  expected  that  refiners  like  Randolph,  or  comparative 
youths  like  Bradford,  could  withstand  the  ability,  pertinacity 
and  outside  influence  of  Hamilton  I  The  theory  hinted  at  by 
Adams  of  Hamilton's  ascendency  over  the  mind  of  Washin^ron, 
is  not  fairly  deducible  from  facts.1  The  President  had  settled  a 
line  of  Cabinet  procedure  adapted  to  his  original  theory  of  a 
balance  of  parties.  He  had  made  the  Cabinet  a  council 
wherein  the  opinions  a  majority  were,  excepting  on  rare  and 
special  occasions,  allowed  to  control  his  own  decisions.  Men 
able  to  compete  with  Hamilton  refused  seats.  Tne  natural  con 
sequences  ensued.  The  President  made  a  last  attempt  to  restore 
things  to  rheir  first  position.  It  failed ;  and  he  was  forced  out 
of  his  plan,  unless  he  was  willing  to  send  Kb  Cabinet  offices 
begging  through  the  whole  nation.  He  might,  it  is  true,  have 
dismissed  Hamilton  before  the  current  of  party  set  in  the  Cabi 
net.  But  if  he  had  confidence  in  Hamilton  and  wished  him  to 
remain,  as  the  representatiTe  of  one  side,  he  was  not  bound  to 


»  Perhaps  XT 

'.-  -  •  *  •-  -  "  -  . 
7-  -  -  ,._-  . 
-.  -  •  •_- 


,.         .         ..  .  -  -..---. 

heart  disapproved.    In  tte  teaefed  not 

.  -       -_     -    •  .     -     ,     .-       ....-.._.         - 

;  .       .  ... 


I •  i  ••mil  I     Mr.  Afaw  profcabtj  fett  ttei  hr  was 

...         ._    __    .      •---*.;-;      ---      .       :,-  -    ---     i-     •' 
-,-.    .       _--  -  ---       -  -     -    _a-     -  :.,  ::     :   --  ; 


24:8  JAY'S  ,  MISSION  NOT  A  PARTISAN  STEP.          [CHAP,  v, 

dismiss  him.  He  was  neither  bound  to  surrender  his  own  prefer 
ences,  nor  to  obtain  other  men's  aid  by  capitulation. 

But  while  a  sense  of  justice  constrains  us  to  express  these 
views,  we  certainly  can  see  some  weighty  excuses  for  the  refu 
sal  of  prominent  Republicans  to  serve  in  the  Cabinet.  Inde 
pendently  of  his  influence  or  ability,  Hamilton  was  a  disagree 
able  antagonist  to  meet  there.  Mr.  Madison  used  to  say  that 
u  it  would  take  more  than  one  Hamilton  to  make  a  Jefferson.'1 } 
Yet  Jefferson's  strength  was  never  exhibited  imperiously  or 
offensively.  Hamilton  was  not  so  fortunate  in  this  particular. 
His  assumed  "  primacy  "  was  not  worn  in  a  way  calculated  to  be 
agreeable  to  high  spirited  opponents.  But  apart  from  all 
such  personal  considerations,  and  constituting  far  weightier 
ones,  we  have  no  doubt  that  some  of  the  Republican  leaders, 
and  particularly  Mr.  Madison,  were  satisfied  that  a  time  had 
come  in  public  affairs  when  a  balanced  Cabinet  could  not  much 
longer  command  the  public  confidence  and  support.  The  British 
orders  in  council  had  presented  so  decisive  an  issue  that  those  in 
the  administration  bent  on  some  kind  of  retaliation  and  those  bent 
on  submission,  were  too  wide  apart  for  either  to  acquiesce  in  the 
others'  success.  In  short,  they  believed  the  time  had  come 
when  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  Government  to  steer  be 
tween  parties — that  it  would  be  compelled  to  make  its  choice 
—that  the  President  would  be  required  to  take  a  united  Ca 
binet  from  the  ranks  of  one  or  the  other. 

The  President  evidently  did  not  intentionally  compromit  his 
neutrality  between  parties  in  instituting  the  new  English 
Mission,  or  in  the  selection  of  the  ambassador.  He  hoped  by 
this  step  to  avoid  either  war  or  submission.  If  he  chose  an 
agent  likely  to  be  acceptable  to  England,  he  at  the  same  time 
chose  a  man  of  unquestionable  patriotism,  integrity  and  ability. 
Mr.  Jay  had  not  been  engaged  in  recent  party  conflicts,  and 
was  apparently  the  least  exceptionable  man  on  that  side,  from 
which  one  acceptable  to  England  alone  could  be  taken.  The 
President  at  about  the  same  time  sent  Monroe  as  the  successor 
of  Morris  to  France.  Here  was  a  corresponding  step  to  gratify 

1  Mr.  Grigsby  quotes  this  remark  in  his  discourse  on  the  Virginia  Convention  of  1776. 
On  applying  to  him  for  his  authority,  he  gives  that  of  the  Hon.  George  Loyall,  for  a  long 
time  an  honored  Member  of  Congress  from  Virginia,  who  was  very  intimate  with  Mr. 
Madison.  Loyall  repeatedly  heard  the  latter  make  the  declaration  contained  in  the  text, 
when  comparing  the  intellectual  capacities  of  the  two  men. 


CHAP.  V.]  PRESIDENT    FORCED    FROM    HIS    POSITION.  24:9 

the  latter  power.  Monroe,  the  political  disciple  of  Jefferson, 
was  a  Republican  of  the  most  uncompromising  stamp.  As  he 
succeeded  so  prominent  a  Federalist  as  Morris,  to  have  sent 
another  Republican  to  England  would  have  been  almost  equiva 
lent,  in  the  eye  of  partisans,  to  the  President's  openly  espousing 
the  Republican  side. 

But  notwithstanding  all  these  considerations,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  selection  of  Jay  was  an  unfortunate  one. 
He  was  an  able  jurist,  a  capable  legislator,  a  correct  adminis 
trative  officer  where  the  line  of  duty  was  prescribed  ;  and  he  had 
acquitted  himself  honorably  in  diplomacy.  But  he  lacked  the 
inflexibility,  the  moral  courage,  the  stern  pugnacity  needed  for 
this  peculiar  position.  He  looked  up  to  England  as  much  as 
the  most  ultra  of  his  party,  and  he  lacked  traits  which  would 
have  guarded  other  conspicuous  men  in  that  party  from  being 
biased  either  by  their  fears  or  their  preferences.  Men  who 
looked  closely  into  the  peculiarities  of  individual  character 
would  have  preferred  to  see  either  Hamilton  or  Adams  sent  on 
that  mission,  though  they  were  far  more  hostile  to  the  men.  They 
would  have  .felt  confidence  that  the  martial  spirit  of  Hamilton 
would  have  quailed  in  no  crisis.  They  would  have  been  cer 
tain  that  the  right  hand  of  John  Adams  would  have  perished 
sooner  than  sign  any  instrument  which  would  improperly 
humble  his  country. 

But  whatever  the  Republicans  foreboded  in  respect  to  the  re 
sult  of  Mr.  Jay's  mission,  they,  in  our  judgment,  exhibited  bad 
party  tactics  in  opposing  and  violently  .assailing  the  measure, 
after  the  President  had  irrevocably  committed  himself.  They 
could  not  know  what  would  be  the  result.  Nobody  was  en 
titled  to  assume  that  the  President  sought  or  would  accept  a 
dishonorable  peace.  The  proposition  was  certainly  a  fair,  and 
apparently  a  reasonable  one.  By  denouncing  it  in  advance,  the 
Republicans  placed  themselves  in  the  false  attitude  of  a  seeming 
war  party.  They  gave  the  Federalists  the  advantage  of 
exchanging  the  posture  of  subservient  advocates  of  England,  for 
that  of  advocates  of  an  honorable  peace.  They  gave  them  the  still 
greater  advantage  of  constituting  themselves  the  especial  friends 
and  defenders  of  the  President.  And  what  was  far  more  fatal 
than  all  the  rest,  they  put  in  motion  a  train  of  causes  likely  to 
.drive  the  President  thenceforth  to  accept  the  support  of  tho 


JEFFERSON'S  STATEMENTS  EXPLAINED.          [CHAP,  v 

federalists  as  his  party,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  measures  of 
his  administration. 

The  President  was  never  a  party  manager.  And  he  now 
had  passed  that  age  and  state  of  physical  vigor,  the  keen,  deter 
mined,  and  unrelaxing  tone  of  which  is  necessary  to  buffet 
single-handed  the  constant  and  raging  billows  of  faction — now  to 
outgeneral,  now  coerce,  now  sharply  play  off  against  each  other 
inveterate  parties  led  by  able  men — and  all  this  without  an 
organized  party  of  his  own.  The  mind  of  Washington  was  mas 
sive,  but  simple.  It  was  a  Doric  temple,  not  a  Cretan  labyrinth. 

Jefferson  says  in  the  introduction  to  his  Ana : 

"  From  the  moment  *  *  *  of  my  retiring  from  the  Administra 
tion,  the  Federalists*  got  unchecked  hold  of  General  Washington.  His  memory  was 
already  sensibly  impaired  by  age,  the  firm  tone  of  mind  for  which  he  had  been 
remarkable  was  beginning  to  relax,  its  energy  was  abated,  a  listlessness  of  l.ihor,  a 
desire  for  tranquillity  had  crept  on  him,  and  a  willingness  to  let  others  act,  and 
even  think  for  him.  Like  the  rest  of  mankind,  he  was  disgusted  with  the  atrocities  of 
the  French  revolution,  and  was  not  sufficiently  aware  of  the  difference  between  the 
rabble  who  were  used  as  instruments  of  their  perpetration,  and  the  steady  and 
rational  character  of  the  American  people,  in  which  he  had  not  sufficient  confi 
dence.  The  opposition,  too,  of  the  Republicans  to  the  British  treaty,  and  the 
zealous  support  of  the  Federalists  in  that  unpopular  but  favorite  measure  of  theirs, 
had  made  him  all  their  own." 

To  the  asterisk  following  the  word  "  Federalists "  corre 
sponds,  in  the  original,  a  note  in  these  words :  "  See  Conversa 
tion  with  General  Washington  of  October  1,  1792."  By  turning 
to  the  conversation  referred  to,  we  find  that,  among  other  topics, 
it  embraces  an  account  of  one  of  General  Washington's  attempts 
to  persuade  Mr.  Jefferson  not  to  retire,  because  u  he  thought  it 
important  to  preserve  the  check  of  his  [Jefferson's]  opinions  in 
the  Administration,  in  order  to  keep  things  in  their  proper  chan 
nel,"  etc.  Remembering  the  system  of  deciding  questions  in 
the  Cabinet,  we  have  here  the  explanation  of  Jefferson's  expres 
sion  that  the  Federalists  got  "  unchecked "  hold  of  Genera) 
Washington. 

It  may  occur  to  some  readers  to  ask  what  "  hold  "  a  Cabinet 
could  have  of  a  President,  so  long  as  he  could  remove  its  mem 
bers  at  pleasure.  Cabinet  removals  at  that  period  were  a  thing 
unthought  of,  and  when  introduced  towards  the  close  of  the  next 
Administration,  under  the  most  urgent  circumstances,  were  con 
sidered  high  evidences  of  personal  or  partisan  violence  on  the 


CHAP.  V.]  MEETING   OF   CONGRESS.  251 

part  of  the  President.  They  were  considered — as  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  see — tn  forcible  deprivation  of  an  official  tenure 
where  the  incumbent  properly  had  a  right  standing  on  nearly 
the  same  footing  with  the  vested  right  of  an  elective  officer.. 
And  removal  for  a  difference  of  opinion  violated  the  theory 
which  General  Washington  had  carried  into  practice  that  the 
Cabinet  was  an  independent  body  of  Executive  counsellors.  It 
required  gross  outrages  against  decency  to  drive  the  second 
President  to  resort  to  this  constitutional  prerogative,  now  by 
common  consent  optionally  exercised. 

It  will  be  marked  in  the  preceding  quotation,  that  Mr.  Jef 
ferson — never  accused  of  withholding  anything  in  his  private 
writings,  and  least  of  all  in  the  Ana — imputes  no  change  of 
principles,  no  desire  to  enter  upon  any  new  line  of  action  in 
respect  to  parties,  to  the  President. 

The  second  session  of  the  third  Congress  was  to  have  opened 
on  the  3d  of  November,  1T94-,  but  it  was  upwards  of  two  wreeks 
before  a  quorum  of  the  Senate  assembled.  Most  of  the  opening 
speech  of  the  President  (on  the  19th)  was  taken  up  in  detailing 
the  proceedings  in  reference  to  the  insurrection  in  western 
Pennsylvania.  These  were  dilated  upon  in  a  very  animated 
tone,  and  the  intimation  several  times  thrown  out  that  the  insur 
gents  were  aided  or  encouraged  by  outside  influences.  Some 
of  these  intimations  were  general,  and  others  more  specific.  In 
one  place  the  President  said  : 

"  The  very  forbearance  to  press  prosecutions  was  misinterpreted  into  a  fear  of 
urging  the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  associations  of  men  began  to  denounce 
threats  against  the  officers  employed.  From  a  belief  that,  by  a  more  formal  con 
cert,  their  operation  '  might  be  defeated,  certain  self-created  societies  assumed  the 
tone  of  condemnation." 

Again : 

"  When  in  the  calm  moments  of  reflection,  they  shall  have  retraced  the  origin 
and  progress  of  insurrection,  let  them  determine  whether  it  has  not  been  fomented 
by  combinations  of  men,  who,  careless  of  consequences,  and  disregarding  the 
unerring  truth  that  those  who  rouse  cannot  always  appease  a  civil  convulsion,  have 
disseminated,  from  an  ignorance  of  or  perversion  of  facts,  suspicions,  jealousies, 
and  accusations  of  the  whole  Government." 

The  Senate,  after  a  sharp  debate,  endorsed  the  President's 

1  /.  e.  the  operation  of  the  laws. 


252  DEBATE   ON    PRESIDENT^    SPEECH.  [CHAP.  V. 

view  of  the  "self-created,"  or,  in  other  words,  democratic 
societies,  in  their  answer  to  the  speech.1  The  reply  of  the 
House  originally  contained  no  allusion  to  it,  but  Fitzsimmons 
moved  an  amendment  denouncing  these  societies.  Giles, 
Nicholas,  Lyman,  and  McDowell  insisted  thai  the  censure 
would  include  all  voluntary  associations.  All  the  leading 
Republicans,  however,  utterly  disclaimed  any  connection  with 
the  reprobated  societies.  Giles  opened  his  remarks  with  a  warm 
tribute  to  the  President's  character.  To  force  the  Republicans 
into  a  direct  issue  with  the  President,  Fitzsimmons  changed  his 
amendment  into  nearly  a  repetition  of  the  language  employed 
in  the  opening  speech.  A  fiery  debate  ensued.  Sedgwick 
supported  the  amendment  in  a  vehement  strain.  Giles  as 
sharply  retorted.  He  claimed  that  many  members  of  the  demo 
cratic  societies  had  marched  among  the  troops  sent  to  quell  the 
disturbances  they  were  accused  of  having  fomented.  A  motion 
to  strike  out  the  words  "  self-created  societies  "  passed  the  Com 
mittee  of  the  whole  by  forty -seven  against  forty-five;  but  the 
vote  was  exactly  reversed  in  the  House  (November  27th),  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  and  the  Speaker  voting  on  different 
sides  of  the  question.  The  Republicans,  however,  immediately 
carried  a  motion  to  make  the  censure  apply  only  to  the  "  self- 
created  societies"  in  4ithe  four  western  counties  of  Pennsyl 
vania  and  parts  adjacent."  But  nineteen  members  voted  for 
the  amended  amendment ;  and  the  address  finally  passed  with 
out  any  mention  of  "self-created  societies." 

Notwithstanding  the  heat  of  these  discussions,  and  the 
obvious  attempt  of  the  Federalists  to  draw  the  Republicans  into 
an  attitude  of  direct  hostility  to  the  Executive,  it  is  recorded  by 
Judge  Marshall  that  u  the  speech  of  the  President  was  treated 
with  marked  respect;  and  the  several  subjects  which  it  recom 
mended  engaged  the  immediate  attention  of  Congress."2  The 
House  passed  an  act  for  raising  the  sum  of  one  million  one 
hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand  dollars  to  defray  the  expenses 


1  The  answer  of  the  Senate  contained  the  following  : 

"  Our  anxiety  arising  from  the  licentious  and  open  resistance  to  the  laws  in  the 
western  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  has  been  increased  by  the  proceedings  of  certain  self- 
created  societies,  relative  to  the  laws  and  administration  of  the  Government — proceed 
ings,  in  our  apprehension,  founded  in  political  error,  calculated,  if  not  intended,  to  dis 
organize  our  Government ;  and  which,  by  inspiring  delusive  hopes  of  support,  have  beeu 
influential  in  misleading  our  fellow  citizens  in  the  scene  of  insurrection. 

3  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  354. 


CHAP,  v.]  JEFFERSON'S  FEELINGS.  253 

of  the  expedition  into  western  Pennsylvania ;  authorizing  the 
President  to  continue  to  maintain  a  force  there  according  to  his 
suggestion  ;  and  appropriating  something  over  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  for  that  object.  The  acquiescence  of  the 
Republicans  in  this  last  measure  was  due  rather  to  their  respect 
for  Washington  and  their  disinclination  perhaps  to  come  in 
collision  with  his  immense  popularity  on  such  an  issue,  than 
from  any  conviction  of  its  necessity. 

To  the  feelings  of  no  one  had  the  President's  official  censure 
of  the  democratic  societies  given  a  ruder  shock  than  to  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's.  He  looked  upon  it  as  the  whole  body  of  the  American 
people  would  now  look  upon  a  denunciation,  in  the  annual  mes 
sage  of  the  Executive,  of  any  of  those  thousand  political  societies 
which  are  daily  starting  into  existence  and  assuming  a  "  tone  of 
condemnation "  towards  the  rulers  or  measures  of  the  hour. 
Sixty  years  since,  governments  were  not  as  practised  as  at  pre 
sent  to  the  fiery  criticisms  of  the  press  and  of  popular  discus 
sion.  In  the  light  of  present  experience,  one  smiles  to  find 
General  Washington  writing  a  correspondent  that  "  no  one 
denies  the  right  of  the  people  to  meet  occasionally  to  petition 
for,  or  remonstrate  against,  any  act  of  the  Legislature ;"  but  that 
he  thought  that  "  for  a  self-created  permanent  body  to  declare 
this  act  is  unconstitutional,  and  that  act  pregnant  with  mis 
chiefs,"  etc.,  was  "  a  stretch  of  arrogant  presumption  ;" '  and 
writing  another  correspondent  that  he  was  perfectly  convinced 
"  that  if  these  self-created  societies  cannot  be  discountenanced, 
they  will  destroy  the  Government  of  the  country." 2 

In  a  day  when  precedents  were  being  established  which 
were  to  determine  the  practical  line  of  demarkation  between 
popular  rights  and  governmental  authority,  Jefferson  did  not 
regard  this  as  a  matter  to  furnish  amusement.  His  jealousies 
all  lay  on  the  other  side.  In  a  sharp  and  angry  letter  to 
Madison  (December  28th),  he  thus  commented  on  the  Executive 
denunciation,  and  on  the  Pennsylvania  proceedings: 

"  The  denunciation  of  the  democratic  societies  is  one  of  the  extraordinary  acts 
of  boldness  of  which  we  have  seen  so  many  from  the  faction  of  Monocrats.     It  is 

i  See  his  letter  to  Burgess  Ball,  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  437. 
a  Letter  to  E.  Randolph,  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  444.  and  see  also  same 
e»p.  426.  429,  437,  440,  443,  454. 


254  HIS   WARM   LETTER   TO   MADISON.  [CHAP.  V. 

wonderful,  indeed,  that  the  President  should  have  permitted  himself  to  be  tne 
organ  of  such  an  actack  on  the  freedom  of  discussion,  the  freedom  of  writing,  print 
ing  and  publishing.  It  must  be  a  matter  of  rare  curiosity  to  get  at  the  modifica 
tions  of  these  rights  proposed  by  them,  and  to  see  what  line  their  ingenuity  would 
draw  between  democratical  societies,  whose  avowed  object  is  the  nourishment  of 
the  Republican  principles  of  our  Constitution,  and  the  society  of  the  Cincinnati,  a 
self-created  one,  carving  out  for  itself  hereditary  distinctions,  lowering  over  our 
Constitution  eternally,  meeting  together  in  all  parts  of  the  Union,  periodically,  with 
closed  doors,  accumulating  a  capital  in  their  separate  treasury,  corresponding 
secretly  and  regularly,  and  of  which  society  the  very  persons  denouncing  the 
Democrats  are  themselves  the  fathers,  founders  and  high  officers.  Their  sight 
must  be  perfectly  dazzled  by  the  glittering  of  crowns  and  coronets,  not  to  see  the 
extravagance  of  the  proposition  to  suppress  the  friends  of  general  freedom,  while 
those  who  wish  to  confine  that  freedom  to  the  few,  are  permitted  to  go  on  in  their 
principles  and  practices.  I  here  put  out  of  sight  the  persons  whose  misbehavior 
has  been  taken  advantage  of  to  slander  the  friends  of  popular  rights  ;  and  I  am 
happy  to  observe,  that  as  far  as  the  circle  of  my  observation  and  information 
extends,  everybody  has  lost  sight  of  them,  and  views  the  abstract  attempt  on  their 
natural  and  constitutional  rights  in  all  its  nakedness.  I  have  never  heard,  or  heard 
of,  a  single  expression  or  opinion  which  did  not  condemn  it  as  a.i  inexcusable 
aggression.  And  with  respect  to  the  transactions  against  the  Excise  law,  it  appears 
to  me  that  you  are  all  swept  away  in  the  torrent  of  governmental  opinions,  or  that 
we  do  not  know  what  these  transactions  have  been.  We  know  of  nono  which, 
according  to  the  definitions  of  the  law,  have  been  anything  more  than  riotous. 
There  was  indeed  a  meeting  to  con«ult  about  a  separation.  But  to  consult  on  a 
question  does  not  amount  to  a  determination  of  that  question  in  the  affirmative, 
still  less  to  the  acting  on  such  a  determination  ;  but  we  shall  see,  I  suppose,  what 
the  court  lawyers,  and  courtly  judges,  and  would-be  ambassadors  will  make  of  it. 
The  Excise  law  is  an  infernal  one.  The  first  error  was  to  admit  it  by  the  Constitu 
tion  ;  the  second,  to  act  on  that  admission  ;  the  third  and  last  will  be,  to  make 
it  the  instrument  of  dismembering  the  Union,  and  setting  us  all  afloat  to  choose 
what  part  of  it  we  will  adhere  to.  The  information  of  our  militia,  returned  from 
the  westward,  is  uniform,  that  though  the  people  there  let  them  pass  quietly,  they 
were  objects  of  their  laughter,  not  of  their  fear ;  that  one  thousand  men  could  have 
cut  off  their  whole  force  in  a  thousand  places  of  the  Alleghany  ;  that  their  detesta 
tion  of  the  Excise  law  is  universal,  and  has  now  associated  to  it  a  detestation  of  the 
Government ;  and  that  separation,  which,  perhaps,  was  a  very  distant  and  pro 
blematical  event,  is  now  near,  and  certain,  and  determined  in  the  mind  of  every 
man  I  expected  to  have  seen  some  justification  of  arming  one  part  of  the  society 
against  another ;  of  declaring  a  civil  war  the  moment  before  the  meeting  of  that 
body  which  has  the  sole  right  of  declaring  war;  of  being  so  patient  of  the 
kicks  and  scoffs  of  our  enemies,  and  rising  at  a  feather  against  our  friends ;  of 
adding  a  million  to  the  public  debt  and  deriding  us  with  recommendations  to  pay  it 
if  we  can,  etc.,  etc.  But  the  part  of  the  speech  which  was  to  be  taken  as  a  justifi 
cation  of  the  armament,  reminded  me  of  Parson  Saunders's  demonstration  why 
minus  into  minus  makes  plus.  After  a  parcel  of  shreds  of  stuff  from  JEsop's  fables 
and  Tom  Thumb,  he  jumps  all  at  once  into  his  ergo,  minus  multiplied  into  minus 
makes  plus.  Just  so  the  fifteen  thousand  men  enter  after  the  fables,  in  the 
speech." 


CHAP.   V.]  DECLINES    PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION.  255 

He  added : 

u  However,  the  time  is  coming  when  we  shall  fetch  up  the  leeway  of  our  vessel. 
The  changes  in  your  House,  I  see,  are  going  on  for  the  better,  and  even  the 
Augean  herd  over  your  heads  are  slowly  purging  off  their  impurities.  Hold  on, 
then,  my  dear  friend,  that  we  may  not  shipwreck  in  the  meanwhile.  I  do  not  see, 
in  the  minds  of  those  with  whom  I  converse,  a  greater  affliction  than  the  fear  of 
your  retirement ;  but  this  must  not  be,  unless  to  a  more  splendid  and  a  more  effica 
cious  post.  There  I  should  rejoice  to  see  you ;  I  hope  I  may  say,  I  shall  rejoice 
to  see  you.  I  have  long  had  much  in  my  mind  to  say  to  you  on  that  subject.  But 
double  delicacies  have  kept  me  silent.  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  say,  while  I  would  not 
give  up  my  own  retirement  for  the  empire  of  the  universe,  how  I  can  justify  wish 
ing  one  whose  happiness  1  have  so  much  at  heart  as  yours,  to  take  the  front  of  the 
battle  which  is  fighting  for  my  security.  This  would  be. easy  enough  to  be  done, 
but  not  at  the  heel  of  a  lengthy  epistle. 

#  *  •!<•  *  +  * 

"  Present  me  respectfully  to  Mrs.  Madison,  and  pray  her  to  keep  you  where  you 
are  for  her  own  satisfaction  and  the  public  good,  and  accept  the  cordial  affections 
of  us  all.  Adieu." 

This  is  the  outspoken  and  severe  language  of  a  confidential 
letter ;  but  it  could  not  be  properly  passed  over  in  tracing  its 
author's  political  history. 

The  inference  which  would  be  drawn  from  one  of  the  above 
remarks,  that  Jefferson  conceded  there  had  been  "misbeha 
vior"  on  the  part  of  the  democratic  societies,  is  an  entirely 
correct  one.  While  he  believed  that  American  citizens  were 
entitled  u  occasionally,"  or  in  u  permanent  bodies,"  purely  at 
their  own  option,  to  meet  and  discuss  the  conduct  of  their  Gov 
ernment,  and  denounce  its  measures  if  they  saw  fit,  he  had  no 
connection  with  those  societies,  and  very  little  sympathy  for  the 
manner  in  which  many,  if  not  most  of  them,  had  conducted 
themselves.  Latterly,  such  men  as  the  Rittenhouses  and 
Duponceaus  had  ceased  to  take  part  in  them,  and  they  had 
mostly  subsided  into  gatherings  of  those  ultra-French  sympa 
thizers  who  had  defended  Genet  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  his  acts. 
They  had  rapidly  culminated,  and  almost  as  rapidly  waned. 
The  French  Minister  who  succeeded  Genet,  M.  Fauchet,  did 
not  follow  his  predecessor's  example  in  countenancing  them. 
The  Reign  of  Terror  in  France  had  put  the  imitation  of  French 
clubs  out  of  fashion  among  sensible  men.  The  notice  drawn 
upon  them  by  the  Executive  and  Senatorial  censure,  and  the 
debate  in  the  House,  gave  these  organizations  a  fading  ray  of 
importance,  but  it  soon  went  out,  and  they  sunk  into  contempt 
and  disappeared. 


-56  MADISOX'S   REPLY.  [CHAP.  V. 

The  conclusion  of  the  preceding  letter  to  Mr.  Madison  con 
tains  an  obvious  allusion  to  the  next  Presidency — a  distinct 
refusal  by  the  writer  to  be  a  candidate,  and  an  equally  distinct 
declaration  in  favor  of  Mr.  Madison.  This  was  probably  called 
out  by  the  unmistakable  indications  which  appeared  in  the 
Republican  party  at  this  period  that  it  was  disposed  to  make 
Mr.  Jefferson  its  candidate  for  that  post. 

On  the  last  day  of  January,  Colonel  Hamilton,  after  several 
times  deferring  that  step  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  President, 
resigned  his  place  as  Secretary  of  the  .Treasury,  and  was  suc 
ceeded  by  Oliver  TVolcott,  who  had  been  in  the  same  depart 
ment,  first  as  Auditor,  and  afterwards  as  Controller,  from  its 
first  establishment  under  the  Constitution.  General  Knox  had 
resigned  the  War  department  a  month  earlier,  and  been  suc 
ceeded  by  Timothy  Pickering,  who.  as  the  successor  of  Osgood, 
had  been  Postmaster-General  since  1791.  Joseph  Habersham  of 
Georgia  was  appointed  Postmaster-General  to  succeed  Pickering. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  a  long  letter  to 
M.  dTvernois,  in  which  occurs  a  strong  and  argumentative 
reiteration  of  his  earlier  position  that  large  national  territories 
are  much  better  fitted  for  republics  than  smaller  ones. 

Mr.  Madison  replied  to  Jefferson's  letter  of  December  2Sth, 
as  follows,  in  regard  to  the  Presidential  nomination : 

PHILADELPHIA,  Mat    23. 1795. 

Whilst  I  am  acknowledging  these  favors.  I  am  reminded  of  a  passage  in  a 
former  one,  which  I  had  purposed  to  have  answered  at  some  length.  Perhaps  it 
will  be  best,  at  least  for  the  piesent,  to  say  in  brief,  that  reasons  of  every  kind,  and 
some  of  them  of  the  most  insuperable  as  well  as  obvious  kind,  shut  my  mind 
against  the  admission  of  any  idea  such  as  you  seem  to  glance  at.  I  forbear  to  say 
more,  because  I  have  no  more  to  say  with  respect  to  myself,  and  because  the  great 
deal  that  may  and  ought  to  be  said  beyond  that  restriction  will  be  best  reserved 
for  some  other  occasion,  perhaps  for  the  latitude  of  a  free  conversation.  You 
ought  to  be  preparing  yourself,  however,  to  hear  truths  which  no  inflexibility  will 
be  able  to  withstand.1 

This  called  out  the  following  exceedingly  pointed  reply : 

MoimcKLLO,  April  27, 1795. 

»»****  +  *»* 

In  mine,  to  which  yours  of  March  the  23d  was  an  answer,  I  expressed  my  hope 
of  the  only  change  of  position  I  ever  wished  to  see  you  make,  and  I  expressed  it 

»  The  original  of  this  letter  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  N.  P.  Trist.  who  has  kindly  fur 
nished  us  with  the  above  extract,  comprising  all  the  contents  of  the  letter  on  the  same 
subject. 


[CLAP.  v.  JEFFERSON'S  EEJOESDEE.  257 

with  entire  sincerity,  because  there  is  not  another  person  in  the  United  States,  who 
being  placed  at  the  helm  of  oar  affair?,  my  mind  would  be  so  completely  at  rest  foi 
the  fortune  of  our  political  bark.  The  wish,  too,  was  pare,  and  unmixed  with  any 
thing  respecting  myself  personally. 

For  as  to  myself,  the  subject  had  been  thoroughly  weighed  and  decided  on, 
and  my  retirement  from  office  had  been  meant  from  all  office  high  or  low,  with 
out  exception.  I  can  say,  too,  with  truth,  that  the  subject  had  not  been  pre 
sented  to  my  mind  by  any  vanity  of  my  own.  I  know  myself  and  my  fellow 
citizens  too  well  to  have  ever  thought  of  it.  But  the  idea  waa  forced  upon  me  by 
continual  insinuations  in  the  public  paper*,  while  I  was  in  office.  As  all  these  came 
from  a  hostile  quarter,  I  knew  that  their  object  was  to  poison  the  public  mind  as  to 
my  motive?,  when  they  were  not  able  to  charge  me  with  facts.  But  the  idea  being 
once  presented  to  me,  my  own  quiet  required  that  I  should  face  it  and  examine  it. 
I  did  so  thoroughly,  and  had  no  difficulty  to  see  that  every  reason  which  had 
determined  me  to  retire  from  the  office  I  then  held,  operated  more  stronglv  against 
that  which  was  insinuated  to  be  my  object.  I  decided  then  on  those  general  grounds 
which  could  alone  be  present  to  my  mind  at  that  time,  that  is  to  say,  reputation, 
tranquillity,  labor ;  for  as  to  public  duty,  it  could  not  be  a  topic  of  consideration  in 
my  case.  If  these  general  considerations  were  sufficient  to  ground  a  firm  resolution 
never  to  permit  myself  to  think  of  the  office,  or  be  thought  of  for  it,  the  special 
ones  which  have  supervened  on  my  retirement,  still  more  insuperably  bar  the  dooi 
to  it.  My  health  is  entirely  broken  down  within  the  last  eight  months;  mv  age 
requires  that  I  should  place  my  affairs  in  a  clear  state  ;  these  are  sound  if  taken 
care  of,  but  capable  of  considerable  dangers  if  longer  neglected  ;  and  above  all  thinjjs, 
the  delights  I  feel  in  the  society  of  my  family,  and  in  the  agricultural  pursuits  in 
which  I  am  so  eagerly  engaged.  The  little  spice  of  ambition  which  I  had  in  my 
younger  days  has  long  since  evaporated,  and  I  set  still  less  store  by  a  posthumous 
than  present  name.  In  stating  to  you  the  heads  of  reasons  which  have  produced 
my  determination,  I  do  not  mean  an  opening  for  future  discussion,  or  that  I  may 
be  reasoned  out  of  it.  The  question  is  forever  closed  with  me  ;  my  sole  object  is 
to  avail  myself  of  the  first  opening  ever  given  me  from  a  friendly  quarter  (and  I 
could  not  with  decency  do  it  before^,  of  preventing  anv  division  or  loss  of  votes, 
which  might  be  fatal  to  the  Republican  interest.  If  that  has  any  chance  of  prevail 
ing,  it  must  be  by  avoiding  the  loss  of  a  single  vote,  and  by  concentrating  all  its 
strength  on  one  object.  Who  this  should  be,  is  a  question  I  can  more  freely  dis 
cuss  with  anybody  than  yourself.  In  this  I  painfullv  feel  the  loss  of  Monroe.  Had 
he  been  here,  I  should  have  been  at  no  loss  for  a  channel  through  which  to  make 
myself  understood  ;  if  I  have  been  misunderstood  by  anybody  through  the  instru 
mentality  of  Mr.  Fenno  and  his  abettors.  I  long  to  see  you." 

This  reiteration  of  his  determination  in  the  strong  language 
in  which  it  is  couched,  and  assigning  snch  reasons  as  it  does,  to 
the  writers  most  confidential,  personal,  and  political  friend — to 
a  man  too  who.  as  the  leader  of  the  Republican  parry  in  Con 
gress,  and  as  probably  the  next  most  prominent  candidate  for 
the  Presidency  (should  it  be  settled  Mr.  Jefferson  would  not 
rnn),  might  be  most  awkwardly  placed  by  bein«r  misled — affords 
the  clearest  proof  how  completely  in  his  heart  of  hearts  the 
V..L.  n. — IT 


258  JAY'S  TREATY  RECEIVED.  [CHAP.  v. 

writer  had  resolved  on  a  permanent  retirement  from  public  life. 
"  Man's  heart  deviseth  his  way,"  but  other  agencies,  wholly 
beyond  his  control,  often  "  direct  his  steps." 

During  the  summer  of  1795,  the  political  elements  were  pre 
paring  for  a  fierce  explosion.  Mr.  Jay  had  arranged  a  treaty 
with  Great  Britain  (November  19th,  1794)  which  reached  the 
State  department  on  the  7th  of  the  following  March.  The  Pre 
sident  convened  the  Senate,  and  that  body,  after  a  fortnight's  de 
bate,  advised  and  consented  to  a  conditional  ratification,  on  the 
24th  of  June,  by  barely  the  constitutional  vote  of  two  thirds 
(20  to  10.)1  The  condition  annexed  was  that  an  amendment  be 
made  to  the  twelfth  article  of  the  treaty.9 

Mr.  Jay  himself  was  not  satisfied  with  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  ;3  but  he  seems  to  have  placed  a  good  deal  of  confidence 
in  the  "  good  disposition  in  the  far  greater  part  of  the  [British] 
Cabinet  and  nation  towards  us  " — and  he  "  wished  it  might 
have  a  fair  trial."4  Hamilton  was  displeased  with  some  of  its 
provisions,  and  particularly  with  the  12th  article,  and  "  he  was 
glad,  though  at  the  risk  of  the  treaty,  that  the  Senate  had  ex- 
cepted  it,1"  He  thought  "  valuable  alterations"  might  be  made 
in  the  13th  article — that  "  it  would  be  well  if  that  part  of  the 
15th  article,  which  spoke  of  countervailing  duties,  could  be  so 
explained  as  to  fix  its  sense  " — that  "  the  18th  article  was  really 
an  unpleasant  one,"  though  "  there  was  he  feared  little  chance 
of  altering  it  for  the  better" — that  (a  subject  wholly  omitted 
in  the  treaty)  "  some  provision  for  the  protection  of  our  seamen 
was  infinitely  desirable  " — that  "  the  affair  of  the  negroes,  to 
give  satisfaction,  might  be  retouched,  but  with  caution  and  deli 
cacy."  ' 

The  President  had  "  several  objections  "  to  it.7    He  not  only 

*  The  Senators  who  voted  against  ratification  were  Mason  and  Tazewell  of  Virginia, 
Martin  and  Bloodworth  of  North  Carolina,  Burr  of  New  York,  Butler  of  South  Carolina, 
Brown  of  Kentucky,  Jackson  of  Georgia,  Langdon  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Robinson  of 
Vermont. 

*  Mr.  Jay,  unaware,  it  seems,  that  cotton  was  becoming  an  article  of  export  from  the 
United  States,  had  consented  to  include  it  among  the  things  which  the  latter  stipulated 
to  renounce  the  transportation  of  to  Europe. 

1  See  his  letters  to  the  President  of  Sept.  3d  and  4th.  (Sparks's  Washington, 
vol.  xi.  pp.  481-483.)  The  first  of  these  is  given  in  the  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Jay, 
by  his  son,  vol.  ii.  p.  257. 

«  Jay  to  Washington ;  Jay's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  236. 

6  See  his  Works,  vol.  v.  p.  106  ;  vol.  vi.  p.  35,  et  seq.  Here  the  word  excepted 
(the  last  but  one  in  the  quotation  we  have  made)  is  printed  accepted.  But  the  context 
obviously  shows  this  a  typographical  error. 

*  Hamilton  to  Washington,  Sept.  4th.     Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  35,  et  seq. 
1  Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  361. 


C11A.P.  V.]  ENGLISH    ACTS    PENDING   RATIFICATION.  259 

disapproved  of  the  twelfth  article,  but  he  thought  the  third  "  not 
marked  with  reciprocity."  He  "questioned  whether"  still  an 
other  objection  would  not  be  found  in  its  operation,  ';  to  work  very 
much  against  us."  1  He  thought  the  2d  article  too  indefinite,  etc. 

After  the  action  of  the  Senate,  and  pending  the  President's 
deliberations  on  ratifying  the  treaty,  news  arrived  which  placed 
those  "  good  dispositions  "  of  the  British  Cabinet  and  nation 
towards  the  United  States,  which  Mr.  Jay  had  relied  on  as  more 
than  a  counterpoise  to  the  defects  of  his  treaty,  in  a  very  strik 
ing  light.  The  Order  in  Council  of  June  8,  1793,  for  seizing 
provisions  going  to  French  ports,  having  been  once  suspended, 
was  now  renewed.  And  this  seemed  as  good  an  illustration  of 
the  interpretation  which  the  British  Cabinet  intended  to  put  on 
the  article  in  the  treaty  in  regard  to  contraband,  as  of  its  senti 
mental  regard  for  America  !  This  interpretation  swept  away  at 
a  stroke  all  protection  against  one  of  the  most  injurious  aggres 
sions,  on  the  part  of  England,  which  had  called  for  an  extraor 
dinary  mission  to  that  country,  and  for  the  treaty  under  consi 
deration. 

Nor  was  the  cup  of  humiliation  yet  full.  At  a  moment 
when  a  decent  appearance  of  solicitude  for  the  result  of  the 
action  of  our  Government  would  have  demanded  some  forbear 
ance,  the  business  of  forcibly  impressing  American  seamen  was 
as  openly  carried  on  as  ever.  Moreover,  a  far  more  direct  and 
flagiant  insult  to  our  jurisdiction,  than  Genet  had  ever  dreamed 
of,  was  premeditatedly  offered  by  the  officers  of  a  British  vessel. 
Fauchet,  the  French  Minister  who  had  succeeded  Genet,  being 
on  his  return  to  France,  took  passage  in  a  packet-boat  from  New 
York  to  Newport,  for  the  purpose  of  embarking  on  board  the 
French  frigate,  Medusa,  lying  there.  The  commander  of  a  Bri 
tish  frigate,  the  Africa,  resolved  and  made  preparations  to  seize 
the  French  Minister  on  his  way  to  Newport.  The  packet  put 
into  New  London  in  stormy  weather,  and  Fauchet,  receiving  a 
hint  of  his  danger,  continued  his  journey  by  land.  The  Amei 
lean  vessel  was  subsequently  stopped  as  concerted,  and  the 
papers  on  board  of  her  seized. 

Those  who  had  justified  the  President  for  compelling  Genet 
to  restore  the  British  ship  Grange,  because  she  was  captured 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  now  called  for  some 

1  Washington  to  Hamilton,  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  17. 


260  WASHINGTON'S  INDIGNATION.  [CHAP,  v, 

still  more  summary  action  against  those  who  had  deliberately 
violated  our  jurisdiction  and  our  flag  also,  and  this  for  the  pur 
pose  of  trapaning '  the  person  of  the  Minister  of  a  power  with 
whom  our  Government  entertained  the  most  friendly  relations. 
Many  of  those  who  had  warmly  justified  our  Cabinet  in  demand 
ing  Genet's  recall,  and  who  had  themselves  most  severe!}' 
denounced  him  for  aiming  to  embroil  us  in  war,  saw  in  the  pro 
ceeding  of  the  commander  of  the  Africa  a  far  more  gross  and 
direct  attempt  of  the  same  kind. 

General  Washington  felt  sorely  and  keenly  these  accumulating 
insults.  He  wrote  to  Hamilton,  August  31st : 

u  vVe  know  officially,  as  well  as  from  the  effects,  that  an  order  for  seizing  all 
provision  vessels  going  to  France  has  been  issued  by  the  British  Government ;  but 
so  secretly,  that  as  late  as  the  27th  of  June  it  had  not  been  published  in  London ; 
it  was  communicated  to  the  cruisers  only,  and  not  known  until  the  captures  brought 
it  to  light.  By  these  high-handed  measures  of  that  Government,  and  the  outrageous 
and  insulting  conduct  of  its  officers,  it  would  seem  next  to  impossible  to  keep  peace 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  To  this  moment  we  have  received 
no  explanation  of  Holmes's  2  conduct  from  their  charge  des  affaires  here  ;  although 
application  was  made  for  it  before  the  departure  of  Mr.  Hammond,  on  the  statement 
of  Governor  Fenner,  and  complaint  of  the  French  Minister.  Conduct  like  this 
disarms  the  friends  of  peace  and  order,  while  they  are  the  very  things  which  those 
of  a  contrary  description  wish  to  see  practised." 3 

The  President  wrote  Mr.  Jay  the  same  day,  and  in  speaking 
of  the  difficulties  which  had  interposed  in  the  way  of  ratifying 
the  treaty,  said  : 

"  It  has  not  been  the  smallest  of  these  embarrassments  that  the  domineering 
spirit  of  Great  Britain  should  revive  again  just  at  this  crisis,  and  the  outrageous  and 
insulting  conduct  of  some  of  her  officers  should  combine  therewith  to  play  into  the 
hands  of  the  discontented,  and  sour  the  minds  of  those  who  are  friends  to  peace, 
order,  and  friendship  with  all  the  world."  4 

The  courageous  spirit  of  Hamilton  blazed  forth  under  these 
indignities.  In  answer  to  the  President's  letter  of  the  31st,  ult., 
he  wrote  September  4th  : 

1  As  Fauchet  had  a  perfect  right  to  suppose  the  jurisdiction  and  flag  of  the  United 
States  would  protect  him,  until  his  arrival  at  Newport,  the  attempt  against  hiF*ipersou 
cannot  be  classed  as  a  fair  hostile  one  to  secure  a  p'riaoner  of  war.  The  word  in  the  text 
would  seem  to  be  literally  applicable  to  the  circumstances. 

3  Commander  of  the  Africa. 

8  See  this  letter  entire  in  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  33.  it  does  not  appear  J'B 
Sparks' s  Washington. 

4  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  xi.  p.  63. 


CHAP.  v.J  HAMILTON'S  AND  ADAMS'S  VIEWS.  203 

"  The  incidents  which  have  lately  occurred  have  been  in  every  way  vexatious 
and  untoward.  They  render  indispensable  a  very  serious,  though  calm  and 
measured,  remonstrance  frooi  this  Government,  carrying  among  others  this  idea , 
that  it  is  not  sufficient  that  the  British  Government  entertain  no  hostile  dispositions 
'tis  essential  that  they  take  adequate  measures  to  prevent  those  oppressions  of  our 
citizens  and  of  our  commerce  by  their  officers  and  courts,  of  which  there  are  too 
requent  examples,  and  by  which  we  are  exposed  to  suffer  inconveniences  toe 
nearly  approaching  to  those  of  a  state  of  war.  A  strong  expectation  should  be 
signified  of  the  punishment  of  Captain  Holmes,  for  the  attempt  to  violate  an  ambas 
sador  passing  through  our  territory,  and  for  the  hostile  and  offensive  menaces  which 
he  has  thrown  out.  The  dignity  of  our  country,  and  the  preservation  of  the  confi 
dence  of  the  people  in  the  Government,  require  both  solemnity  and  seriousness  in 
these  representations."  * 

Hamilton  had  written  his  successor  Wolcott,  August  10th, 
that  "  he  was  very  much  of  the  opinion,"  that  when  the  ratified 
treaty  was  taken  to  England,  the  agent  of  the  United  States 
should  make  the  exchange  of  ratifications  dependent  upon  a 
rescinding  of  the  Order  in  Council,  because  we  were  too  much 
interested  in  the  exemption  of  provisions  from  seizure  "  to  give 
even  ar,  implied  sanction  to  the  contrary  pretension  " — because 
a  different  course  would  u  give  color  to  an  abusive  construction 
of  the  18th  article  of  the  treaty  " — because  "  it  would  give  cause 
of  umbrage  to  France  " — because  it  "  would  be  thus  construed 
in  our  country,  and  would  destroy  confidence  in  the  Govern 
ment  " — because  "  it  would  be  scarcely  reputable  to  a  nation 
to  conclude  a  treaty  with  a  power  to  heal  past  controversies,  at 
the  very  moment  of  new  and  existing  violation  of  its  rights."9 

John  Adams,  a  year  or  two  afterwards,  when  informed  that 
his  son,  then  Minister  to  Holland,  had  been  treated  with  some 
coolness  in  England,  wrote  to  his  wife : 

"  I  am  glad  of  it,  for  I  would  not  have  my  son  go  so  far  as  Mr.  Jay,  and  affirm 
the  friendly  disposition  of  that  country  to  this  I  know  better.  I  know  their 
jealousy,  envy,  hatred,  and  revenge,  covered  under  pretended  contempt." 

But  the  constitutional  advisers  of  the  President  were  men  ot 
different  mettle  where  England  was  concerned  ;  nor  shall  we 
say  that  all  who  wrote  the  President  boldly,  kept  up  to  the 
mark  of  their  own  advice  to  the  end.  Wolcott  answered  Ha 
milton  (August  15th)  that  "  the  President  had  decided  that  the 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  35. 

2  See  this  letter  entire  in  Gibbs's  Memoirs  of  the  Administrations  of  Washington  and 
John  Adams,  vol.  i.  p.  223. 


TREATY    RATIFIED.  [CHAP.  V 

treaty  should  be  ratified  and  transmitted  for  exchange  immedi 
ately,  and  in  his  [Wolcott's]  opinion,  he  had  decided  right."  He 
said:  "circumstances  had  happened  tending  to  excite  a  distrust 
of  the  sincerity  of  this  Government  in  the  British  Cabinet,  which 
would  be  no  otherwise  explained  than  by  a  ratification!"1 

The  President's  "  opinion  was  not,"  as  he  wrote  Randolph, 
'  favorable  to  the  treaty  ;"  but  he  had  determined  previously  to 
its  submission  to  the  Senate,  to  ratify  it,  "if  it  should  be  so 
advised  and  consented  to  by  that  body."  His  original  doubts 
pertained  to  "the  commercial  part  of  it,  with  which  he  professed 
to  be  the  least  acquainted  ;"  and  "  he  had  no  means  of  acquir- 
ng  information  thereon  without  disclosing  its  contents,  not  to  do 
#hich  until  it  was  submitted  to  the  Senate  had  been  resolved 
3n."  Doubts  afterwards  rose  in  his  mind  when  he  received  in 
formation  of  the  "  Provision  Order  "  of  the  British  Government ; 
and  he  wrote  Randolph  that  he  and  the  other  Cabinet  officers, 
"  knew  the  grounds  on  which  his  ultimate  decision  was  taken."5 

On  the  12th  of  August  the  question  of  immediate  ratifica 
tion  was  discussed  in  the  Cabinet,  and  all  the  members  sup 
ported  that  measure  except  Randolph,  who  took  the  ground 
"that  during  the  existence  of  the  Provision  Order,  and  during 
the  war  between  Britain  and 'France,  this  step  ought  not  to  be 
taken."  *  It  was,  however,  determined  that  the  ratification  should 
je  accompanied  by  a  "  strong  memorial  "  to  the  British  Govern 
ment  "  against  the  Provision  Order." 

The  President's  original  determination  to  ratify  the  treaty, 
should  the  Senate  approve  of  it,  was  unquestionably  formed 
under  the  impression  that  this  step  was  necessary  to  continue 
peace  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  His  subse 
quent  relinquishment  of  the  conditions  which  the  "  Provision 
Order"  suggested  to  him  asv necessary  to  vindicate  the  rights  and 
dignity  of  the  United  States,  may  have  been  partly  suggested 
by  the  circumstances  presently  to  be  adverted  to,  showing  thit 
popular  opposition  to  the  treaty  was  so  universal  and  violer.t, 
that  any  delays  for  further  negotiation  would  be  treated  by  Eng- 


1  See  Gibbs's  Memoirs  of  the  Administrations  of  Washington  aud  Adams,  vol.  i. 
p.  225.   We  should  perhaps  say  that  Mr.  Gibbs  is  a  near  relative  (grandson,  we  think)  of 
Wolcott,  and  wrote  his  work  with  the  full  aid  of  Wolcott's  papers. 

2  For   these   several   quotations,   see   two   letters  from  Washington  to  Randolph, 
July  22d  and  October  25th.  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  xi.  pp.  35  and  87. 

»  Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  368 


CHAP,  v.]  TUE  PRESIDENT'S  REASONS. 

land  as  a  hostile  manifestation.  This  would  explain  the  singular 
declaration  of  Wolcott  to  Hamilton  ;  though  we  venture  to 
assert  that  if  the  suggestion  was  pressed  upon  the  President  by 
all  the  Cabinet  but  Randolph,  as  we  have  no  doubt  it  was,  they 
were  exceedingly  careful  not  to  put  it  in  terms  which  would  rest 
the  action  proposed  on  such  grounds  of  national  abasement, 
as  that  we  must  at  once  ratify  an  objectionable  treaty  to  demon 
strate  our  "  sincerity  "  to  the  "  British  Cabinet."  But  the  rea 
sons  we  have  given  hardly  account  for  the  President's  rather 
sudden  action,  inasmuch  as  he  had  manifested  considerable  hesi 
tation,  and  made  considerable  delays,  after  being  as  fully  ap 
prised  of  the  circumstances  mentioned  as  he  ever  subsequently 
became. 

Another  cause  has  been  assigned  by  several  writers,  in  an 
event,  of  which  we  do  not  propose  here  to  enter  upon  any 
formal  account.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  a  dispatch  home  from  the 
late  French  Minister,  Fauchet,  had  been  intercepted,  and  sent 
by  the  British  Government  to  its  Minister  in  the  United  States, 
who  communicated  it  to  our  Cabinet.  It  contained  some  shrewd 
views  of  American  politics  mixed  up  with  great  exaggerations. 
It  attributed  the  same  views  to  the  ultra-Federalists  that  were 
attributed  to  them  by  the  Republicans,  and  spoke  of  something 
as  "  undoubtedly  what  Mr.  Randolph  [the  Secretary  of  State] 
meant  in  telling  him  [Fauchet]  that  under  pretext  of  giving 
energy  to  the  Government,  it  was  intended  to  introduce  absolute 
power,  and  to  mislead  the  President  into  paths  which  would  con 
duct  him  to  unpopularity."  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the 
same  paper : 

"  Two  or  three  days  before  the  proclamation  [to  the  Pennsylvania  insurgents] 
was  published,  and  of  course  before  the  Cabinet  had  resolved  on  its  measures,  Mr. 
Randolph  came  to  see  me  with  an  air  of  great  eagerness,  and  made  me  the  over 
tures  of  which  I  have  given  you  an  account  in  my  No.  6.  Thus  with  some  thou 
sands  of  dollars,  the  republic  could  have  decided  on  civil  war  or  on  peace!  Thus, 
the  consciences  of  the  pretended  patriots  of  America  already  have  their  prices !  It 
is  very  true  that  the  certainty  of  these  conclusions,  painful  to  be  drawn,  will 
forever  exist  in  our  archives!  What  will  be  the  old  age  of  this  Government,  if  it 
is  thus  early  decrepid  ? 

Fauchet  subsequently  distinctly  disclaimed  any  interpreta 
tion  of  the  above  which  would  implicate  Randolph's  patriotism  ; 
and,  indeed,  he  narrated  the  entire  circumstances  on  which  the 


264  FAUCIIET'S  INTERCEPTED  DISPATCHES.  [CHAP,  v 

remarks  were  based,  in  a  manner  which  showed  he  never 
had  entertained  such  a  thought,  unless  his  present  statements 
were  pure  fabrications.  But  with  the  merits  of  the  question  we 
have  nothing  to  do  here ;  and  we  shall  drop  it  after  simply  say 
ing  in  decent  justice  to  the  accused  (after  having  introduced  this 
topic),  that  he  returned  to  Virginia  to  occupy  his  former  high 
social  and  legal  position ;  and  whatever  his  faults  as  a  states 
man,  we  do  not  believe  that  for  a  period  long  before  Ins 
death,  he  rested  under  the  suspicion  of  a  single  intelligent  and 
candid  acquaintance,  of  ever  having  been  accessible  to  a  bribe, 
or  capable  of  any  kind  of  official  dishonor. 

Hammond  placed  Fauchet's  intercepted  dispatch  in  the  hands 
of  "Wolcott.  What  the  Cabinet  really  thought  of  its  contents, 
we  cannot  say.  Perhaps,  they  believed  Randolph  had  been  en 
gaged  in  a  traitorous  correepondence.  At  all  events,  like  the 
"  Popish  Plot  "  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. ,  when  Dr.  Titus 
Gates  and  some  similar  worthies  nourished,  it  was  too  conveni 
ent  a  "plaat "  to  the  witnesses,  to  be  "  stoifledf"  General  Wash 
ington  was  at  once  sent  for,  from  Mount  Yernon.  He  hurried 
back  to  the  capital,  which  he  reached  on  the  llth  of  August. 
The  matter  was  immediately  disclosed  to  him,  and  the  next  day 
the  Cabinet  met  and  decided  on  the  immediate  ratification  of 
the  British  treaty,  Randolph  alone  opposing.  This  sudden  ter 
mination  of  the  matter  and  the  effect  on  the  President's  mind 
produced  by  what  he  was  evidently  led  to  consider  a  most  start 
ling  disclosure  of  French  plotting  and  interfering  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  country,  and  with  the  highest  offices  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  have  been  generally  supposed  to  have  an  intimate 
connection. 

Mr.  Randolph  remained  in  utter  ignorance  of  what  was  sus 
pended  over  him  until  the  19th,  when,  in  a  Cabinet  meeting, 
Fauchet's  dispatch  was  suddenly  placed  in  his  hands.  Wol 
cott  stood  by  HS  the  witness,  and  he  says  that  the  accused  Secre 
tary  "  silently  perused  it  with  composure  till  he  arrived  at  the 
passage  which  referred  to  his  precious  confessions,  when  his 
embarrassment  was  manifest."  He  again  read  the  letter  with 
u  great  attention,"  and  having  completed  it,  "  he  said  with  a  smile 
which  "  Mr.  Wolcott  "  thought  forced  :"  "  Yes,  sir,  I  will  explain 
what  1  know."  He  read  it  the  third  time  by  paragraphs,  com 
menting  on  every  part.  Wolcott  thought  his  remarks  "  very 


CHAP.  V.]  UNPOPULARITY  OF  THE  TREATY.  265 

desultory,"  and  that  he  was  "  considering  what  explanations  he 
should  give  of  the  most  material  passages !"  We  pass  from 
this  humiliating  narrative.1  Randolph  resigned  his  office,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Pickering,  whose  place  in  the  War  depart 
ment  was  fille'd  by  John  McIIenry,  of  Maryland. 

Jay's  treaty,  as  it  was  popularly  called,  was,  soon  after  its 
conditional  ratification  by  the  Senate,  made  public  by  Mr. 
Mason,  one  of  the  Virginia  senators,  and  was  published  in  the 
Aurora  on  the  29th  of  June.  It  was  received,  at  first,  with  an 
almost  united  roar  of  execration  throughout  the  land.  Many 
who  had  hitherto  been  leading  Federalists,  and  still  more  who 
were  grave,  weighty,  conspicuous  men,  previously  not  very  par 
ticularly  identified  with  either  party,  but  understood  to  be  well 
aifected  towards  the  Administration,  were  among  its  warmest 
denouncers.  Judge  Marshall  says,  "  in  fact,  public  opinion  did 
receive  a  considerable  shock,  and  men  uninfected  by  the 
spirit  of  faction  felt  some  disappointment  on.  its  first  appear 
ance."  ' 

The  storm  first  broke  at  Boston.  An  immense  "  town-meet 
ing,"  in  which  Samuel  Adams  and  other  of  the  most  prominent 
politicians,  merchants,3  etc.,  took  part,  unanimously  denounced 
the  treaty,  and  a  committee  of  fifteen  were  appointed  to  state 
their  objections  to  the  President.  They  reported  twenty  objec 
tions  to  the  meeting,  which  adopted  them  without  debate  ;  and 
they  were  forwarded  by  the  town  magistrates,  to  the  President 
by  express.  An  immense  meeting  assembled  at  New  York 
(July  16th).  The  friends  of  the  treaty,  headed  by  Hamilton, 
appeared  and  made  an  effort  to  procure  an  adjournment.  A 
fray  ensued,  and  Hamilton  was  slightly  wounded.  A  committee 
of  fifteen,  headed  by  Brock  hoist  Livingston,  the  brother  of  Mr. 
Jay's  wife,4  reported  twenty-eight  condemnatory  resolutions,  at 
an  adjourned  meeting  two  days  afterwards,  and  they  passed 
without  dissent.  A  great  meeting  at  Philadelphia  (July  24th) 

1  The  reader  who  is  curious  to  find  Wolcott's  entire  statements  (as  well  as  most  of  the 
papers  in  the  case,  and  as  strong  a  presentation  of  the  subject,  against  Randolph,  as  can 
be  well  made  out),  will  find  them  in  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  chap.  ix.     Wolcott's 
account  is  lively  and  interesting.    His  skill  and  point  in  describing,  equalled  his  keen, 
cool,  feline  craft  in  action. 

2  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  364. 

8  Ames,  to  a  correspondent,  expressed  the  most  bitter  indignation  at  "the  blindness 
and  gullibility  of  the  rich  men,  who  suffered  themselves  to  be  made  tools  on  this 
occasion." 

*  Both  were  the  children  of  the  late  Governor  William  Livingston,  of  New  Jersey. 
Rrockholst  Livingston  was  afterwards  an  associate  justice  of  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court. 


266  REACTION   PRODUCED.  [CHAP.  V. 

appointed  a  similar  committee  at  report  to  an  adjourned  meet 
ing.  Chief  Justice  McKean,  Muhlenburg  (late  Speaker  in  Con 
gress),  Secretary  Dallas,  and  other  conspicuous  citizens  were  on 
the  committee.  On  the  adoption  of  their  report,  the  crowd  pro 
ceeded  to  the  house  of  the  British  Minister,  where  they  burned 
a  copy  of  the  treaty  amidst  thundering  acclamations.1  At  a 
similar  meeting  at  Charleston,  John  and  Edward  Rutledge, 
General  Gadsden,  Johnson  (afterwards  Judge  of  the  Supremo 
Court  of  the  United  States),  the  late  Representatives  of  the  State 
in  Congress,  and  C.  C.  Pinckney,  were  appointed  on  a  commit 
tee  to  express  the  public  indignation  ;  and  all  served  in  that 
capacit}^  but  the  last  named.  Caesar  Rodney  and  John  Dickin 
son  participated  in  the  anti-treaty  proceedings  at  Wilmington. 
There  were  few  cities  in  the  United  States  where  similar  demon 
strations  were  not  made  ;  and  meetings  were  also  held  in  various 
rural  regions. 

Not  a  distinguished  Republican  in  the  United  States 
approved  the  treaty  ;  and  not  a  few  of  them  were  reported  to 
have  said  or  done  things  on  the  occasion  which  showed  that  they 
were  not  a  little  moved  from  their  "  propriety."  The  celebrated 
Langdon,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  said  to  have  condensed  his 
argument  and  explanation  in  regard  to  the  document  (at  a  meet 
ing  at  Portsmouth,  we  think),  into  the  sententious  remark  that 
"  'Tis  a  damned  thing  made  to  plague  the  French  !"  3  Mr.  Jay 
was  in  several  places  burnt  in  effigy. 

The  counter  demonstrations  in  favor  of  the  treaty  were  few 
and  feeble.  The  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  bodies 
principally  of  commercial  men,  in  a  few  other  places,  memo 
rialized  the  President  in  its  favor,  but  we  think  not  one  imposing 
popular  demonstration  was  made  on  that  side. 

The  strength  and  violence  of  the  torrent  themselves  led  to 
a  partial  reaction.  General  Washington  being  now  personally 
assailed,  his  immense  popularity  was  directly  thrown  into  the 
scale  of  the  Federalists,  who  supported  the  treaty.  He  wae 
now  first  avowedly  and  severely  attacked,  for  an  important 

1  Wolcott  wrote  the  President,  in  regard  to  the  Philadelphia  meeting,  that  "Di. 
Shippen  was   Chairman,   and    Dallas,    Pettit,   Swanwick,   Muhlenburg,    McClenachan, 
Baker  and  Judge  McKean,  ostensible  leaders,"  "were  mounted  on  a  stage."    The  treatv 
was  also  burned   in   front  of  Bond's  house   and   Senator  Bingham'e.      "  The  French 
Minister"  [Adet],  says  Wolcott.  "denied  himself  to  the  mob,  and  had,  he  believed 
conducted  himself  with  strict  propriety." — Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  217. 

2  See  Oliver  Ellsworth's  letter  to  Wolcott,  in  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  226. 


CHAP.  V.]  JEFFEKSON    VIEWS    OF   TREATY.  267 

measure  imputed  to  himself; *  and  his  old  companions  in  arms, 
his  Revolutionary  comrades  generally,  and  that  portion  of  the 
rising  generation  who  properly  revered  his  great  name,  were 
painfully  affected  by  these  oftentimes  harsh  public  strictures. 
The  conservative  men  of  the  country  became  alarmed  at  such 
manifestations  of  alienation  between  the  Government  arid  peo 
ple  ;  and  thousands  who  had .  not  the  least  favor  for  the  treaty, 
felt  that  it  was  necessary  to  rally  around  the  Government, 
and  arrest  the  torrent  of  popular  excitement,  for  the  purpose  of 
ensuring  stability  at  home,  or  avoiding  a  sudden  and  violent 
precipitation  into  the  warlike  struggle  going  on  in  Europe. 
The  Government  was,  therefore,  really  rapidly  gaining  strength 
when  it  appeared  stripped  of  all  external  support. 

Mr.  Jefferson  fully  shared  in  the  general  disapprobation  of 
the  treaty.  In  a  letter  to  Mann  Page — the  first  after  his  usual 
long  summer  silence — he  thus  alluded  to  it  (August  30th) : 

"  I  do  not  believe  with  the  Rochefoucaults  and  Montaignes,  that  fourteen  out 
of  fifteen  men  are  rogues:  I  believe  a  great  abatement  from  that  proportion  may  be 
made  in  favor  of  general  honesty.  But  I  have  always  found  that  rogues  would  be 
uppermost,  and  I  do  not  know  that  the  proportion  is  too  strong  for  the  higher 
orders,  and  for  those  who,  rising  above  the  swinish  multitude,2  always  contrive  to 
nestle  themselves  into  the  places  of  power  and  profit.  These  rogues  set  out  with 
stealing  the  people's  good  opinion,  and  then  steal  from  them  the  right  of  withdraw 
ing  it,  by  contriving  laws  and  associations  against  the  power  of  the  people  them 
selves.  Our  part  of  the  country  is  in  considerable  fermentation,  on  what  they 
suspect  to  be  a  recent  roguery  of  this  kind.  They  say  that  while  all  hands  were 
below  deck  mending  sails,  splicing  ropes,  and  every  one  at  his  own  business,  and 
the  captain  in  his  cabin  attending  to  his  log-book  and  chart,  a  rogue  of  a  pilot  has 
run  them  into  an  enemy's  port.  But  metaphor  apart,  there  is  much  dissatisfaction 
with  Mr.  Jay  and  his  treaty.  For  my  part,  I  consider  myself  now  but  as  a  pas?en- 
ger,  leaving  the  world  and  its  government  to  those  who  are  likely  to  live  longer 
in  it." 

It  is  not  presumed  that  the  word  "  rogue  "  is  here  applied 
to  Mr.  Jay  in  any  personal  sense  ;  as  mankind  unfortunately 
consent  to  recognize  a  distinction  between  political  and  personal 
morality.  But  if  Mr.  Jefferson  meant  seriously  and  literally  to 
apply  the  word  u  rogue  "  to  Mr.  Jay  in  any  sense,  the  imputa 
tion,  in  our  opinion,  was  utterly  misplaced. 

1  Marshall  says:  "Previous  to  the  mission  of  Mr.  Jay,  charges  against  the  Chief 
Magistrate,  though  frequently  insinuated,  had  seldom  been  directly  made." — Life  of 
Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  370. 

a  These  words  are  undoubtedly  used  sarcastically,  as  a  favorite  term  of  his  opponent? 
Had  lie  not  been  habitually  careless  I'D  punctuation,  we  should  find  quotation  mark.* 
Before  and  after  the  words 


268  CAMILLAS    DEFENCE    OF   TREATY.  [CHAP.  V. 

On  the  13th  of  September,  Jefferson  thanked  Mr.  Tazewell 
for  a  copy  of  the  treaty  received  some  days  before,  and  it  would 
seem  that  he  was  not  even  then  aware  that  it  lacked  nothing 
but  the  action  of  the  British  Government  to  become  a  finality, 
for  he  hopes  that  the  proceedings  in  regard  to  the  12th  article 
may  bring  it  again  before  the  Senate,  and  give  them  an  oppor 
tunity  of  "  correcting  the  error  into  which  their  exclusion  of 
public  light  has  led  them."  He  also 

— "  Hopes  the  recent  insults 1  of  the  English  will  at  length  awaken  in  our 
Executive  that  sense  of  public  honor  and  spirit,  which  they  have  not  lost  sight  of 
ii.  their  proceedings  with  other  nations,  and  will  establish  the  eternal  truth  that 
acquiescence  under  insult  is  not  the  way  to  escape  war." 

In  July,  Hamilton  had  commenced  publishing  a  series  of 
articles  in  New  York,  over  the  signature  of  Camillas,  in  defence 
of  the  treaty.  He  put  forth  his  full  powers  as  a  writer  in  them  ; 
and  they  extended  to  thirty-eight  numbers,  now  covering  three 
hundred  and  fifty-six  pages  in  his  Works."  In  regard  to  these, 
and  the  subject  of  them,  Jefferson  wrote  Madison,  Septem 
ber  21st  : 

"  I  send  you  by  post  the  title  page,  table  of  contents,  and  one  of  the  pieces, 
Curtius,  lest  it  should  not  have  come  to  you  otherwise.  It  is  evidently  written  by 
Hamilton,  giving  a  first  and  general  view  of  the  subject,  that  the  public  mind  might 
be  kept  a  little  in  check,  till  he  could  resume  the  subject  more  at  large  from  the 
beginning,  under  his  second  signature  of  Camillus  The  piece  called  'The  Features 
of  the  Treaty,'  I  do  not  send,  because  you  have  seen  it  in  the  newspapers.  It  is 
said  to  be  written  by  Coxe,  but  I  should  rather  suspect,  by  Beckley.  The  antidote 
is  certainly  not  strong  enough  for  the  poison  of  Curtius.  If  I  had  not  been 
informed  the  present  came  from  Beckley,  I  should  have  suspected  it  from  Jay  or 
H.imilton.  I  gave  a  copy  or  two,  by  way  of  experiment,  to  honest,  sound-hearted 
men  of  common  understanding,  and  they  were  not  able  to  parry  the  sophistry  of 
Curtius.  I  have  ceased,  therefore,  to  give  them.  Hamilton  is  really  a  colossus  to 
the  Anti-Republican  party.  Without  numbers,  he  is  a  host  within  himself.  They 
have  got  themselves  into  a  defile,  where  they  might  be  finished  ;  but  too  much 
security  on  the  Republican  part  will  give  time  to  his  talents  and  indefatigableness 
to  extricate  them.  We  have  had  only  middling  performances  to  oppose  to  him. 
In  truth,  when  he  comes  forward,  there  is  nobody  but  yourself  who  can  meet  him. 
His  adversaries  having  begun  the  attack,  he  has  the  advantage  of  answering  them, 
and  remains  unanswered  himself.  A  solid  reply  might  yet  completely  demolish 
what  was  too  feebly  attacked,  and  has  gathered  strength  from  the  weakness  of  the 
attack.  The  merchants  were  certainly  (except  those  of  them  who  are  English)  as 

1  This  word  is  printed  "  results"  in  the  Congress  edition— an  obvious  typographical 
error. 

2  Vol.  vii.  pp.  172-528. 


CHAP.  V.J         PC  WEE   OF   REPRESENT  ATI  VES    IN    TREATIES.  219 

open-mouthed  at  first  against  the  treaty,  as  any.  But  the  general  expression  of 
indignation  has  alarmed  them  for  the  strength  of  the  Government.  They  have 
feared  the  shock  would  be  too  great,  and  have  chosen  to  tack  about  and  support 
both  treaty  and  Government  rather  than  risk  the  Government.  Thus  it  is,  that 
Hamilton,  Jay,  etc.,  in  the  boldest  act  they  ever  ventured  on  to  undermine  the  Gov 
ernment,  have  the  address  to  screen  themselves,  and  direct  the  hue-and-cry  against 
those  who  wish  to  drag  them  into  light.  A  bolder  party-stroke  was  never  struck. 
For  it  certainly  is  an  attempt  of  a  party,  who  find  they  have  lost  their  majority  in  one 
branch  of  the  Legislature,  to  make  a  law  by  the  aid  of  the  other  branch  and  of  the 
Executive,  under  color  of  a  treaty,  which  shall  bind  up  the  hands  of  the  adverse 
branch  from  ever  restraining  the  commerce  of  their  patron-nation.  There  appears 
a  pause  at  present  in  the  public  sentiment,  which  may  be  followed  by  a  revulsion. 
This  is  the  effect  of  the  desertion  of  the  merchants,  of  the  President's  chiding  answer 
to  Boston  and  Richmond,  of  the  writings  of  Curtius  and  Camillus,  and  of  the  quietism 
into  which  people  naturally  fall  after  first  sensations  are  over.  For  God's  sake  take  up 
your  pen,  and  give  a  fundamental  reply  to  Curtius  and  Camillus.  Adieu  affectionately." 

By  the  death  of  Mr.  Bradford,  August  23d,  a  vacancy  was 
left  in  the  office  of  Attorney-General.  The  President  succes 
sively  offered  the  post  to  John  Marshall,  Colonel  Innes,  and 
Charles  Lee — all  Virginians.  The  last  accepted.  He  was  a 
brother  of  Governor  Henry  Lee,  and  son-in-law  of  the  late 
Richard  Henry  Lee. 

Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  his  next  political  letter  (November  30), 
in  answer  to  one  from  Edward  Rutledge.  In  it  he  anticipated, 
and  expressed  his  views  on,  the  very  interesting  question,  so 
warmly  mooted  in  the  next  Congress,  and  somewhat  since, 
whether  the  House  of  Representatives  may  of  right  refuse  to 
provide  for  the  execution  of  treaties — or  whether  all  power, 
direct  or  indirect,  in  regard  to  these  instruments,  is  solely 

lodged  in  the  President  and  Senate.     He  said  : 

?•> 

•'  The  present  situation  of  the  President,  unable  to  get  the  offices  filled,  really 
calls  with  uncommon  obligation  on  those  whom  nature  has  fitted  for  them.  I  join 
with  you  in  thinking  the  treaty  an  execrable  thing.  But  both  negotiators  must 
have  understood,  that,  as  there  were  articles  in  it  which  could  not  be  carried  into 
execution  without  the  aid  of  the  Legislatures  on  both  sides,  therefore  it  must  be 
referred  to  them,  and  that  these  Legislatures  being  free  agents,  would  not  give  it 
their  support  if  they  disapproved  of  it.  I  trust  the  popular  branch  of  our  Legisla 
ture  will  disapprove  of  it,  and  thus  rid  us  of  this  infamous  act,  which  is  really 
nothing  more  than  a  treaty  of  alliance  between  England  and  the  Anglomen  of  this 
country,  against  the  Legislature  and  people  of  the  United  States." 

The  fact  that  the  President  and  the  two  most  important 
leaders  of  the  Opposition  resided  in  Virginia,  gave  a  peculiar 
interest  to  its  autumn  elections,  and  to  the  subsequent  proceed- 


270  VIRGINIA    ELECTIONS — CONGRESS    MEETS.  [CHAP.  V. 

ings  of  its  Legislature.  The  Federalists  received  some  acces 
sions,  but  they  were  decisively  beaten.  The  House  of  Delegates 
elected  Wood,  Republican,  Governor.  A  resolution,  approving 
the  conduct  of  the  Virginia  United  States  Senators  in  voting 
against  Jay's  treaty,  was  adopted  two  to  one.  Another,  declar 
ing  undiminished  confidence  in  the  President,  was  negatived 
seventy-nine  to  fifty-nine  ;  but  a  disclaimer  of  any  imputation 
on  his  motives,  passed  seventy-eight  to  sixty-two.  Resolutions 
passed  proposing  amendments  of  the  Constitution  to  give  the 
House  of  Representatives  a  part  of  the  treaty  making  power — 
to  shorten  the  Senatorial  term  to  three  years — to  take  from  the 
Senate  the  trial  of  impeachments — and  to  disqualify  judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  from  holding  any  other 
office.  Among  the  minority  in  the  House,  were  the  Attorney- 
General,  Charles  Lee,  and  Mr.  (afterwards  Chief- Justice)  Mar 
shall.  It  is,  perhaps,  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  in  no  wise  interfered  in  these  proceedings. 

The  fourth  Congress  met  on  the  seventh  of  December. 
The  opening  speech  of  the  President  announced  the  conclusion 
of  peace  with  the  northwestern  Indians  on  suitable  terms  ;  a 
treaty  with  Algiers  ;  the  near  close  of  negotiations  with  Madrid 
for  the  cession  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi ;  and,  finally, 
the  treaty  with  England.  The  address  of  the  Senate,  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  fourteen  to  eight,  reechoed  the  sentiments  of  the 
speech.  That  of  the  House,  reported  by  Madison,  Sedgwick, 
and  Sitgreaves  (the  two  last  Federalists),  pronounced  the  "  une 
qualled  spectacle  of  national  happiness  "  exhibited  by  our  coun 
try,  due,  in  a  good  measure,  to  the  President's  administration  ; 
to  "  the  undiminished  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens  ;"  and  to 
"  his  zealous  and  successful  labors  in  their  service."  Colonel 
Parker,  of  Virginia,  moved  to  strike  out  the  words  "  unequalled," 
and  also  the  two  latter  clauses.  A  sharp  debate  ensued.  The 
majority  were  for  striking  out,  but  to  avoid  a  direct  vote,  which 
might  be  construed  into  an  act  of  personal  disrespect  towards 
the  President,  the  report  was  recommitted,  and  two  members 
added  to  the  Committee.  The  sentence,  as  subsequently  reported 
and  unanimously  adopted,  read  as  follows : 

"  In  contemplating  that  spectacle   of   national   happiness    which   our  country 
exhibits,  and  of  which  you,  sir,  have  been  pleased  to  make  an  interesting  summary, 


CHAP.  V.]       REPUBLICAN    ACTION — RUTLEDGE's    REJECTION.  271 

permit  us  to  acknowledge  and  declare  the  very  great  share  which  your  zealous  and 
faithful  services  have  contributed  to  it,  and  to  express  the  affectionate  attach 
ment  which  we  feel  for  your  character." 

The  treaty  with  Great  Britain  was  not  alluded  to  in  any 
terms  expressive  of  direct  censure  by  the  House — though  their 
views  in  opposition  to  the  policy  which  dictated  it  were  not 
suppressed.  After  this,  the  session  ran  along  quietly  until 
March,  no  serious  political  demonstration  being  made  by  the 
victorious  Kepublicans,  although  they  were  not  left  without 
some  provocation,  in  the  rejection  by  the  Senate  of  the  Presi 
dent's  nomination  of  John  Rutledge  as  Chief-Justice  of  the 
On 'ted  States  Supreme  Court,  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Jay,  on  the 
almost  openly  avowed  ground  of  his  having  participated  in  the 
Charleston  meeting  condemning  Jay's  treaty.  He  had  been 
appointed  in  July,  and  presided  at  the  August  term  of  the  Court, 
and,  therefore,  his  rejection  was  accompanied  with  circum 
stances  of  double  mortification.1 

In  regard  to  the  so  often  perverted  facts  connected  with  the 
amendment  of  the  reply  of  the  House  to  the  President's  speech, 
Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Giles,  December  31st: 

"Your  favors  of  Decemhei  the  loth  and  20th  came  to  hand  by  the  last  post.  I 
am  well  pleased  with  the  manner  in  which  your  House  have  testified  their  sense  of 
the  treaty ;  while  their  refusal  to  pass  the  original  clause  of  the  reported  answer 
proved  their  condemnation  ol  it,  the  contrivance  to  let  it  disappear  silently 
respected  appearances  in  favor  ol'  the  President,  who  errs  as  other  men  do,  but  errs 
with  integrity." 

He  commented  in  the  same  letter  on  "Randolph's  Vindica 
tion,"  which  had  then  appeared  and  was  creating  a  good  deal 
of  public  sensation.  He  thought  it  clearly  acquitted  him  of 
bribery,  though  "  those  who  knew  him  had  done  so  from  the 
first."  He  then  analyzed  its  statements  in  the  light  of  its 
assumption  that  its  author  had  acted  solely  in  reference  to  the 
right,  and  above  party  considerations,  in  the  Cabinet.  He 
declared  that  Randolph  had  been  habitually  vacillating  and 
inconsistent ;  that  had  he  adhered  to  his  avowed  principles  in 
1793,  the  President  would  not  have  been  thrown  into  "an 

1  On  the  27th  of  January,  1796,  William  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  was  nominated  to 
the  vacancy  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  but  declined.  Oliver  Ellsworth  was  subse 
quently  appointed. 


272  LETTER   TO    GILES.  [CHAP.  V, 

habitual  concert  with  the  British  and  anti-Republican  party,'' 
etc.     The  following  sentences  deserve  notice  : 

"  Were  parties  here  divided  merely  by  greediness  for  office,  as  in  England,  to 
take  a  part  with  either  would  be  unworthy  of  a  reasonable  or  moral  man.  But 
where  the  principle  of  difference  is  as  substantial,  and  as  strongly  pronounced  as 
between  the  Republicans  and  the  Monocrats  of  our  country,  I  hold  it  as  honorable 
to  take  a  firm  and  decided  part,  and  as  immoral  to  pursue  a  middle  line,  as 
between  the  parties  of  honest  men  and  rogues,  into  which  every  country  is 
divided/' 

The  .letter  concludes  : 

"  Our  attentions  have  been  so  absorbed  by  the  first  manifestation  of  the  senti 
ments  of  your  House,  that  we  have  lost  sight  of  our  own  Legislature ;  hisomuch, 
that  I  do  not  know  whether  they  are  sitting  or  not.  The  rejection  of  Mr.  Rutledge 
by  the  Senate  is  a  bold  thing ;  because  they  cannot  pretend  any  objection  to  him 
but  his  disapprobation  of  the  treaty.  It  is,  of  course,  a  declaration  that  they  will 
receive  none  but  Tories  hereafter  into  any  department  of  the  Government.  I 
should  not  wonder  if  Monroe  were  to  be  recalled,  under  the  idea  of  his  being  of 
the  partisans  of  France,  whom  the  President  considers  as  the  partisans  ol'  war  and 
confusion,  in  his  letter  of  July  the  81st,  and  as  disposed  to  excite  them  to  hostile 
measures,  or  at  least  to  unfriendly  sentiments;  a  most  infatuated  blindness  to  the 
true  character  of  the  sentiments  entertained  in  favor  of  France.  The  bottom  of 
my  page  warns  me  that  it  is  time  for  me  to  end  my  commentaries  on  the  facts  you 
have  furnished  me.  You  would,  of  course,  however,  wish  to  know  the  sensations 
here  on  those  facts." 

The  anticipations  in  regard  to  Monroe  proved  prophetic. 
The  mention  of  the  President's  considering  the  Republicans  the 
"  partisans  of  war  and  confusion,''  refers  to  a  letter  of  his  to 
Randolph  of  the  date  designated  (July  31st),  in  which,  after 
some  severe  comments  on  the  conduct  of  those  opposed  to  the 
treaty,  General  Washington  said  : 

"  In  time,  when  passion  shall  have  yielded  to  sober  reason,  the  current  may 
possibly  turn ;  but  in  the  meanwhile,  this  Government,  in  relation  to  France  and 
England,  may  be  compared  to  a  ship  between  the  rocks  of  Scylla  and  Charybdis. 
If  the  treaty  is  ratified,  the  partisans  of  the  French,  or  rather  of  war  and  confu 
sion,  will  excite  them  to  hostile  measures,  or  at  least  to  unfriendly  sentiments ;  if  it 
is  uot,  there  is  no  foreseeing  all  the  consequences  which  may  follow,  as  it  respects 
Great  Britain.'' ' 

The  last  entry  but  one  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  account-book  foi 
1795,  shows  that  his  "  absorption "  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  did  not  permit  him  longer  to  content 

1  For  the  letter  entire,  see  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  xi.  p.  49. 


CHAP,  v.]         -ADET'S  COURSE — MONEOE  IN  FRANCE.  273 

himself  with  the  slow  coining  and   curt  report  of  them  to  be 
found  in  his  solitary  Richmond  newspaper.     It  is  as  folkws: 

"  December  2Qth. — Inclosed  B.  F.  Bache  1  for  a  year's  Gazette  to  commence  the 
first  day  of  this  month,  an  order  on  Barnes  for  eight  dollars." 

Here  is  a  direct  step  back  towards  the  haunts  of  public  life — 
towards  a  reparticipation  in  the  excitements  and  the  struggles 
of  politics  ! 

Adet,  the  French  Minister  who  succeeded  Fauchet,  as  we 
have  seen  in  a  letter  of  Wolcott,9  carefully  avoided  mixing  in 
the  anti-treaty  demonstrations.  Wolcott  wrote  his  wife  that  he 
appeared  "  to  be  a  mild-tempered  and  well  educated  man,  and 
no  Jacobin" — that  "he  imagined  he  would  not  be  violent  or 
troublesome,  though  there  was  reason  to  think  that  he  would 
prosecute  what  he  deemed  the  interest  of  his  country  with  much 
sagacity."8 

M.  Adet  was  placed  in  a  trying  position  to  carry  on  diplo 
matic  intercourse  with  temper  and  prudence,  and  his  tone 
became  warmer  and  more  complaining.  The  American  Govern 
ment  had  just  formed  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with 
England,  yielding  neutral  rights  which  were  not  conceded  to 
France  and  was  practically  acquiescing  in  a  regulation  which 
did  not  allow  the  United  States  to  sell  provisions  to  France,  when 
the  latter  was  suffering  from  famine.  Wolcott  wrote  Hamilton, 
July  10th,  that  Governeur  Morris's  family,  then  in  Paris,  con 
sisting  of  fourteen  persons,  "  were  allowed  two  pounds  of  bread 
per  diem." ' 

Monroe  had  been  received  in  France  with  enthusiastic 
demonstrations  of  affection  and  respect.  He  had  carried  letters 
written  by  the  President's  order  and  based  on  a  vote  of  both 
houses  of  Congress,  expressing  warm  sympathy  with  the  people 
and  government  of  that  nation.  Introduced  publicly  to  the 
National  Convention  (August  14th),  its  President,  Merlin  de 
Douay,  received  him  with  a  fervid  speech,  and  publicly 
embraced  him.  The  Convention  ordered  the  Hags  of  the  two 
Republics  to  be  intertwined  in  their  hall.  Monroe  presented 
the  American  colors,  and  received  those  of  France  in  return. 

1  Benjamin  Franklin  Bache,  grandson  of  Dr.  Franklin,  and  editor  of  the  Aurora. 
See  note  on  page  266.  3  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  209. 

Ib.  p.  211.     Flour  was  then  $40,  in  specie,  per  barrel. 

VOL.  u. — 18 


274  MONROE'S  NEGOTIATIONS.  .  [CHAP,  v, 

The  Convention,  on  the  representations  of  the  American 
Minister,  repealed  (November  18th,  1794)  its  decree,  parsed  in 
retaliation  of  the  English  orders  in  Council,  subjecting  provisions 
on  board  United  States  vessels  to  seizure  and  forced  sale.  Mon 
roe,  in  pursuance  of  his  instructions,  vigorously  pressed  payment 
for  the  seizures  already  made.  This  was  promised.  Other 
negotiations  took  place,  evincing  friendly  dispositions  on  both 
sides. 

The  French  Government,  however,  manifested  considerable 
jealousy  on  the  subject  of  Jay's  mission  to  England.  Monroe's 
instructions  had  directed  him  to  inform  the  French  Government 
that  the  "  motives  "  of  that  mission  were  to  procure  "  immediate 
compensation  for  our  plundered  property,  and  restitution  of  the 
[northwestern]  posts  " — and  that  Mr.  Jay  was  "  positively  fur- 
bidden  to  weaken  the  engagements  between  America  and 
France."  The  American  Minister  understood  this,  it  appears, 
too  literally,  for  he  assured  the  French  Government  that  Mr. 
Jay  "  was  strictly  limited  to  demand  reparation  of  injuries." 
That  Government  learned  in  December  that  Mr.  Jay  had  con 
cluded  a  treaty  with  England.  On  the  4th  of  the  succeeding 
January,  it  promulgated  a  decree  giving  full  force  to  its  ancient 
treaty  stipulations  with  our  Government,  on  the  subject  of  con 
traband  and  carrying  enemies'  goods,  stipulations  which  famine 
at  home  and  our  submission  to  the  British  Orders  in  Council,  had 
induced  it  to  violate. 

Monroe's  permitting  the  French  Government  to  lavish  such 
warm  attentions  on  him — and  his  meeting  it  half  way  in  friendly 
professions — gave  great  offence  to  a  majority  of  the  Cabinet. 
They  thought  this  was  exhibiting  a  very  undue  and  Jacobinical 
partiality  for  that  power  over  England,  and  that  it  might  give 
offence  to  the  latter.  The  Secretary  of  State,  Pickering,  was  a 
fanatical  hater  of  France,  and  proportionally  an  adulator  of 
England.  He  wrote  an  angry  dispatch  to  Monroe,  censuring 
him  for  not  understanding  a  good  deal  not  in  his  instructions, 
and  which  would  appear  contrary  to  the  ostensible  purport  and 
spirit  of  those  instructions.  The  latter,  in  his  a  Yiew  of  the  Con 
duct  of  the  Executive  in  the  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  United 
States,"  said  : 

"  In  this  be  [the  Secretary  of  State]  notices  my  address  to  the  Convention  ;  as 
also  my  letter  to  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  of  the  3d  of  September  following; 


JIIAP.  v.]         MONROE'S  VIEWS — WASHINGTON'S  NOTES.  275 

both  of  which  acts  he  censures  in  the  most  unreserved  and  harsh  manner.  In  the 
first  he  charges  me  with  having  expressed  a  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  the  French 
Republic  in  a  style  too  warm  and  affectionate,  much  more  so  than  my  instructions 
warranted  ;  which,  too,  he  deemed  the  more  reprehensible,  from  the  consideration, 
that  it  was  presented  to  the  Convention  in  public,  and  before  the  world,  and  not  to 
a  committee  in  a  private  chamber  ;  since  thereby,  he  adds,  we  were  likely  to  give 
offence  to  other  countries,  particularly  England,  with  Avhom  we  were  in  treaty  ; 
and  since,  also,  the  dictates  of  sincerity  do  not  require  that  we  should  publish  to 
the  world  all  our  feelings  in  favor  of  France." — P.  23. 

Monroe  made  some  other  statements,  to  which  we  desire 
especially  to  call  attention,  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  Presi 
dent  Washington's  personal  feelings  towards  France : 

"  My  instructions  enjoined  it  on  me  to  use  my  utmost  endeavors  to  inspire  the 
French  Government  with  perfect  confidence  in  the  solicitude  which  the  President 
felt  for  the  success  of  the  French  Revolution,  of  his  preference  for  France  to  all 
other  nations  as  the  friend  and  ally  of  the  United  States  ;  of  the  grateful  sense 
which  we  still  retained  for  the  important  services  that  were  rendered  us  by  France 
in  the  course  of  our  Revolution  ;  and  to  declare  in  explicit  terms,  that  although 
neutrality  was  the  lot  we  preferred,  yet  in  case  we  embarked  in  the  war,  it  would 
be  on  her  side  and  against  her  enemies,  be  they  who  they  might." — Pp.  4,  5. 

Mr.  Sparks,  in  his  edition  of  the  Writings  of  Washington 
(vol.  xi.  p.  504,  et  seq.\  has  given  a  "  selection  "  from  "  marginal 
notes  in  the  handwriting  of  General  Washington"  on  a  copy  of 
Monroe's  "  View,"  which  he  says  was  found  "  in  the  library  at; 
Mount  Vernon."  Mr.  Sparks  remarks  that  these  notes  "  seem 
to  have  been  intended  by  the  writer  as  a  vindication  of  his  own 
conduct  against  certain  statements  made  in  the  '  View.' ':  They 
were  evidently  written  under  the  influence  of  very  strong  feel 
ings.  Mr.  Monroe's  propriety  of  conduct,  and  even  his  veracity, 
are  repeatedly  called  in  question.  Appended  to  the  above 
extract  from  the  "  View,"  were  the  following  comments  : 

"  And  is  there  to  be  found  in  any  letter  from  the  Government  to  him  a  single 
sentiment  repugnant  thereto  ?  On  the  contrary,  are  not  the  same  exhortations 
repeated  over  and  over  again  ?  But  could  it  be  inferred  from  hence,  that,  in  order 
to  please  France,  we  were  to  relinquish  our  rights  and  sacrifice  our  commerce  ?" 

These  remarks  of  General  Washington  contain  no  denial  of 
Monroe's  accuracy  in  giving  the  purport  of  his  instructions, 
wherein  he  was  authorized  to  declare  the  President's  views ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  an  implied  assent  to  their  accuracy.  We  shall 
have  occasion  to  resume  this  subject  presently. 


276  ADET'S  COMPLAINTS  OF  ENGLISH  TREATY.         [CHAP.  v. 

Monroe  also  had  some  misunderstandings  with  Mr.  Jay 
before  the  latter  left  England.  Mr.  Jay  refused  to  send  him  a 
copy  of  the  English  treaty,  though  Monroe  requested  it  and  sent 
a  confidential  agent  to  England  to  procure  it — his  object  being 
to  apprise  the  French  Government  of  its  contents,  apparently  in 
full  confidence  that  these  would  be  of  a  nature  to  allay  all 
disquieting  suspicions.  Mr.  Jay  refused  also  to  disclose  its  con 
tents,  except  in  confidence.  He  authorized  his  own  secretary, 
who  was  about  to  pass  through  Paris  on  his  way  to  Strasbourg, 
to  make  a  confidential  communication  to  Monroe.  The  latter 
refused  to  receive  it. 

As  soon  as  the  treaty  of  London  was  communicated  to  M. 
Adet,  the  French  Minister  in  the  United  States,  he  complained 
of  it  to  our  Government,  as  in  various  particulars  unjust  and 
unequal  to  his  country,  and  an  infraction  of  the  existing  treaty 
with  France.  He  claimed  that  the  hospitality  stipulated  for 
British  ships  of  war,  was  at  variance  with  the  restrictions  on 
enemies  of  France  contained  in  the  17th  article  of  that  treaty. 
He  claimed  that  the  stipulation  in  the  English  treaty  to  make 
no  new  ones  inconsistent  with  its  provisjons,  would  prevent 
the  negotiation  of  a  new  treaty  of  commerce  with  France.  But 
the  great  point  of  his  complaint  was  the  manifest  advantage 
given  to  England  by  the  stipulations  in  regard  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  two  nations  should  be  required  to  respect  the  mari 
time  rights  of  the  United  States. 

To  our  urgent  claim,  and  making  a  vast  concession  to  our 
interests,  France,  in  the  Treaty  of  1778,  admitted  the  principle 
that  the  friendly  nag  should  protect  enemies'  property — or, 
more  comprehensively  stated,  that  free  ships  should  make  free 
goods.  This  treaty  was  made  with  a  nation  waging,  at  the 
time,  a  great  national  war  in  our  behalf.  It  was  tlie  oldest 
treaty  of  the  United  States,  and  entitled,  therefore,  by  well 
settled  principles,  to  take  preference  over  any  later  compact  of 
the  same  nature,  unless  destroyed  by  war  or  terminated  by 
mutual  consent.  Nothing  looking  towards  war  had  relaxed  its 
obligations.  France  had  continued  our  benefactor  from  1778 
down  to  1797,  except  in  some  spoliations  on  our  commerce, 
made  under  circumstances  already  stated,  and  not  comparing  in 
extent  with  those  made  by  England  during  the  same  period, 
and  continued  since  our  late  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with 


2UAP.  V.]  CONDUCT   OF   FRANCE    AND    ENGLAND.  277 

9 

ner.  France  had  promised  to  discontinue  and  make  reparation 
for  these  spoliations  on  her  part. 

When  the  treaty  of  1778  was  made,  England  was  attempting 
our  subjugation.  It  was  years  after  the  Peace  before  she  con 
descended  to  send  a  minister  to  our  shores.  She  held  our 
northern  territory.  She  impressed  our  seamen.  She  violated 
our  commerce.  She  refused  to  even  confer  with  us  on  the  sub 
ject  of  a  commercial  treaty.  Her  press,  and  Government  and 
people  held  us  up  to  the  scorn  and  derision  of  Europe  as  a  nation 
of  swindlers.  She  engaged  in  a  deadly  war  with  France.  We 
took  no  part  in  it.  She  claimed  an  equality  of  treatment  in  our 
harbors  and  on  our  coasts,  and  admitted  she  received  it.  She 
impressed  our  seamen  more  than  before,  having  need  of  them  to 
fight  our  national  ally.  She  devised  new.  Orders  in  Council  to 
sweep  our  commerce  from  the  ocean.  She  interpolated  a  new 
and  barbarous  clause  into  the  code  of  international  law,  making 
provisions  contraband  of  war,  and  defiantly  put  it  into  force  in 
regard  to  ourselves.  At  this  point  we  sent  a  special  minister  to 
her  to  solicit  a  treaty,  and  selected  the  highest  law  officer  of  the 
Republic  to  give  dignity  to  the  appointment.  She  suspended 
neither  impressments  nor  her  original  Orders  in  Council  during 
the  progress  of  the  negotiations.  She  refused  to  insert  in  the 
treaty  any  stipulation  against  the  continuance  of  either  of  these 
kinds  of  aggression.  While  its  ratification  was  pending  in  the 
United  States,  she  grossly  insulted  us  by  an  attempt  to  seize  the 
person  of  the  Ambassador  of  France  within  our  jurisdiction. 
She  renewed  her  Provision  Order.  She  pushed  her  exactions  and 
aggressions  to  such  a  limit,  that  Hamilton  himself  bitterly  com 
plained  that  "we  were  exposed  to  suffer  inconveniences  too 
nearly  approaching  a  state  of  war !" 

The  practical  effects  of  the  Treaty  of  1778  and  of  the  Treaty 
of  London,  were  comparatively  these.  France  must  accord  us 
the  respect  due  to  an  independent  nation,  for  she  had  so  agreed. 
She  must  respect  our  neutral  flag  though  it  covered  the  goods 
of  her  enemy  England,  because  it  was  so  nominated  in  the 
bond.  England  must  not  be  required  to  treat  us  as  an  independ 
ent  nation,  because  she  would  sooner  fight  than  do  so.  She  must 
not  be  required  to  cease  robbing  us  of  our  citizens  and  property 
for  the  same  reason.  She  must  be  allowed  to  take  French  goods 
from  under  the  flag  which  protected  English  goods  from  France. 


278  CONDUCT   OF   FRANCE   AND    ENGLAND.  [CHAP.  V. 

because- she  would  agree  to  nothing  else.  She  must  be  allowed 
to  prevent  us  from  exporting  provisions  to  famine-stricken 
France,  because  such  was  her  will  and  her  interest.  As  the 
price  of  these  endurances,  and  of  our  stipulating  to  make  no 
engagements  inconsistent  with  ours  to  her,  she  conceded  to  us 
our  own  northern  posts,  and  by  a  no  means  liberal  commercial 
treaty — a  treaty  not  comparing  in  the  liberality  of  its  provisions 
with  what  France  sent  as  a  voluntary  and  purely  free  gift  when 
she  sent  Genet  to  our  shores. 

Pickering  and  that  class  of  politicians  had  a  ready  way  of 
answering  Adet's  complaints  to  their  consciences  and  to  the 
country.  What  France  had  done,  she  had  done.  It  was  a 
"  bargain,"  and  one  of  her  own  making,  and  she  must  keep  the 
bond  !  It  was  a  shame  and  a  disgrace — cowardly  and  servile — 
to  talk  of  national  gratitude  !  It  was  but  the  pretence  of 
affiliated  Jacobinism  !  France  had  not  fought  for  us  :  she  had 
only  used  us  to  wreak  her  own  ancient  hate  on  England. 
Lafayette  giving  his  patrimony  to  feed  and  clothe  our  perishing 
troops,  and  "flying  with  them  from  covert  to  covert  during  the 
fiery  pursuit — D'Estaing  bleeding  on  the  parapets  of  Savannah 
— Rochainbeau  and  De  Grasse  leading  the  armies  and  navies  of 
France  to  hem  in  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown — were  but  the  instru 
ments  of  French  despotism  against  "  the  best  Government  on 
earth."  If  solemn  votes  of  Congress,  if  warmly-worded  dis 
patches  of  Washington,  if  the  tears  and  thanks  of  a  nation,  had 
expressed  gratitude  as  if  for  a  genuine  and  all-important  obliga 
tion,  they  had  been  but  the  effusions  of  unsophisticated  credulity, 
or  the  legitimate  pretences  necessary  to  carry  through  "  a  good 
bargain."  If  France  had  shown  lenity  on  our  debts  after  the 
war,  and  lent  us  more  money — if  she  had  constantly  exhibited 
a  preference  for  us  over  other  nations  in  commerce — if  she  had 
finally  given  us  almost  the  privileges  of  her  own  citizens — if  she 
had  stood  as  our  only  safeguard  against  another  attack  from 
England  and  very  recently  from  an  Anglo-Spanish  alliance — if 
she  had  voluntarily  released  us  from  our  West  India  guaranty 
in  the  existing  war,  to  "leave"  us  "  to  pursue  our  happiness 
and  prosperity  in  peace,"  while  she  plunged  into  the  combat 
with  banded  Europe — if  she  had  lately  received  our  Minister 
with  the  most  extravagant  displays  of  affection — what  were  all 
these  but  cunning  wiles  to  render  us  a  dependent  and  subset** 


CHAP.  V.]  FRENCH     COLORS    PRESENTED.  279 

vient  nation?  Was  it,  not  shameful  to  pretend  that  these  tilings 
gave  her  any  pretence  for  questioning  our  right  to  make  any 
arrangements  we  saw  fit  with  England  ?  Had  we  not,  as  a  free 
and  independent  nation,  an  undoubted  moral  and  political  right 
to  make  any  "  bargain  "  for  our  own  benefit,  notwithstanding  it 
should  be,  by  treaty  stipulations  or  omissions,  to  give  actual  and 
important  advantages  to  England  while  at  war  with  France?1 
Should  not  France  be  compelled  to  make  prompt  reparations 
for  her  spoliations,  and  was  it  anything  to  her  whether  we  per 
mitted  England  to  continue  such  spoliations  for  the  purpose 
of  deepening  the  horrors  of  famine  in  France?  Was  there  not 
a  "  French  party  "  in  the  United  States,  headed  by  Jefferson, 
and  Madison,  and  Samuel  Adams,  and  George  Clinton,  who 
were  for  humiliating  us  at  the  footstool  of  a  foreign  power? 

We  hurry  on  to  the  next  conspicuous  act  in  the  international 
drama.  The  flag  sent,  by  the  French  Committee  of  Safety  to  the 
United  States  was  delivered  to  the  President  on  the  1st  day  of 
January,  1796,  by  M.  Adet,  in  a  speech,  in  which  he  declared 
that  his  country  "  assimilated  to,  or  rather  identified  with  free 
people  by  the  form  of  her  Government,  saw  in  them  only  friends 
and  brothers.  Long  accustomed  to  regard  the  American  people 
as  her  most  faithful  allies,  she  sought  to  draw  closer  the  ties 
already  formed  in  the  fields  of  America,  under  the  auspices  of 
victory,  over  the  ruins  of  tyranny." 

The  following  was  the  President's  glowing  reply : 

"  Born,  sir,  in  a  land  of  liberty ;  having  early  learned  its  value ;  having 
engaged  in  a  perilous  conflict  to  defend  it ;  having,  in  a  word,  devoted  the  best 
years  of  my  life  to  secure  its  permanent  establishment  in  my  own  country  ;  my 
anxious  recollections,  my  sympathetic  feelings,  and  my  best  wishes,  are  irresistibly 
excited,  whensoever,  in  any  country,  I  see  an  oppressed  nation  unfurl  the  ban 
ner  of  freedom.  But  above  all,  the  events  of  the  French  Revolution  have  pro 
duced  the  deepest  solicitude,  as  well  as  the  highest  admiration.  To  call  your  nation 
brave,  were  to  pronounce  but  common  praise.  Wonderful  people !  Ages  to  come 
will  read  with  astonishment  the  history  of  your  brilliant  exploits  !  I  rejoice  that 

1  We  have  forgotten  to  mention  that  the  Pickering  school  of  politicians  contended 
that  we  had  made  a  full  indemnification  to  France,  for  allowing  England  to  violate  our 
neutral  flag,  by  leaving  to  France  the  right  of  seizing  American  good-!  in  enemy's  vessels  ! 
Judge  Marshall,  in  defending  our  Government  from  Adet's  complaint  on  this  subject, 
omits,  we  believe,  all  mention  of  this  counterbalancing  advantage.  He  does  not 
descend  to  the  particulars  of  justification,  but  disposes  of  the  case  by  concisely  saying  : 
'•  No  demonstration  could  be  more  complete  than  the  fallacy  of  this  complaint.  But 
the  American  Government  discovered  a  willingness  voluntarily  to  release  France  from 
the  pressure  of  a  situation  in  which  she  had  elected  to  place  herself."  (Marshall's  Wash 
ington,  vol.  ii.  p.  393.)  It  is  clearly  unnecessary,  and  we  believe  lawyers  consider  it 
inexpedient,  to  enter  upon  specifications,  where  fallacy  is  as  apparent  as  demonstr  ition 
can  make  it ! 


280  WASHINGTON'S  REPLY  TO  ADET.  [CHAP.  v. 

the  period  of  your  toils  and  of  your  immense  sacrifices  is  approaching.  I  rejoice  that 
the  interesting  revolutionary  movements  of  so  many  years  have  issued  in  the  forma 
tion  of  a  constitution  designed  to  give  permanency  to  the  great  object  for  which 
you  have  contended  I  rejoice  that  liberty,  which  you  have  so  long  embraced  with 
enthusiasm  ;  liberty  of  which  you  have  been  the  invincible  defenders,  now  h'nds  an 
asylum  in  the  bosom  of  a  regularly  organized  government ;  a  government  which, 
being  formed  to  secure  the  happiness  of  the  French  people,  corresponds  with  the 
ardent  wishes  of  my  heart,  while  it  gratifies  the  pride  of  every  citizen  of  the  United 
States  by  its  resemblance  to  their  own.  On  these  glorious  events,  accept,  sir,  my 
sincere  congratulations. 

"  In  delivering  to  you  these  sentiments,  I  express  not  my  own  feelings  only,  but 
those  of  my  fellow  citizens  in  relation  to  the  commencement,  the  progress,  and  the 
issue  of  the  French  Revolution;  and  they  will  cordially  join  with  me  in  purest 
wishes  to  the  Supreme  Being,  that  the  citizens  of  our  sister  Republic,  our  mag 
nanimous  allies,  may  soon  enjoy  in  peace,  that  liberty  which  they  have  purchased 
at  so  great  a  price,  and  all  the  happiness  which  liberty  can  bestow. 

"  I  receive,  sir,  with  lively  sensibility,  the  symbol  of  the  triumphs,  and  of  the 
enfranchisement  of  your  natioi>,  the  colors  of  France,  which  you  have  now  pre 
sented  to  the  United  States.  The  transaction  will  be  announced  to  Congress,  and 
the  colors  will  be  deposited  with  those  archives  of  the  United  States,  which  are  at 
once  the  evidences  and  the  memorials  of  their  freedom  and  independence.  May 
these  be  perpetual,  and  may  the  friendship  of  the  two  Republics  be  commensurate 
with  their  existence." 

Nor  did  this  official  demonstration  of  national  sympathy  stop 
here.  In  the  House  of  Representatives  a  resolution  was  unani 
mously  passed  in  these  words : 

"Resolved,  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  be  requested  to  make  known 
to  the  representatives  of  the  French  people,  that  this  House  has  received,  with  the 
most  lively  sensibility,  the  communication  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  of  the 
21st  of  October,  1794,  accompanied  with  the  colors  of  the  French  Republic,  and  to 
assure  them  that  the  presentation  of  the  colors  of  France  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  is  deemed  a  most  honorable  testimony  of  the  existing  sympathy  and 
affections  of  the  two  republics,  founded  upon  their  solid  and  reciprocal  interests ; 
that  the  House  rejoices  in  the  opportunity  of  congratulating  the  French  Republic 
on  the  brilliant  and  glorious  achievements  accomplished  under  it  during  the  present 
afflictive  war,  and  that  they  hope  those  achievements  will  be  attended  with  a  per 
fect  attaimnent  of  their  object,  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  liberty  and 
happiness  of  that  great  and  magnanimous  people." 

In  the  Senate,  a  resolution  of  corresponding  tenor  was  pre 
sented,  also  requesting  the  President  to  communicate  it  to  the 
French  Government.  An  amendment  was  offered  to  strike  out 
the  last  clause.  This  was  made  a  party  question,  and  after  a 
eharp  debate,  the  amendment  was  carried  by  the  Federalists. 

It  is  easy  to  conjecture  on  what  grounds  the  Federal  minority 


CHAP.  V.]  ITS     SIGNIFICATION.  281 

in  the  House  of  Representatives  voted  for  a  resolution,  to  vote 
against  which,  on  this  occasion,  would  have  by  implication  cast 
a  direct  censure  on  the  President's  reply  to  Adet,  and  this, 
too,  at  a  period  when, that  minority  had  come  to  claim  that  it 
was  not  only  the  "  Administration  party,"  but  that  it  comprised 
the  exclusively  trusted  political  friends  of  the  President.  It  is 
easy  to  conjecture  why  a  Federal  majority  in  the  Senate  should 
have  felt  the  necessity  of  acquiescing  in  the  same  course  to  an 
extent  sufficient  to  save  appearances,  and  yet  let  its  genuine  feel 
ings  towards  France  break  out  in  the  vote  on  the  amendment.1 

Nor  would  it  be  difficult  to  imagine  at  just  such  a  juncture, 
charged  with  a  recent  act  of  undue  partiality  to  England  and 
unfriendliness  to  France — and  when  the  treaty  of  London  was 
about  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  a  Republican  House  of  Represen 
tatives — that  the  President  should  have  used  pretty  high-colored 
language  of  official  courtesy,  in  accepting  the  banner  of  France 
from  the  hands  of  Adet.  Indeed,  by  common  consent,  there 
may  always  be,  in  diplomatic  language,  a  certain  latitude  of 
friendly  profession,  which  is  construed  to  have  no  definite  mean 
ing  beyond  the  conventional  expression  of  friendly  civility. 
But  there  are  some  limits  required  by  custom  and  by  decency, 
in  even  diplomatic  exaggeration.  Those  limits  are  undeniably 
reached,  when  every  conventional  expression  demanded  by 
custom  to  evince  civility  and  friendly  regard  is  fully  exhausted. 
To  go  beyond  this  into  specific,  insincere  assertions,  and  to  seek 
to  give  them  additional  force  by  warm  declarations  of  concur 
ring  personal  feelings  and  wishes,  is  gratuitous,  and  becomes  as 
much  an  intentional  and  improper  attempt  at  deception  in  diplo 
macy,  as  if  the  misrepresentation  was  made  in  the  intercourse 
of  private  life. 

General  Washington  would  never  have  been  guilty  of  an 
approach  to  this  kind  of  deception.  Anybody  who  has  read  the 
preceding  reply  to  Adet,  will  want  no  proof  that  it  was  not 

1  And  with  the  exception  of  John  Adams,  they  generally  felt  a  correlative  admiration 
for  England.  Mr.  Adams's  admiration  stopped  with  the  political  system — even  that  he 
thought  could  be  improved.  But  his  feelings  against  France  and  its  revolution  were, 
nevertheless,  as  strong  as  those  of  his  political  associates. 

He  who  would  test  the  accuracy  of  the  views  we  have  here  taken  of  the  feelings  of  the 
Federal  leaders,  has  the  most  ample  opportunities  for  so  doing  in  the  now  published 
Works  of  John  Adams,  Hamilton,  Wolcott,  Ames,  etc.  etc.  Ames's  lamentations, 
of  which  we  have  given  some  specimens,  had,  anterior  to  this  epoch,  reached  their  full 
flow !  Of  the  Federal  leaders,  whose  works  have  not  been  separately  published, 
numerous  glimpses  will  be  found  in  their  letters,  in  Gibbs's  Memoirs  of  the  Administra 
tions  of  Washington  and  John  Adams,  and  in  Hamilton's  Works.  Never  did  picture  gal 
leries  preserve  main  characteristic  lineaments  better. 


282  PRESIDENT'S  FEELINGS  TOWAEDS  FRANCE.       [CHAP.  v. 

imposed  on  him  by  a  majority  of  his  Cabinet — that  it  wa& 
gall  and  wormwood  to  that  majority.1  In  any  case,  he  volun 
tarily  made  himself  responsible  to  truth  and  to  history.  Can 
any  one  point  out  an  instance  where  to  attain  a  diplomatic 
object,  or  serve  a  personal  turn,  this  great  and  pure  statesman 
stooped  to  misrepresent  not  only  his  country's  but  his  own 
opinions  and  feelings  ?  Is  there  any  specimen  extant  of  an 
affirmative  and  gratuitous  string  of  warmly-worded,  hollow  alle 
gations,  on  his  part,  which  would  scandalize  the  memory  of  any 
potentate  of  Christendom,  hardly  excepting  the  Emperors  of  the 
lower  Greek  Empire,  or  the  former  petty  princes  of  northern 
Italy,  who  studied  their  State  maxims  in  the  pages  of  Machiavel's 
11  Principe  f  Did  not  General  Washington  also  admit  in  his 
"notes"  on  Monroe's  "Yiew,"  that  he  had  instructed  that 
Minister  to  express  corresponding  official  and  personal  senti 
ments  towards  France  ? 

What  is  the  inference  to  be  drawn  from  all  these  facts  ? 
Clearly  and  unmistakably,  in  our  judgment,  that  the  President's 
declarations  to  Adet  were  sincere.  He  felt  the  doubts  and  fears 
in  respect  to  the  event  of  things  in  France  he  had  expressed  to 
Jefferson,9  but  in  his  heart  he  felt  towards  France  what  he 
solemnly  declared  on  this  occasion.  The  reply  to  Monroe  shows 
— it  avows — his  causes  of  dissatisfaction  with  that  power.  None 
of  these  were  political — none  of  them  imply  that  sympathy  or 
partiality  for  England  scarcely  disguised  by  a  majority  of  his 
Cabinet,  and  by  nearly  all  the  chiefs  of  the  party  who  had  sup 
ported  his  Administration  during  the  late  crisis.  If  General 
Washington,  as  the  Republ Scans  asserted,  heard  but  one  side — 
if  he  wras  surrounded  by  a  Cabinet  who  colored  and  distorted 
every  fact  in  regard  to  our  relations  with  France  and  England — 
if  he  was  led  to  misapprehend  the  respective  character  of  those 
relations — who  had  the  Republicans  to  thank  for  it,  in  part,  but 
themselves  ?  Had  they  not  refused  his  solicitations  to  fill  seats 

i  Unless  they  (Pickering.  McHenry  and  Wolcott)  were  ready  for  political  effect,  at 
the  moment,  to  sanction  sentiments  directly  at  variance  with  their  well-known  opinions. 
It  is  due  to  them  to  say  that  the  reader  who  studies  the  minute  history  of  the  period,  will, 
we  think,  be  satisfied  that  the  Cabinet  could  never  have  sanctioned  the  President's  speech 
to  Adet.  It  was  not  probably  submitted  to  their  advice. 

8  It  would  be  reasonable  to  suppose  he  put  these  sentiments  in  their  strongest  light 
before  Jefferson,  as  we  find  him  more  bitterly  complaining  of  the  conduct  of  England  to 
Hamilton  than  to  the  former.  The  motive  for  this,  where  it  was  his  object  to  moderate 
the- feelings  and  actions  of  the  sides,  and  preserve  a  middle  and  prudent  ground,  would 
be  obvious. 


CHAP.  V.]          FORCED   FROM   HIS    POLITICAL    NEUTRALITY.  283 

in  his  Cabinet?  Had  they  not  taken  an  attitude  ot  uncompro 
mising  opposition  to  a  purely  Executive  measure  to  which  he 
was  committed,  which  could  not  be  fairly  said  to  be  political  in 
its  bearing,  and  which  was  in  every  respect  legitimate  and 
honorable  in  the  light  of  an  experiment  ? 

They  had  a  right  to  differ  with  him  in  regard  to  the  rati 
fication  of  the  treaty.  But  had  they  any  right,  as  sensible  men, 
because  he  presumed  to  differ  with  them  on  that  subject,  to 
impeach  his  political  motives  ?  Had  they  any  right,  as  prudent 
politicians,  to  force  him  into  an  attitude  of  party  antagonism,  by 
treating  him  as  a  party  opponent  ?  General  Washington  was 
literally  forced  out  of  his  neutrality,  and  into  the  arms  of  a  party 
who  never  agreed  with  his  principles,  or  his  cardinal  maxims  of 
practical  policy.  Tic  was  thrown  among  men  who  had  one 
creed  when  they  addressed  him,  and  a  totally  different  one  when 
they  privately  addressed  each  other.  The  prestige  of  his  great 
name  was  wantonly  or  most  foolishly  thrown  away ;  the  oracle 
was  surrendered  to  false  pythonesses,  who  would  make  its 
sanctity  the  authority  for  their  own  designing  responses.  All 
this  we  aver  the  Republicans  brought  upon  themselves  by  a  zeal 
which  was  too  hot  to  be  controlled  by  prudence  and  decorum. 
They  rushed  upon  the  buckler  of  the  giant,  and  they  and  their 
country  dearly  paid  the  consequences  ! 

The  reaction  caused  by  the  attacks  of  the  Republicans  on 
the  President  set  its  first  currents  against  Monroe.  Pickering 
sounded  the  charge.  As  true,  as  brave,  as  high  principled,  and 
as  patriotic  a  man  as  there  was  in  the  United  States,  was 
denounced  everywhere  by  the  Federalists  in  language,  much  of 
which  could  only  apply  to  a  knave  without  any  ties  or  pride  of 
country,  and  presenting  about  an  equal  compound  of  the  fool 
and  the  ruffian.  General  Washington's  strictures  have  been 
alluded  to.  We  will  not  farther  recall  them.  They  were  made 
in  moments  of  excitement,  when  Pickerings  and  Wolcotts  were 
acting  as  the  informers  and  witnesses.  Had  Washington  lived 
longer,  he  would  have  recalled  his  imputations  on  an  integrity 
which  in  spotlessness  resembled  his  own.  They  were  not  un 
usual  specimens  of  the  tone  of  our  early  partisan  conflicts.  John 
Adams  wrote  Elbridge  Gerry,  from  the  Presidential  chair, 
May  30th,  1797  : 

"  I  had  no  share  in  the  recall  of  Monroe,  and  therefore  am  not  responsible  fot 


284  PARTY    VIOLENCE.  [CHAP.  V. 

the  reasons  of  it.  But  I  have  heard  such  reports  of  his  own  language  in  France  at 
his  own  table,  and  the  language  of  those  he  entertained  and  countenanced,  and  of 
his  correspondences  with  Bache,  Becklcy,  etc.,  and  his  communications  through  the 
Aurora,  that  I  wonder  not  at  his  recall.  His  speech  at  his  audience  of  leave  is  a 
base,  false,  and  servile  thing.  Indeed,  it  was  Randolph  who  appointed  him.  He 
was,  in  Senate,  as  dull,  heavy,  and  stupid  a  fellow  as  he  could  be  consistently  with 
malignity  and  inveteracy  perpetual.  A  more  unfit  piece  of  wood  to  make  a  Mer 
cury  could  not  have  been  culled  from  the  whole  forest." 

And  Mr.  Adams  then  goes  on  to  hint  that  by  some  means, 
not  explained,  but  clearly  not  honest  ones,  Monroe's  "  confiden 
tial  correspondents  and  intimate  acquaintances  "  have  suddenly 
become  rich,  and  "  roll  in  wealth!"1 

It  presents  a  curious  specimen  of  human,  and  particularly 
of  political  "  sea  change,"  to  snatch  a  glimpse  down  the  future 
and  see  Mr.  Adams,  as  a  member  of  the  Electoral  College  of 
Massachusetts,  voting  for  this  stupid  and  malignant  if  not  cor 
rupt  u  fellow  "  for  President  of  the  United  States.  Nor  shall 
the  Colossus,  rampant  or  couchant,  in  this  instance  monopolize 
the  inconsistency.  We  shall  see  the  whole  party  which  now 
denounced  Monroe  so  violently,  not  only  for  his  conduct  in 
France,  but  for  defending  himself  against  the  censures  of  the 
Cabinet,  also  supporting  him  for  a  second  Presidency,  with  the 
talismanic  words,  u  The  Washington-Monroe  Policy,"  inscribed 
on  their  party  banners. 

But   Monroe  was  not  long  the   most   prominent  object  of 
attack  during  the  events  we  have  been  describing.     A  mightier 
form  loomed  up  on  the  same  side,  amidst  the  smoke  of  the  con 
flict.     The  press  poured  irs  steady  volleys  on  him.     Champions 
Bought   fame   by   individually  ;md    rancoronsly  assailing  him. 
Reptiles  were  fostered  and  caressed  because  they  transcended 
all  the  decencies  of  previous  party  warfare,  to  pour  out  disgust 
ing  calumnies  on  his  private  character.     The  hasty  and  angry 
words  of  his  contemporaries  against  each  other  and  against  him, 
have  been  passed  over  by  those  who  have  picked  up  and  per 
petuated  every  warm  phrase  of  his  to  prove  his  bitterness  of 
heart,  and  his  personal  hostility  towards  great  an-d  good   men 
from  whom  he  chanced  to  be  separated  in  those  warm  political 
contests !     The  faults  of  the  CREED  are  still  avenged  on  the  head 
of  its  PROPHET  ! 

1  For  this  letter  entire,  see  APPENDIX,  No.  13. 


CHAPTEK    VI. 
1T96. 

Treaty  of  London  returned  ratified — President  proclaims  it  as  in  full  force,  without 
awaiting  any  Action  of  the  House  of  Representatives — Dissatisfaction  of  the  Republican 
Members — Livingston's  Resolution  calling  for  the  Papers,  and  its  Amendments — 
President  refuses  to  send  them — Kitchell's  Resolutions — Supported  by  Madison — They 
pass  by  a  strong  Vote — Jefferson's  Views — Resolution  for  carrying  the  Treaty  into 
effect — Federal  Threats — The  Debate — Reaction  out  of  Congress,  and  the  Causes  of  it — 
Dearborn's  Preamble — Preamble  rejected  and  Resolution  passed  by  very  close  votes — 
Jefferson's  Letter  to  Mazzei — An  Account  of  Mazzei — Letter  to  Monroe — Efforts  to 
personally  alienate  Washington  and  Jefferson — General  Lee's  Agency  in  this — Expedi 
ency  and  Effects  of  Treaty  of  London  considered — Domestic  Affairs  at  Monticello — 
Duke  of  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt's  Visit  to  Monticello — His  Journal  of  his  Visit — Com 
ments  and  Explanations — Jefferson's  Plow  of  least  resistance — Rittenhouse's  Opinion 
of  it  on  Mathematical  Principles— Sir  John  Sinclair  asks  a  Model  and  Description — 
Prizes  bestowed  on  it  in  France — Was  Jefferson  the  First  Discoverer  of  the  Mathe 
matical  Principle? — His  usual  Practical  Ingenuity — His  House -building — Fall  Elections 
— Occupations  and  Expenses  of  a  Presidential  Candidate  in  1797 — Jefferson  professes  to 
be  gratified  at  his  Defeat— What  right  had  he  to  feel  thus?— The  Method  of  Voting 
— The  Number  of  Votes  for  the  various  Candidates — Adams  President  and  Jeffer 
son  Vice-President — Jefferson's  Letters  to  Madison  and  Adams  given  from  Memory  in 
his  Works — History  of  the  Recovery  of  the  Originals — The  Originals  given — Explana 
tion  of  Jefferson's  Willingness  to  have  Adams  succeed — Adams's  Political  Attitude  at, 
the  Moment — His  own  Testimony  on  the  Subject — He  made  the  First  Practical  Over 
ture  to  the  Republicans — Madison's  Testimony — Testimony  of  the  Hamiltonians— The 
Conclusion — Fortunate  that  the  Union  failed — Jefferson  discovers  his  Error — A  Pro 
phetic  Political  Idea. 

THE  treaty  of  London  was  a  long  time  in  returning  with  the 
ratification  of  the  British  Executive.  In  the  meantime  the  Re 
publican  majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  though 
challenged  to  an  exhibition  of  their  strength  by  the  rejection  of 
Rutledge  for  the  chief-justiceship,  undeniably  on  no  other 
ground  than  his  participation  in  the  anti-treaty  demonstration  at 
Charleston,  remained  quiet,  committing  themselves  to  no  deci 
sive  line  of  action.1 

3  This  was  distinctly  conceded  by  the  leading  Federalists.    Ses  Uriah  Tracy  to  Oliver 


286  TEE  ATT    RETURNED — EXECUTIVE    ACTION.         [CHAP.  VI. 

The  ratified  treaty  came  back  in  February,  1796.  The  Pre 
sident  immediately,  by  an  official  proclamation,  announced  it  a 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  sending  a  copy  of  this  proclamation 
to  each  House  of  Congress.  This  necessarily  implied  that  the 
Executive  had  decided  the  mooted  point  that  the  instru 
ment  went  into  full  force  without  any  action  on  the  part  of  the 
House  of  Representatives — that  the  latter  body  had  no  option 
but  to  concur  in  the  legislation  necessary  to  carry  out  its  provi 
sions. 

This  action  of  the  Executive  was  not  received  with  satis 
faction  by  the  Republican  members.  They  claimed  that  the 
exercise  of  such  authority  practically  gave  the  President  and 
Senate  complete  power  to  regulate  commerce,  a  power  which 
the  Constitution  had  vested  in  Congress  collectively.  They 
insisted  that  if  making  any  topic  of  administration  the  subject 
of  a  treaty  stipulation,  thereby  precluded  the  popular  branch  of 
Congress  from  exercising  any  further  discretion  concerning  it, 
the  President  and  Senate  might  thus  legally  absolutely  con 
trol  almost  any  external  or  even  internal  measure  of  Govern 
ment  ;  that  they  might  thus,  in  effect,  constitute  themselves  the 
Government,  and  make  the  representatives  a  mere  subsidiary 
body,  vested  with  high  separate  functions  only  by  fictions  of  the 
Constitution,  inserted  to  gratify  popular  fancies,  but  meaning 
nothing.  If  these  positions  were  well  taken,  it  might  be 
said,  indeed,  these  fictions  had  a  further  purpose — to  attain  the 
nominal  and  legal  assent  of  the  people  to  great  public  measures 
where  really  their  direct  representatives  had  no  voice,  but 
played  a  part  analogous  to  that  of  a  French  Lit  de  Justice  l  or 
the  representatives  of  the  English  burgesses  in  the  parliaments 
of  Edward  IY. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  Edward  Livingston  of  New  York 
offered  a  resolution  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  be 
requested  "  to  lay  before  the  House  a  copy  of  the  instruction? 
given  to  the  Minister  of  the  United  States,  who  negotiated  the 

Wolcott,  senior,  February  10,  1796,  and  Chauncey  Goodrich  to  same,  Februaiy  21,  in 
Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  pp.  298,  304. 

1  If  the  Parliament  declined  to  enregister  a  royal  edict,  the  King  issued  Lcttrcs  de 
jussion,  and  if  they  failed  to  produce  obedience,  he  held  a,  Lit  de  Justice,  or  "Bed  of 
Justice."  The  King,  Princes  of  the  blood,  Peers,  State  and  Crown  officers,  proceeded 
to  the  Parliament,  and  sitting  upon  the  throne  (anciently  called  Lit  from  its  cushions), 
ordered  the  Parliament  to  enregister  the  edict  in  the  royal  presence.  The  Parliament 
was  then  compelled  to  submit,  or  it  might  be  punished  for  its  contumacy. 


CHAP.   VI.]      PRESIDENT    REFUSES    PAPERS    TO    THE    HOUSE.  287 

treaty  with  Great  Britain,  communicated  by  his  message  on  the 
1st  instant,  together  with  the  correspondence  and  other  docu 
ments  relative  to  the  said  treaty."1  On  the  7th,  Livingston  pro 
posed  to  amend  this  by  adding  the  words  :  "  excepting  such  of 
the  said  papers  as  any  existing  negotiation  may  render  impro 
per  to  be  disclosed."8  Mr.  Madison  moved  in  the  place  of  this: 
"  except  so  much  of  said  papers  as  in  his  judgment  it  may  not 
be  consistent  with  the  interest  of  the  United  States  at  this  time 
to  disclose."  This  modification  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of 
ten.3  On  the  24th,  the  resolution,  as  amended  by  its  mover, 
passed  by  the  strong  vote  of  sixty-two  to  thirty -seven — absent 
five.4 

On  the  30th,  the  President  sent  a  message  to  the  House,  refus 
ing  to  comply  with  its  resolution  on  the  ground  that  such  requests 
might  lead  to  embarrassments  in  negotiations  and  to  impolitic 
disclosures ;  that  it  "  did  not  occur  [to  the  Executive]  that  the 
inspection  of  the  papers  asked  for  could  be  relative  to  any  pur 
pose  under  the  cognizance  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  ex 
cept  that  of  an  impeachment,  which  the  resolution  had  not 
expressed  ;"  and  then  the  President  proceeded  from  his  know 
ledge  as  a  member  of  the  Federal  Convention,  and  from  various 
other  considerations,  to  show  that  "  it  was  perfectly  clear  to  hie. 
understanding  "  that  the  power  of  making  treaties  was  exclu 
sively  vested  in  the  President  and  Senate;  and  "that  the  assent 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  was  not  necessary  to  the  vali 
dity  of  a  treaty."  Considering  it,  he  said,  "  essential  to  the  due 
administration  of  the  Government  that  the  boundaries  fixed  by 
the  Constitution  between  the  different  departments  should  be 
preserved — a  just  regard  to  the  Constitution,  and  to  the  duty  of 
his  office,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  this  case,  forbade  a 
compliance  with  their  request."6 


1  Annals  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  1795-6,  p.  400.    As  we  shall  have  fre- 
qnent  occasion  to  cite  this  publication,  we  will  say  that  we  refer  to  the  work  whose  more 
particular  designation  is  "The  Debates  and  Proceedings  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  etc.  etc.,  compiled  from  authentic  materials.    Washington,  printed  and  published 
by  Gales  and  Seaton,  1849." 

2  Ib.  424. 
8  Ib.  438. 

4  Ib.  760.  All  the  Virginia  members  voted  for  the  resolution,  namely,  Richard  Brent, 
Samuel  C.  Cabell,  Thomas  Claiborne,  John  Clopton,  Isaac  Coles,  William  B.  Giles, 
George  Hancock,  Carter  B.  Harrison,  John  Heath,  George  Jackson,  James  Madison, 
Andrew  Moore,  Anthony  New,  John  Nicholas,  John  Page,  Josiah  Parker,  Francis  Pre» 
ton,  Robert  Rutherford,  and  Abraham  Venable. 

*  See  Annals  of  Congress,  1795-6,  p.  760. 


288  RESOLUTIONS    OF*  HOUSE   THEREON.  [CHAP.  VI. 

Judge  Marshall  thus  forcibly  and  accurately  describes  the 
effect  of  this  message  : 

"  The  terms  in  which  this  decided,  and  it  would  seem,  unexpected  negative  to  the 
call  for  papers  was  conveyed,  appeared  to  break  the  last  cord  of  that  attachment 
which  had  hitherto  bound  some  of  the  active  leaders  of  the  opposition  to  the 
person  of  the  President.  Amidst  all  the  agitations  and  irritations  of  party,  a  sin 
cere  respect  and  real  affection  for  the  Chief  Magistrate,  the  remnant  of  former 
friendship,  had  still  lingered  in  the  bosoms  of  some  who  had  engaged  with  ardor  in 
the  political  contests  of  the  day.  But,  if  the  last  spark  of  this  affection  was  not 
now  extinguished,  it  was  at  least  concealed  under  the  more  active  passions  of  the 
moment."  * 

Resolutions  were  the  next  day  introduced  by  Kitchell  of 
"New  Jersey,  declaring  u  as  the  opinion  of  this  House,  the  Con 
stitution  has  vested  the  power  of  making  treaties  exclusively  in 
the  President  and  Senate,  and  that  the  House  of  Representatives 
do  not  claim  any  agency  in  making  or  ratifying  them  when 
made  ;"  but  "  when  a  treaty  is  made,  which  requires  a  law 
or  laws  to  be  passed  to  carry  it  into  effect,  that,  in  such  case, 
the  House  of  Representatives  have  a  constitutional  right  to  deli 
berate  and  determine  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  passing 
such  laws,  and  to  act  thereon  as  the  public  good  shall  require."1 

Mr.  Madison  supported  these  resolutions  in  a  speech,  elabor 
ately  reviewing  the  constitutional  questions  involved.  They 
passed  by  a  vote  of  fifty-seven  to  thirty-five.  Seven  members 
were  absent  on  the  vote,  six  of  whom,  says  the  Annals  of  Con 
gress,  "  it  was  understood  would  have  voted  for  the  resolutions, 
had  they  been  present,"  and  one  was  "  probably  against  the 
resolutions."  *  This  would  have  made  the  vote  stand  sixty-three 
to  thirty-six. 

We  have  seen  Mr.  Jefferson's  views,  in  advance,  on  the 
main  point  involved  ;  but  he  appears  to  have  written  very  lit 
tle  on  the  subject,  during  the  discussions  in  Congress.  Several 
letters  from  him  to  members  of  that  body  do  not  allude  to  it. 
But  that  he  fully  approved  of  the  stand  made  by  the  House,  and 
partook  deeply  in  the  apprehensions  of  the  hour,  in  regard  to  the 

1  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  382.  a  Annals  of  Congress,  1795-6,  p.  769. 

8  Ib.  p.  783.  This  does  not  include  four  who  were  absent  on  leave — of  whose  pre 
ferences  nothing  is  said.  One  of  the  four  was  Kitchell,  the  mover  of  the  resolutions.  All 
the  Virginia  members  we  have  before  named  as  voting  for  Livingston's  resolution,  voted 
for  these,  but  Brent,  Claiborne  and  New,  who  were  absent,  and  who  are  among  those 
who  the  Annals  of  Congress  state  it  was  understood  would  have  voted  for  Kitchell's  reso 
lutions,  had  they  been  present. 


CHAP,  vi.]  JEFFERSON'S  VIEWS.  289 

growth  of  the  Executive  authority,  appears  by  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Madison  of  March  27th.     He  wrote  : 

"  According  to  the  rule  established  by  usage  and  common  sense,  of  construing 
one  part  of  the  instrument  by  another,  the  objects  on  which  the  President  and 
Senate  may  exclusively  act  by  treaty  are  much  reduced,  but  the  field  on  which  they 
may  act  with  the  sanction  of  the  Legislature,  is  large  enough :  and  I  see  no  harm 
in  rendering  their  sanction  necessary,  and  not  much  harm  in  annihilating  the  whole 
treaty-making  power,  except  as  to  making  peace.  If  you  decide  in  favor  of  your 
right  to  refuse  cooperation  in  any  case  of  treaty,  I  should  wonder  on  what  occasion 
it  is  to  be  used,  if  not  in  one  where  the  rights,  the  interest,  the  honor  and  faith  of 
our  nation  are  so  grossly  sacrificed ;  where  a  faction  has  entered  into  a  conspiracy 
with  the  enemies  of  their  country  to  chain  down  the  Legislature  at  the  feet  of  both  ; 
where  the  whole  mass  of  your  constituents  have  condemned  this  work  in  the  most 
unequivocal  manner,  and  are  looking  to  you  as  their  last  hope  to  save  them  from 
the  effects  of  the  avarice  and  corruption  of  the  first  agent,  the  revolutionary  machi 
nations  of  others,  and  the  incomprehensible  acquiescence  of  the  only  honest  man 
who  has  assented  to  it.  I  wish  that  his  honesty  and  his  political  errors  may  not 
furnish  a  second  occasion  to  exclaim,  '  curse  on  his  virtues,  they  have  undone  his 
country.' " 

He  had  written  the  same  a  few  days  earlier  (6th),  complain 
ing  of  the  condition  of  the  public  finances,  and  expressing  views 
in  regard  to  the  financial  abilities  of  the  late  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  which  some,  perhaps,  will  be  disposed  to  regard  as 
peculiar  : 

"  I  do  not  at  all  wonder  at  the  condition  in  which  the  finances  of  the  United 
States  are  found.  Hamilton's  object  from  the  beginning,  was  to  throw  them  into 
forms  which  should  be  utterly  undecypherable.  I  ever  said  he  did  not  understand 
their  condition  himself,  nor  was  able  to  give  a  clear  view  of  the  excess  of  our  debts 
beyond  our  credits,  nor  whether  we  were  diminishing  or  increasing  the  debt.  My 
own  opinion  was,  that  from  the  commencement  of  this  Government  to  the  time  T 
ceased  to  attend  to  the  subject,  we  had  been  increasing  our  debt  about  a  million  of 
dollars  annually.  If  Mr.  Gallatin  would  undertake  to  reduce  this  chaos  to  order, 
present  us  with  a  clear  view  of  our  finances,  and  put  them  into  a  form  as  simple  as 
they  will  admit,  he  will  merit  immortal  honor.  The  accounts  of  the  United  States 
nught  to  be,  and  may  be  made  as  simple  as  those  of  a  common  farmer,  and  capable 
of  being  understood  by  common  farmers." 

The  same  letter  contains  the  following  striking  expressions 
on  a  resolution  which  had  been  offered  by  Mr.  Madison  for  an 
inspection  and  survey  of  a  post-road  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 

"  Have  you  considered  all  the  consequences  of  your  proposition  respecting  post 

roads?     I  view  it  as  a  source  of  boundless  patronage  to  the  Executive,  jobbing  to 

members  of  Congress  and   their   friends,  and  a  bottomless  abyss  of  public  money. 

You  will  begin  by  onlv  appropriating  the  surplus  of  the  post  office  revenues;  but 

VIM..  TI. — 19 


290  HIS    VIEWS — POST   ROADS,    ETC.  [CHAP.    VI. 

the  other  revenues  will  soon  be  called  into  their  aid,  and  it  will  be  a  source  of 
eternal  scramble  among  the  members,  who  can  get  the  most  money  wasted  in  their 
State;  and  they  will  always  get  most  who  are  meanest.  We  have  thought,  hitherto, 
that  the  roads  of  a  State  could  not  be  so  well  administered  even  by  the  State  Legis 
lature  as  by  the  magistracy  of  the  county,  on  the  spot.  How  will  they  be  when  a 
member  of  New  Hampshire  is  to  mark  out  a  road  for  Georgia?  Does  the  power  to 
establish  post  roads,  given  you  by  the  Constitution,  mean  that  you  shall  make  the 
roads,  or  only  select  from  those  already  made,  those  on  which  there  shall  be  a  post? 
If  the  term  be  equivocal  (and  I  really  do  not  think  it  so),  which  is  the  safest  construc 
tion?  That  which  permits  a  majority  of  Congress  to  go  to  cutting  down  mountains 
and  bridging  of  rivers,  or  the  other,  which  if  too  restricted  may  be  referred  to  the 
States  for  amendment,  securing  still  due  measures  and  proportion  among  us,  and 
providing  some  means  of  information  to  the  members  of  Congress  tantamount  to 
that  ocular  inspection,  which,  even  in  our  county  determinations,  the  magistrate 
finds  cannot  be  supplied  by  any  other  evidence  ?  The  fortification  of  harbors  was 
liable  to  great  objection.  But  national  circumstances  furnished  some  color.  In 
this  case  there  is  none.  The  roads  of  America  are  the  best  in  the  world  except 
those  of  France  and  England.  But  does  the  state  of  our  population,  the  extent  of 
our  internal  commerce,  the  want  of  sea  and  river  navigation,  call  for  such  expense 
on  roads  here,  or  are  our  means  adequate  to  it  ?  Think  of  all  this,  and  a  great  deal 
more  which  your  good  judgment  will  suggest,  and  pardon  my  freedom." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Giles,  March  19th,  he  alludes  sarcastically 
to  a  bill,  said  to  have  been  contemplated  by  one  of  the  Federal 
"  great  men,"  Theodore  Sedgwick  : 

"  We  are  in  suspense  here  to  see  the  fate  and  effect  of  Mr.  Pitt's  bill  against 
democratic  societies.  I  wish  extremely  to  get  at  the  true  history  of  this  effort  to 
suppress  freedom  of  meeting,  speaking,  writing,  and  printing.  Your  acquaintance 
with  Sedgwick  will  enable  you  to  do  it.  Pray  get  the  outlines  of  the  bill  he 
intended  to  have  brought  in  for  this  purpose.  This  will  enable  us  to  judge  whether 
we  have  the  merit  of  the  invention  ;  whether  we  were  really  beforehand  with  the 
British  Minister  on  this  subject ;  whether  he  took  his  hint  from  our  proposition,  or 
whether  the  concurrence  in  eentiment  is  merely  the  result  of  the  general  truth  that 
great  men  will  think  alike  and  act  alike,  though  without  intercommunication.  I  am 
serious  in  desiring  extremely  the  outlines  of  the  bill  intended  for  us." 

Another  passage  i»  the  same  letter  expresses  a  degree  of 
moderation  towards  England  on  the  vexed  question  of  impress 
ments,  which  now  fills  us  with  astonishment ;  but  it  was  the  ex 
tent  to  which  President  Washington's  Cabinet  had  gone  in  their 
demands,  when  Jefferson  was  a  member  of  it ;  and  Mr.  Pinck- 
ney  had  been  instructed  to  "  insist "  upon  it,  and  u  to  accept 
nothing  short  of  it !"  This  furnishes  another  proof  not  only  of 
the  habitual  exorbitant  claims  of  that  nation  where  we  were 
concerned,  but  of  the  spirit  of  acquiescence,  on  some  ques- 


CIJAP.  VI.]  IMPRESSMENTS,    ETC.  29.1 

tions,  which  even  the  bravest  were  disposed  to  exhibit,  to  avert 
another  struggle  with  that  dreaded  power. 

"  From  the  debates  on  the  subject  of  our  seamen,  I  am  afraid  as  much  harm  as 
good  will  be  done  by  our  endeavors  to  arm  our  seamen  against  impressments.  It 
is  proposed  to  register  them  and  give  them  certificates.  But  these  certificates  will 
be  lost  in  a  thousand  ways:  a  sailor  will  neglect  to  take  his  certificate  :  he  is  wet 
twenty  times  in  a  voyage  :  if  he  goes  ashore  without  it,  he  is  impressed:  if  with  H, 
he  gets  drunk,  it  is  lost,  stolen  from  him,  taken  from  him,  and  then  the  want  of  it 
gives  authority  to  impress,  which  does  not  exist  now.  After  ten  years'  attention  to 
the  subject,  I  have  never  been  able  to  devise  anything  effectual,  but  that  the 
circumstance  of  an  American  bottom  be  made  ipso  facto,  a  protection  for  a  number 
of  seamen  proportioned  to  her  tonnage  ;  that  American  captains  be  obliged,  when 
called  on  by  foreign  officers,  to  parade  the  men  on  deck,  which  would  show  whe 
ther  they  exceeded  their  own  quota,  and  allow  the  foreign  officer  to  send  two  or 
three  persons  aboard  and  hunt  for  any  suspected  to  be  concealed.'' 

Mr.  Jay's  treaty  had  made  concessions  on  other  subjects 
which  it  has  appeared  did  not  quite  satisfy  himself,  and  which 
were  condemned  by  Washington,  Hamilton,  and  probably  every 
man  of  spirit  even  among  the  defenders  of  the  instrument ;  and 
it  had  not  obtained  a  particle  of  modification,  either  in  promise 
or  practice,  of  the  authority  exercised  by  England  to  board  our 
ships  in  every  sea,  and  to  seize  such  seamen  as  a  petty  British 
officer  should  decide,  on  any  proof,  or  no  proof,  to  be  British  sub 
jects.  That  this  authority  had  been  exercised,  and  continued 
to  be  exercised,  pending  and  after  the  treaty  of  London,  with 
so  contemptuous  a  disregard  of  right  that  the  British  officers 
appeared  wholly  indifferent  whether  they  took  Americans  or 
Britons,  was  an  undisputed  point,  among  the  most  partial  well 
informed  apologists  of  England.1 

1  Frequent  complaints  on  this  subject  break  from  Hamilton.  Contemporaneous 
occurrences,  we  may  presume,  drew  the  following  remark  from  him  in  a  letter  to  Wolcott, 
April  20,  1796,  while  the  House  of  Representatives  was  acting  on  the  Treaty  of  London : 

"  Yet  the  Government  must  take  care  not  to  appear  pusillanimous.  I  hope  a  very 
serious  remonstrance  has  long  since  gone  against  the  wanton  impressment  of  our  seamen. 
It  will  be  an  error  to  be  too  tame  with  this  overbearing  Cabinet."  (See  letter  in  Gibbs's 
Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  330.) 

Chauncey  Goodrich,  a  leading  Federal  member  of  Congress  from  Connecticut,  wrote 
to  Oliver  Wolcott,  sen.,  April  9,  1796  : 

"I  have  been  more  confident  than  my  Congressional  friends  of  our  ultimate  success 
[in  carrying  the  appropriations,  etc.,  for  the  British  Treaty  through  the  House]  and  still 
trust  that  will  be  the  case.  Our  affairs  are  very  critical,  and  become  daily  more 
darkened.  No  circumstance  could  have  been  more  unfortunate  than  the  British  impress 
ment  of  seamen.  There  is  a  mystery  in  the  business  we  can't  fathom.  What  can  induce 
them  to  cripple  the  vessels  carrying  them  provisions  and  horses  under  contract,  is 
unknown.  I  hope,  however,  that  the  people  will  continue  temperate  till  this  evil  can  be 
remedied."  (See  letter  in  Gibbs's  Administrations,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  326.) 

Goodrich  wrote  the  same,  May  13th : 

"  Mr.  Liston  arrived  here  last  evening.  The  resolution  of  the  Court  of  Great  Britain 
is  respect  to  the  posts,  originated  from  the  mad  conduct  of  the  Democrats  in  our 


292  FEDERAL  MENACES.  [CHAP.  VI. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  Sedgwick  moved  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  "  that  provision  ought  to  be  made  by  law,  for 
carrying  into  effect  with  good  faith  the  treaties  lately  concluded 
with  the  Dey  and  Regency  of  Algiers,  the  King  of  Great  Bri 
tain,  the  King  of  Spain  and  certain  Indian  tribes  northwest  of 
Ohio." 

The  different  treaties  were  grouped  together  for  the  purpose 
of  compelling  the  House  to  make  appropriations  for  carrying  out 
the  whole  or  rejecting  them  in  mass  ;  or  failing  in  this,  to  have 
tha.t  plan  revived  and  carried  out  in  the  Senate  where  the  friends 
of  the  British  Treaty  had  the  ascendency.  And  it  was  further 
proposed,  that  the  latter  body  make  the  passage  of  an  entirely 
different  class  of  bills,  some  of  great  and  peculiar  local  impor 
tance,  and  others  absolutely  necessary,  dependent  upon  the 
action  of  the  House,  on  the  British  treaty — in  the  event  of  its 
failure,  that  the  Senate  refuse  to  agree  on  any  adjournment — in 
short,  that  the  wheels  of  government  be  brought  to  a  stand.1 

Finally,  however,  after  an  acrid  debate,  the  House  deter 
mined  to  dispose  of  the  other  treaties  before  taking  up  that 
with  Great  Britain.  The  resolution  was  amended  in  relation  to 


country.    In  that  we  can't  so  highly  blame  them,  but  their  impressments  are  to  me  unac 
countable  and  provoking."     (See  letter  in  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  339.) 

1  Wolcott,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  wrote  his  father,  March,  1796:  "Matters  are 
now  in  such  a  train,  that  all  the  treaties  must  be  swallowed  by  the  Virginians,  or  their 
factious  designs  be  fully  disclosed.  It  is  uncertain  whether  they  will  not  venture  to  pre 
cipitate  the  country  into  the  confusions  which  would  result  from  a  non-compliance  ;  but 
if  they  do,  the  Government  will  be  at  an  end."  (See  letter  in  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc., 
vol.  i.  p.  321.) 

In  a  letter  from  same  to  same,  April  18th,  it  is  distinctly  declared  that  "the  Senate 
will,  he  presumes,  combine  all  the  treaties  together,  and  insist  thev  shall  share  one 
fate."  (Ib.  p.  327.) 

Chauncey  Goodrich  wrote  Wolcott,  sen.,  April  20  :  "  You  may  be  assured  of  the 
determination  of  the  Senate  to  join  the  appropriation  for  the  British  treaty,  with  some 
one  or  all  the  others,  and  inflexibly  resist  any  appropriation  for  the  rest,  unless  it  be  also 
made  for  that."  (Ib.  p.  330.) 

On  the  subject  of  the  Senate  making  the  passage  of  an  entirely  different  class  of  bills 
dependent  on  the  execution  of  the  British  treaty,  Chauncey  Goodrich  wrote  Oliver  Wol 
cott,  sen..  April  23d : 

"  As  yet,  on  the  most  favorable  calculation,  six  votes  are  to  be  secured  for  an  execu 
tion  of  the  treaty.  It  is  not  probable  that  they  can  be  gained  on  the  resolution  before 
the  committee  ;  in  that  case,  Mr.  McClay's  resolution  is  likely  to  be  brought  forward,  to 
which,  I  think,  we  ought  to  prolong  ouv  stand  as  long  as  possible ;  but  'tis  well  known 
that  the  Senate  will,  as  soon  as  the  vote  shall  be  had  on  the  resolution  before  us,  if  unfor 
tunate,  tack  an  amendment  providing  for  the  British  treaty,  to  the  Spanish  treaty  bill, 
and  inflexibly  adhere  for  all  or  none.  I  am  not  warranted  to  assert,  but  I  trust  they  will 
also  arrest  the  Federal  city  loan  bill,  land  office,  perhaps  appropriations  for  the  army, 
refuse  to  rise  ;  in  short,  arrest  the  whole  Government,  and  let  the  people  decide." 
(Ib.  p.  331.) 

TV,  will  be  remembered  that  these  are  mostly  but  the  gleams  of  the  secret  history  of 
the  period  breaking  from  the  secret  correspondences  of  one  little  Federal  coterie — what 
may  be  called  the  Wolcott  Connecticut  coterie — transmitted  by  a  family  biographer. 
We  would  give  a  good  deal  to  see  the  unemasculated  ^ecret  correspondences  of  Sedgwick 
Harper,  and  some  other  Federal  leaders. 


CHAP.  VI.]  DISCUSSION   ON   JAT's    TREATY.  293 

the  first,  by  striking  out  the  words  "  provision  ought  to  be  made 
by  law,"  and  also  the  words  "with  good  faith" — and  inserting 
others  implying  nothing  contrary  to  the  proposition  that  the 
House,  in  this  as  in  other  matters,  acted  from  considerations  of 
expediency,  and  with  liberty  to  pass  or  reject  the  appropriations. 
In  this  form,  the  appropriations  for  carrying  out  the  other  trea 
ties  were  made. 

The  British  Treaty  coming  up  for  discussion,  April  loth, 
Madison  led  off  in  opposition,  demonstrating  the  want  of  any 
just  principle  of  reciprocity  in  it,  in  various  particulars,  and 
indeed  in  almost  every  particular.  He  pronounced  fears  of  a 
war.  with  England,  should  it  be  rejected,  chimerical — that 
pressed  as  England  now  was  by  France,  it  would  be  madness  in 
her  to  take  a  new  war  on  her  hands.  Nicholas,  Giles,  Heath, 
Swan  wick,  Findley,  Rutherford,  Moore,  Holland,  Gallatin, 
Preston,  Page,  and  others  spoke  on  the  same  side.  Mr.  Galla 
tin  established  his  reputation  on  this  occasion,  as  one  of  the 
ablest  debaters  and  men  of  his  times. 

Swift,  Goodhue,  Williams,  Hillhotise,  Cooper,  Kittera,  Coit, 
Henderson,  Harper,  Foster,  Gilbert,  Tracy,  Ames,  and  others 
spoke  in  favor  of  the  Treaty. 

The  great  speech  on  his  side,  was  made  by  Fisher  Ames. 
If  we  may  credit  an  account  of  it  written  by  John  Adams,  a 
listener  in  the  gallery,  it  was  surpassingly  eloquent:  and  the 
contempt  that  Mr.  Adams  often  afterwards  expressed  for  Ames's 
capacity  as  a  statesman,  would  seem  to  show  that  he  had  no 
special  partialities  to  prejudice  him  in  his  favor. 

The  debate  lasted  a  fortnight.  Pending  it,  imposing 
demonstrations  were  made  in  many  places  in  favor  of  the  execu 
tion  of  the  treaty.  The  reactionary  feeling  we  have  already 
described,  had  proceeded  to  no  small  extent.  Peace  seemed 
desirable  to  the  large  property  holders  and  the  commercial 
classes  in  the  cities,  at  almost  any  cost.  The  timid  were  alarmed 
with  the  idea  that  England,  already  in  possession  of  our  northern 
frontier  posts,  and  well  prepared  on  the  ocean,  was  ready  sud 
denly  to  fall  on  us  with  every  advantage,  and  inflict  crippling 
blows  before  we  could  take  any  efficient  steps  for  our  defence. 
Some  imagined  that  George  III.  and  his  ministry  even  desired 
the  rejection  of  the  treaty,  and  that  "  secret  orders  [had  been] 
given  to  irritate  the  Americans  to  induce  a  violation,"  so  they 


294  REACTION.  [CHAP.  vi. 

could  retain  the  posts,  "plunder  our  commerce  at  once,"  and 
otherwise  take  advantage  of  "  the  impotence  and  distraction 
of  our  Government."  Menaces  said  to  have  been  uttered  by  a 
British  diplomatic  agent,  at  Philadelphia,  swelled  the  terrors  of 
this  class  of  alarmists.  A  serious  collision  of  jurisdiction 
between  the  different  branches  of  the  Government,  at  such  a 
feverish  epoch  in  our  foreign  relations,  seemed  to  the  cautious 
and  conservative  a  thing  to  be  avoided  by  any  sacrifice.  Threats 
of  the  Senate's  refusing  to  pass  bills,  or  make  appropriations,  or 
agree  on  an  adjournment — virtually  to  dissolve  the  Government 
—had  been  indulged  in  other  places  besides  in  private  letters ; 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  extensively  credited. 

Finally  there  was  a  strong  feeling  among  thousands  and 
thousands  who  entirely  disapproved  of  the  treaty,  against  any 
measure  which  could  be  construed  as  inflicting  a  humiliation  on 
the  President.  As  the  debate  and  measures  of  the  House  took 
a  turn  which  seemed  to  involve  this  alternative,  these  feelings  rose 
to  the  fury  of  a  tempest.  Goodrich,  exiiltingly  and  truly  wrote 
the  elder  Wolcott ;  "  the  energy  of  the  President's  popularity 
has  not  yet  been  estimated  at  one  half  its  value." a  It  pro 
duced  that  reaction  among  the  people,  which  other  causes  had 
produced  among  the  wealthy  and  timid.  All  these  considerations 
had  their  weight  in  as  well  as  out  of  Congress;  and  some 
decided  Republican  members  were  influenced  by  them. 

On  the  29th  of  April,  the  question  was  taken  in  the  Commit 
tee  of  the  Whole  on  the  resolution  declaring  the  expediency  of 
making  the  laws  requisite  for  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  and  it 
was  carried  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  chairman,  Muhlenburg, 
the  former  Speaker,  a  decided  Republican.  He  said"  he  did 
not  feel  satisfied  with  the  resolution  as  it  now  stood  ;  he  should, 
however,  vote  for  it,  that  it  might  go  to  the  House  and  there 
be  modified."  3 

On  the  £0th,  Dearborn,  of  Massachusetts,  said  that  as  it 
appeared  a  majority  of  the  House  had  determined  to  sustain  the 
treaty,  though  several  of  those  who  intended  to  vote  for  it 
thought  it  a  bad  one,  u  he  wished  to  see  the  opinion  the  House 
entertained  of  the  treaty  entered  upon  their  journals."  He 
therefore  proposed  the  following  amendment  as  a  preamble  : 

1  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  332.  8  Ib.  p.  336. 

•  Annals  of  Congress,  1795-6,  p.  1796. 


CHAP.  VI.]  FINAL    ACTION   OF   THE   HOUSE.  295 

"  Resolved,  That  although  in  the  opinion  of  this  House  the  treaty  is  highly 
objectionable,  and  may  prove  injurious  to  the  United  States,  yet,  considering  all  the 
circumstances  relating  thereto,  and  particularly,  that  the  last  eighteen  articles  are 
to  continue  in  force  only  during  the  present  war,  and  two  years  thereafter;  and 
confiding  also  in  the  efficacy  of  measures  that  may  be  taken  for  bringing  about  a 
discontinuance  of  the  violations  committed  on  our  neutral  rights  in  regard  to  our 
vessels  and  seamen,  therefore,"  etc. 

The  words,  "  and  may  prove  injurious  to  the  United  States," 
were  struck  out  by  consent.  A  Republican  member,  who  had 
voted  for  Livingston's  resolutions  (Samuel  Smith),  moved  to 
strike  out  the  word  ;'  highly  "  before  the  word  "objectionable." 
The  vote  stood  forty-eight  for  striking  out,  and  forty-eight 
against.  The  Speaker  voted  in  the  affirmative.  The  motion 
was  then  put  on  the  preamble,  and  decided  in  the  negative — 
yeas,  forty-nirje  ;  nays,  fifty.  One  of  the  negatives  was  Colonel 
Josiah  Parker,  of  Virginia,  who  declined  to  vote  for  the 
amendment  on  the  ground  that  he  thought  the  treaty  a  bad  one. 
"  and  would  not  agree  to  vote  for  it  by  means  of  any  modifica 
tion."  His  vote  defeated  the  amendment  without  defeating  the 
resolution  for  executing  the  treaty.  The  question  on  the  latter  was 
taken  and  determined  in  the  affirmative — yeas  fifty-one,  nays 
forty-eight;  and  bills  were  ordered  to  be  brought  in  accordingly.1 

Every  member  from  Virginia  was  present,  and  every  one 
voted  against  the  resolution  but  George  Hancock. 

On  the  24th  of  April  (1796),  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  Philip 
Mazzei,  then  in  Florence,  a  letter  containing  the  following  re 
marks  : 

"  The  aspect  of  our  politics  has  wonderfully  changed  since  you  left  us.  In  place 
of  that  noble  love  of  liberty  and  republican  government  which  carried  us  triumph 
antly  through  the  war,  an  Anglican  monarchical  and  aristocratical  party  has  sprung 
up,  whose  avowed  object  is  to  draw  over  us  the  substance,  as  they  have  already 
done  the  forms,  of  the  British  Government.  The  main  body  of  our  citizens,  how 
ever,  remain  true  to  their  republican  principles:  the  whole  landed  interest  is  repub 
lican,  and  so  is  a  great  mass  of  talents.  Against  us  are  the  Executive,  the  judiciary, 
two  out  of  three  branches  of  the  Legislature,  all  the  officers  of  the  Government, 
all  who  want  to  be  officers,  all  timid  men  who  prefer  the  calm  of  despotism  to 
the  boisterous  sea  of  liberty,  British  merchants  and  Americans  trading  on  British 
capitals,  speculators  and  holders  in  the  banks  and  public  funds,  a  contrivance 
invented  for  the  purposes  of  corruption,  and  for  assimilating  us  in  all  things  to  the 
rotten  as  well  as  the  sound  parts  of  the  British  model.  It  would  give  you  a  fever 
were  I  to  name  to  you  the  apostates  who  have  gone  over  to  these  heresies,  men 

1  Annals  of  Congress,  pp.  1282-1291. 


296  THE    MAZZEI    LETTER.  [CIIAI*.  VI. 

who  were  Samsons  in  the  held  and  Solomons  in  the  council,  but  who  have  had  their 
heads  shorn  by  the  harlot  England.  In  short,  we  are  likely  to  preserve  the  liberty 
we  have  obtained  only  by  unremitting  labors  and  perils.  But  we  shall  preserve  it, 
and  our  mass  of  weight  and  wealth  on  the  good  side  is  so  great,  as  to  leave  no 
danger  that  force  will  ever  be  attempted  against  us.  We  have  only  to  awake  and 
hiiap  the  Lilliputian  cords  with  which  they  have  been  entangling  us  during  the  first 
sleep  which  succeeded  our  labors." 

As  this  letter  was  destined  to  become  very  celebrated,  we 
will  bestow  a  word  on  the  individual  to  whom  it  was  addressed. 

Mazzei  was  an  Italian  who  came  to  Virginia  just  before  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  with  about  a  dozen  vignerons 
of  his  country,  to  attempt  cultivating  the  vine  and  manufactur 
ing  wine,  under  the  auspices  of  a  company  who  raised  a  sum  of 
money  to  aid  him  in  his  undertaking.  Jefferson  was  one  of  its 
members,  and  Mazzei  bought  Colle',  an  estate  adjoining  Monti- 
cello,  for  his  experiment.  He  pursued  that  experiment  three 
years,  with  some  promise  of  success,  but  the  terms  of  service  of 
his  foreign  laborers  then  expired,  and  they  could  all  do  better 
than  rehire  themselves  to  him.  The  war  opening,  he  could  not 
obtain  other  vignerons  from  Italy,  and  was  compelled  to  suspend 
operations.  He  was  an  educated  and  intelligent  man,  and 
being  employed  by  the  State  of  Virginia  to  go  to  Europe  as  an 
agent  on  some  business,  Colle  was  rented  to  the  Baron  de 
Hiedesel,  one  of  the  Saratoga  Convention  prisoners  sent  to 
Charlottesville.  The  Baron's  horses  finished  the  vineyard  in  a 
week. 

Mazzei  had  written  Mr.  Jefferson  to  forward  him  legal  evi 
dence  of  the  death  of  his  wife,  who  had  remained  behind  him  in 
Virginia,  and  in  relation  to  some  other  private  concerns.  The 
answer  contained  the  paragraph  above  quoted.  Mazzei,  an 
ardent  Republican,  translated  it  into  Italian,  and  without  any 
authority  to  do  so,  published  it  at  Florence.  From  thence  it 
was  picked  up  by  the  French  papers,  and  appeared  in  the 
Moniteur.  Finally,  the  French  version  was  retranslated  into 
English,  and  we  shall  find  it  hereafter  appearing  in  the  Ameri 
can  newspapers,  to  be  the  subject  of  volumes  of  fierce  contro 
versy. 

Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  Colonel  Monroe,  then  in  France,  June 
12th  : 

"  Congress  have  risen      You  will  have  seen  by  their   proceedings   the  truth  of 


CT?AP.  VI.]  JEFFERSON    TO   WASHINGTON.  297 

what  I  always  observed  to  you,  that  one  man  outweighs  them  all  in  influence  ovei 
the  people,  who  have  supported  his  judgment  against  their  own  and  that  of  theii 
representatives.  Republicanism  must  lie  on  its  oars,  resign  the  vessel  to  its  pilot, 
and  themselves  to  the  course  he  thinks  best  for  them." 

And  again,  July  10th  : 

"The  campaign  of  Congress  has  closed.  Though  the  Anglomen  have  in  the 
end  got  their  treaty  through,  and  so  far  have  triumphed  over  the  cause  of 
Republicanism,  yet  it  has  been  to  them  a  dear-bought  victory.  It  has  given  the 
most  radical  shock  to  their  party  which  it  has  ever  received ;  and  there  is  no  doubt, 
they  would  be  glad  to  be  replaced  on  the  ground  they  possessed  the  instant  before 
Jay's  nomination  extraordinary.  They  see  that  nothing  can  support  them  but  the 
colossus  of  the  President's  merits  with  the  people,  and  the  moment  he  retires,  that 
his  successor,  if  a  Monocrat,  will  be  overborne  by  the  Republican  sense  of  his 
constituents;  if  a  Republican,  he  will,  of  course,  give  fair  play  to  that  sense,  and 
lead  things  into  the  channel  of  harmony  between  the  governors  and  governed. 
In  the  meantime,  patience." 

He  was  not  alone  in  the  impression  that  this  victory  was 
dearly  purchased  by  the  Administration.  Wolcott  wrote  Hamil 
ton  the  day  before  the  decisive  vote,  "  I  think  the  Government 
will  succeed  in  the  present  contest,  but  it  remains  doubtful 
whether  order  can  be  long  preserved.  *  *  *  The  influence 
of  Messrs.  Gallatin,  Madison,  and  Jefferson  must  be  diminished, 
or  the  public  affairs  will  be  brought  to  a  stand." 

Busy  efforts  were  not  wanting  at  this  period  to  produce  a 
personal  alienation  between  the  President  and  Mr.  Jefferson. 
On  the  9th  of  June,  the  copy  of  a  private  Cabinet  paper,  when 
Jefferson  was  a  member  of  that  body  (the  questions  submitted 
by  the  President  as  to  the  reception  of  Genet),  appeared  in  the 
Aurora.  The  circumstances  rendered  it  apparently  certain  that 
this  communication  to  the  paper  must  have  been  made  by  Ran 
dolph  or  Jefferson.  The  latter  wrote  General  Washington,  June 
19th,  denying  all  connection  with  or  privity  in  the  publication. 
And  he  added  : 

"  I  have  formerly  mentioned  to  you,  that  from  a  very  early  period  of  my  life,  I 
had  laid  it  down  as  a  rule  of  conduct,  never  to  write  a  word  for  the  public  papers. 
From  this  I  have  never  departed  in  a  single  instance  ;  and  on  a  late  occasion,  when 
all  the  world  seemed  to  be  writing,  besides  a  rigid  adherence  to  my  own  rule,  I  can 
say  with  truth,  that  not  a  line  for  the  press  was  ever  communicated  to  me,  by  .my 
other,  except  a  single  petition  referred  for  my  correction  ;  which  I  did  not  correct, 
however,  though  the  contrary,  as  I  have  heard,  was  said  in  a  public  place,  by  one 
person  through  error,  through  malice  by  another.  I  learn  that  this  last  has  thought 

1  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  334. 


298  INFORMERS '  BEGETTING   ALIENATIONS.  [CHAP.  VI. 

it  worth  his  while  to  try  to  sow  tares  between  you  and  me,  by  representing  me  as  still 
engaged  in  the  bustle  of  politics,  and  in  turbulence  and  intrigue  against  the 
Government.  I  never  believed  for  a  moment  that  this  could  make  any  impression 
on  you,  or  that  your  knowledge  of  me  would  not  overweigh  the  slander  of  an 
intriguer,  dirtily  employed  in  sifting  the  conversations  of  my  table,  where  alone  he 
could  hear  of  me ;  and  seeking  to  atone  for  his  sins  against  you  by  sins  aerainst 
another,  who  had  never  done  him  any  other  injury  than  that  of  declining  his  confi 
dences.  Political  conversations  I  really  dislike,  and  therefore  avoid  where  1  can 
without  affectation.  But  when  urged  by  others,  I  have  never  conceived  that  hauiny 
been  in  public  life  requires  me  to  belie  my  sentiments,  or  even  to  conceal  them 
When  I  am  led  by  conversation  to  express  them,  I  do  it  with  the  same  independence 
here  which  I  have  practised  everywhere,  and  which  is  inseparable  from  my  nature. 
But  enough  of  this  miserable  tergiversator,  who  ought  indeed  either  to  have  been 
of  more  truth,  or  less  trusted  by  his  country." 

The  informer  here  characterized  with  such,  for  Jefferson 
extraordinary  personal  severity,  was  General  Harry  or  Henry 
Lee,  of  Virginia.  This  individual,  after  joining  Madison  in 
establishing  Freneau's  paper,  and  after  feeling  enough  enthu 
siasm  in  the  cause  of  France  to  contemplate  abandoning  the 
executive  chair  of  Virginia  to  accept  a  commission  in  its  armies, 
had  finally  settled  down  into  a  violent  Federalist.  His  hostility 
to  Jefferson  appears  in  his  Memoirs  of  the  Southern  War. 
Whether  Jefferson  justly  suspected  Lee  of  attempting  to  "  sow 
tares  "  between  himself  and  Washington,  and  "  sifting  the  con 
versations  of  his  table  "  for  that  purpose,  can  be  conjectured 
with  considerable  certainty  after  reading  Washington's  reply  to 
the  foregoing,  and  also  a  letter  from  Lee  to  Washington,  of 
August  17th,  1794,  and  published  at  page  560  of  vol.  x.  of 
Sparks's  edition  of  the  Works  of  the  latter.1 

Jefferson's  letter  took  a  circuitous  route,  and  was  late  in 
reaching  the  President.  It  was  not,  therefore,  answered  until 
July  6th.  Washington  disavowed  having  entertained  suspicious 
that  his  correspondent  had  any  connection  with  the  publication 
in  the  Aurora.  There  is  no  trace  of  unfriendliness  in  the  letter 

The  following  passages  afford  the  General's  own  decisive 
testimony  to  the  accuracy  of  some  positions  taken  in  thi?  work, 
which  are  strongly  at  variance  with  the  whole  current  of  the 
assertions  or  intimations  of  every  Federal  historian  we  ha?e  over 
read : 

"  As  you  have  mentioned  the  subject  yourself,  it  would  not  be  Irank.  candM,  or 
friendly  to  conceal  that  your  conduct  has  been  represented  as  derogating  from  that 

1  And  see  Washington's  answei  to  Lee,  August  24,  1794.    Works,  vol.  x.  p.  432 


CUAP.  vi.]         WASHINGTON'S  ANSWER  TO  JEFFERSON.  299 

opinion  I  had  conceived  you  entertain  of  me ;  that,  to  your  particular  friends 
and  connection3  you  have  described,  and  they  have  denounced  me  as  a  person 
under  a  dangerous  influence ;  and  that,  if  I  would  listen  more  to  some  other 
opinions  all  would  be  well.  My  answer  invariably  has  been,  that  I  had  never  dis 
covered  anything  in  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  raise  suspicions  in  my  mind  of 
his  insincerity  ;  that  if  he  would  retrace  my  public  conduct  while  he  was  in  the 
administration,  abundant  proofs  would  occur  to  him,  that  truth  and  right  decisions 
w>re  the  sole  objects  of  my  pursuit;  that  there  were  as  many  instances  within  his 
own  knowledge  of  my  having  decided  against  as  in  favor  of  the  person  evidently 
alluded  to ;  and,  moreover,  that  I  was  no  believer  in  the  infallibility  of  the  politics 
or  measures  of  any  man  living.  In  short,  that  I  was  no  party  man  myself,  and  the 
first  wish  of  my  heart  was,  if  parties  did  exist,  to  reconcile  them.1"  * 

Entering  upon  such  explanations  as  these,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  General  Washington  would  have  felt  it  his  duty  to 
relieve  General  Lee  from  Jefferson's  pointed  charges,  had  he 
considered  them  unfounded,  at  least  so  far  as  the  acts  complained 
of  were  concerned. 

From  this  time  forward,  for  a  period  of  five  months,  we  find 
not  a  word  (except  the  letter  to  Monroe  already  given)  on  the 
subject  of  politics  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  correspondence,  and  but, 
one  letter  on  any  subject. 

The  expediency  of  the  Senate's  approving,  and  the  Presi 
dent's  ratifying,  the  Treaty  of  London,  under  all  the  circumstan 
ces,  still  presents  a  fair  question  for  debate  and  doubt,  and  none 
the  less  so,  should  it  be  admitted  that  the  treaty  contained  very 
objectionable  features.  Of  the  latter  fact,  we  have  seen  that  by 
far  the  ablest  and  most  influential  of  its  defenders  entertained 
no  doubts — not  merely  on  a  few  and  insignificant  points,  but 
on  numerous  and  most  serious  ones.  That  it  was  essentially 
unmarked,  on  the  English  side,  by  principles  of  reciprocity — 
that  it  was  taken  by  Mr.  Jay  as  the  best  he  could  get,  and  under 
the  impression  that  almost  anything  was  preferable  to  war — 
that  it  was  a  treaty  which  a  nation  prepared  to  go  to  war  on 
anything  like  equal  terms  would  have  shrunk  from  contracting 
under  any  circumstances — that  it  was  a  treaty  to  which  the 
United  States  now,  under  the  parallel  of  every  circumstance, 
excepting  that  of  their  comparative  ability  to  forcibly  protect 
their  interests,  would  deride  the  idea  of  submitting  to,  though 
menaced  by  all  Europe  instead  of  Great  Britain — probaMy  no 
intelligent  and  observing  man  will  at  this  day  dispute. 

1  See  Washington's  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  138. 


80 M  EFFECTS    OF   TREATY    OF    LONDON.  [CHAP.  VI. 

We  have  endeavored  to  present  \\iih  fidelity  the  considera 
tions  which  influenced  the  steps  of  the  President.  These  may 
have  been  sound  or  unsound,  according  to  the  accuracy  of  the 
information  on  which  they  were  based  ;  but  in  their  nature  we 
regard  them  as  legitimate.  We  see  not  a  shadow  of  ground  for 
the  imputation  that  Washington  was  influenced  by  any  but  the 
noblest  and  most  patriotic  motives,  or  that  he  had  been,  within 
the  space  of  four  months,  wrenched  into  a  violent  reversal  of  all 
his  earlier  partialities  as  between  England  and  France.  His 
great  object  was  to  preserve  peace.  He  believed  that  Jay's 
treaty — although  several  of  its  provisions  obviously  took  him  by 
surprise,  and  met  with  his  disapprobation — was  preferable  to 
being  embarked  in  the  great  warlike  struggle  of  Europe  with 
dangerous  foes,  and  those  he  regarded,  no  doubt,  as  equally 
dangerous  allies. 

The  real  effects  of  the  Treaty  of  London  on  the  interests  of 
the  United  States,  will  probably  always  be  differently  estimated, 
because  a  just  judgment  depends  not  only  upon  deductions  from 
a  broad  and  confused  field  of  historical  facts,  but  upon  different 
theories  of  what  is  due  to  national  character  and  of  what  really 
constitutes  national  prosperity.  It  secured  peace  with  Great 
Britain  for  a  few  years — we  were  not,  on  the  other  hand, 
quite  thrown  into  a  state  of  open  war  with  France  in  conse 
quence  of  it — and  our  country,  in  the  meantime,  advanced  with 
giant  strides  to  a  pitch  of  material  development  which  placed 
her  in  a  posture,  eighteen  years  later,  to  fight  Great  Britain  on' 
the  very  points  which  that  treaty  had  left  unprovided  for — and 
left  practically  decided  against  us. 

If  England  plundered  us,  we  grew.  If  she  impressed  our 
citizens,  the  scalding  tears  of  shame  and  humiliation  which  at 
midnight  wet  the  hammock  of  the  exile  and  prisoner,  compelled 
to  aid  in  slaughtering  nations  friendly  or  neutral  to  his  country, 
did  not  stop  the  growth  of  his  country.  The  tide  of  its  material 
prosperity  rushed,  and  roared,  and  swelled  on. 

ISTor  does  this  present  the  whole  favorable  view  of  the  case 
in  the  minds  of  a  class  who  are  not  content  with  insisting  (what 
perhaps  they  may  fairly  do)  that  the  Treaty  of  London  was  the 
best  choice  of  evils,  but  also  insist  that  it  was  a  remarkably 
favorable  solution  of  existing  difficulties — the  very  turning  point 
and  source  of  our  subsequent  prosperity  !  They  ask  us  to  be- 


JHAP.  VI.]  EFFECTS    OF    TREATY    OF    LONDON.  301 

lieve  that  our  people  were  so  wildly  and  viciously  infected  with 
French  Jacobinism,  in  1795  and  1796,  that,  if  they  had  become 
engaged  in  a  war  with  England,  we  should  have  necessarily 
become  politically,  if  not  physically,  a  mere  department  of 
France — mingled  in  all  its  struggles — imitating  all  its  domestic 
atrocities.  And  they  ask  us  to  oulieve  that  "  Jay's  Treaty"  pre 
vented  all  this,  and  actually  by  some  undefinable  agency  opened 
if  it  did  not  create  all  the  fountains  of  our  future  national  pros 
perity. 

The  same  class  of  men  felt  and  expressed  the  same  want  of 
confidence  in  the  American  people  in  1812.  Again  they  pre 
dicted  that  a  war  with  England  and  against  a  common  enemy 
with  France  would  lead  to  anarchy  and  entire  subordination  to 
France.  Ames  died  before  the  struggle  opened,  but  he  antici 
pated  its  coming,  and  the  closing  period  of  his  life  was  spent  in 
venting  those  expressions  of  contempt  for  his  countrymen  and 
of  sickening  idolatry  towards  England,  some  of  which  were 
quoted  in  an  earlier  portion  of  this  work.1  Yet  this  time  the 
war  took  place.  It  was  not  followed  by  anarchy.  We  did  not 
become  a  department  of  France.  Again  the  tide  of  national 
prosperity  rushed,  and  roared,  and  swelled  on.  War  found  this 
sequence  as  well  as  an  unequal  treaty  !  Our  country,  owing  to 
obvious  circumstances,  has  always  increased  rapidly  in  numbers 
and  wealth  since  1782.  Treasury  projectors,  and  finance  regu 
lators,  and  treaty  trainers  have  always  claimed  the  origination 
of  this  prosperity.  The  truth  has  rather  been  that  not  stopping 
national  fecundity  and  industry,  they  have  not  been  able  to  stop 
that  prosperity. 

During  the  summer  of  1796,  Mr.  Jefferson's  Farm  Diary  dis 
closes  nothing  sufficiently  varied  from  the  operations  of  the  pre 
ceding  years  to  demand  insertion.  Those  operations  had  begun 
to  fall  into  the  routine  he  had  established,  and  they  now  moved 
on  systematically  ;  and  there  was  an  evident  improvement  nor, 
only  in  immediate  returns,  but  in  those  conditions  on  which 
future  ones  rested.  In  the  preceding  fall  he  had  made  extensive 
improvements  in  the  roads  on  and  contiguous  to  his  estate;  and 
he  also  burned  brick  for  the  further  completion  of  his  house. 
He  wrote  Mr.  Giles,  March  19th  : 

1  See  vol.  i.  p.  683,  ft  aeq. 


302  DE  LTANCOURT'S  JOURNAL  AT  MONTICELLO.     [CHAP.  vi. 

"We  hare  had  a  fine  winter.  Wheat  looks  well.  Corn  is  scarce  and  dear. 
Twenty-two  shillings  here,  thirty  shillings  in  Amherst.  Our  blossoms  are  but  just 
opening.  I  have  begun  the  demolition  of  my  house,  and  hope  to  get  through  its 
reedification  in  the  course  of  the  summer.  We  shall  have  the  eye  of  a  brick-kiln 
to  poke  you  into,  or  an  octagon  to  air  you  in." 

A  very  faithful  picture  of  what  would,  at  that  period,  strike 
the  eye  of  an  intelligent  but  very  practical  traveller,  at  Mon- 
ticello,  is  preserved  in  the  "  Travels  through  the  United  States 
of  North  America,  etc.,  in  the  years  1795,  1796,  and  1797,  by 
the  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt." l  This  eminent 
patriot  and  philanthropist,  Lieutenant-General  of  France,  late 
President  of  the  National  Assembly,  etc.,  was  now  in  exile. 
He  reached  Montieello  on  the  22d  of  June,  1796,  and  remained 
until  the  29th.  He  thus  describes  what  he  witnessed  there  : 

"  Montieello  is  situated  three  miles  from  Milton,  in  that  chain  of  mountains  which 
stretches  from  James  River  to  the  Rappahannock,  twenty-eight  miles  in  front  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  and  in  a  direction  parallel  to  those  mountains.  This  chain,  which  runs 
uninterrupted  in  its  small  extent  assumes  successively  the  names  of  the  West,  South, 
and  Green  Mountains. 

u  It  is  in  the  part  known  by  the  name  of  the  South 'Mountains  that  Montieello  is 
situated.  The  house  stands  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  the  taste  and  arts 
of  Europe  have  been  consulted  in  the  formation  of  its  plan.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  com 
menced  its  construction  before  the  American  Revolution ;  since  that  epocha  his  life 
has  been  constantly  engaged  in  public  affairs,  and  he  has  not  been  able  to  complete 
the  execution  of  the  whole  extent  of  the  project  which  it  seems  he  had  at  first  con 
ceived.  That  part  of  the  building  which  was  finished  has  suffered  from  the  suspen 
sion  of  the  work,  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  two  years  since  resumed  the  habits  and 
leisure  of  private  life,  is  now  employed  in  repairing  the  damage  occasioned  by  this 
interruption,  and  still  more  by  his  absence;  he  continues  his  original  plan,  and  even 
improves  on  it,  by  giving  to  his  buildings  more  elevation  and  extent.  He  intends 
that  they  shall  consist  only  of  one  story,  crowned  with  balustrades ;  and  a  dome 
is  to  be  constructed  in  the  centre  of  the  structure.  The  apartments  will  be  large 
and  convenient ;  the  decoration,  both  outside  and  inside,  simple,  yet  regular  and 
elegant.  Montieello,  according  to  its  first  plan,  was  infinitely  superior  to  all  other 
houses  in  America,  in  point  of  taste  and  convenience  ;  but  at  that  time  Mr.  Jefler- 
son  had  studied  taste  and  the  fine  arts  in  books  only.  His  travels  in  Europe  have 
supplied  him  with  models  ;  he  has  appropriated  them  to  his  design  ;  and  his  new 
plan,  the  execution  of  which  is  already  much  advanced,  will  be  accomplished  be 
fore  the  end  of  next  year,  and  then  his  house  will  certainly  deserve  to  be  ranked 
with  the  most  pleasant  mansions  in  France  and  England. 

"  Mr.  Jefferson's  house  commands  one  of  the  most  extensive  prospects  you  can 
meet  with.  On  the  east  side,  the  front  of  the  building,  the  eye  is  not  checked  by 
any  object,  since  the  mountain  on  which  the  house  is  seated,  commands  all  the 

1  We  shall  quote  from  the  English  edition  published  in  London  in  1799,  commencing 
at  p.  69. 


CHAP,  vi.]      DE  LIANCOUET'S  JOURNAL  AT  MONTICELLO.  303 

neighboring  heights  as  far  as  the  Chesapeake.  The  Atlantic  might  be  seen  were  it 
not  for  the  greatness  of  the  distance,  which  renders  that  prospect  impossible.  On 
the  right  and  left,  the  eye  commands  the  extensive  valley  that  separates  the  Green, 
South,  and  West  Mountains  from  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  has  no  other  bounds  but  these 
high  mountains,  of  which,  on  a  clear  day,  you  discern  the  chain  on  the  right 
upwards  of  a  hundred  miles,  far  beyond  James  River ;  and  on  the  left  as  far  as 
Maryland,  on%  the  other  side  of  the  Potomac.  Through  some  intervals,  formed 
by  the  irregular  summits  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  you  discover  the  Peaked  Ridge,  a 
chain  of  mountains  placed  between  the  Blue  and  Xorth  Mountains,  another  more 
distant  ridge.  But  in  the  back  part  the  prospect  is  soon  interrupted  by  a  mountain 
more  elevated  than  that  on  which  the  house  is  seated.  The  bounds  of  the  view  on 
this  point,  at  so  small  a  distance,  form  a  pleasant  resting-place  ;  as  the  immensity 
of  prospect  it  enjoys  is,  perhaps,  already  too  vast.  A  considerable  number  of  cul 
tivated  fields,  houses,  and  barns,  enliven  and  variegate  the  extensive  landscape,  still 
more  embellished  by  the  beautiful  and  diversified  forms  of  mountains,  in  the  whole 
chain  of  which  not  one  resembles  another.  The  aid  of  fancy  is,  however,  required 
to  complete  the  enjoyment  of  this  magnificent  view  ;  and  she  must  picture  to  us 
those  plains  and  mountains  such  as  population  and  culture  will  render  them  in  a 
greater  or  smaller  number  of  years.  The  disproportion  existing  between  the  culti 
vated  lands  and  those  which  are  still  covered  with  forests  as  ancient  as  the  globe,  is 
at  present  much  too  great;  and  even  when  that  shall  have  been  done  away,  the  eye 
may  perhaps  further  wish  to  discover  a  broad  river,  a  great  mass  of  water  --1  ><ti- 
tute  of  which,  the  grandest  and  most  extensive  prospect  is  ever  destitute  of  tin  em 
bellishment  requisite  to  render  it  completely  beautiful. 

"  On  this  mountain,  and  in  the  surrounding  valleys,  on  both  banks  of  the 
Rivanna.  are  situated  the  five  thousand  acres  of  land  which  Mr.  Jefferson  possesses 
in  this  part  of  Virginia.  Eleven  hundred  and  twenty  only  are  cultivated.  The  land 
left  to  the  care  of  stewards  has  suffered  as  well  as  the  buildings  from  the  long 
absence  of  the  master ;  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  it  has  been  exhausted 
by  successive  culture.  Its  situation  on  the  declivities  of  hills  and  mountains  renders 
a  careful  cultivation  more  necessary  than  is  requisite  in  lands  situated  in  a  flat  and 
even  country  ;  the  common  routine  is  more  pernicious,  and  more  judgment  and 
mature  thought  are  required,  than  in  a  different  soil.  This  forms  at  present  the 
chief  employment  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  But  little  accustomed  to  agricultural  pursuits, 
he  has  drawn  the  principles  of  culture  either  from  works  which  treat  on  this  sub 
ject  or  from  conversation.  Knowledge  thus  acquired  often  misleads,  and  is  at  all 
times  insufficient  in  a  country  where  agriculture  is  well  understood  ;  yet  it  is  prefer 
able  to  mere  practical  knowledge,  and  a  country  where  a  bad  practice  prevails,  and 
where  it  is  dangerous  to  follow  the  routine,  from  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  depart. 
Above  all,  much  good  may  be  expected,  if  a  contemplative  mind,  like  that  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  which  takes  the  theory  for  its  guide,  watches  its  application  with  discern 
ment,  and  rectifies  it  according  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  and  nature  of  the 
country,  climate,  and  soil,  and  conformably  to  the  experience  which  he  daily  ac 
quires. 

"  Pursuant  to  the  ancient  rotation,  tobacco  was  cultivated  four  or  five  successive 
years  ;  the  land  was  then  suffered  to  lie  fallow,  and  then  again  succeeded  crops  of 
tobacco.  The  culture  of  tobacco  being  now  almost  entirely  relinquished  in  this  part 
of  Virginia,  the  common  rotation  begins  with  wheat,  followed  by  Indian  corn,  and 
then  again  wheat,  until  the  exhausted  soil  loses  every  productive  power  ;  the  field  is 
thei.  abandoned,  and  the  cultivator  proceeds  to  another,  which  he  treats  aid  abau 


304-  DE  LIANCOURT'S  JOUKNAL  AT  MONTICELLO.    [CHAP.  vi. 

dons  in  the  same  manner,  until  he  returns  to  the  first,  which  has  in  the  meantime 
recovered  some  of  its  productive  faculties.  The  disproportion  between  the  quantity 
of  land  which  belongs  to  the  planters  and  the  hands  they  can  employ  in  its  culture, 
diminishes  the  inconveniences  of  this  detestable  method.  The  land  which  never 
receives 'the  least  manure,  supports  a  longer  or  shorter  time  this  alternate  culti 
vation  of  wheat  and  Indian  corn,  according  to  its  nature  and  situation,  and  regains, 
according  to  the  same  circumstances,  more  or  less  speedily  the  power  of  producing 
new  crops.  If  in  the  interval  it  be  covered  with  heath  and  weeds,  it  frequently  is 
again  fit  for  cultivation  at  the  end  of  eight  or  ten  years  ;  if  not,  a  space  of  twenty 
years  is  not  sufficient  to  render  it  capable  of  production.  Planters  who  are  not  pos 
sessed  of  a  sufficient  quantity  of  land  to  let  so  much  of  it  remain  unproductive  for 
such  a  length  of  time,  fallow  it  in  a  year  or  two  after  it  has  borne  wheat  and  Indian 
corn,  during  which  time  the  fields  serve  as  pasture,  and  are  hereupon  again  culti 
vated  in  the  same  manner.  In  either  case  the  land  produces  from  five  to  six  bushels 
of  wheat,  or  from  ten  to  fifteen  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  the  acre.  To  the  produce 
of  Indian  corn  must  be  added  one  hundred  pounds  of  leaves  to  every  five  bushels, 
or  each  barrel,  of  grain.  These  leaves  are  given  as  fodder  to  the  cattle.  It  was  in 
this  manner  that  Mr.  Jefferson's  land  had  always  been  cultivated,  and  it  is  this  sys 
tem  which  he  has  very  wisely  relinquished.  He  has  divided  all  his  land  under  cul 
ture  into  four  farms,  and  every  farm  into  seven  fields  of  forty  acres.  Each  farm 
consists,  therefore,  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres.  His  system  of  rotation  em 
braces  seven  years,  and  this  is  the  reason  why  each  farm  has  been  divided  into 
seven  fields.  In  the  first  of  these  seven  years  wheat  is  cultivated  ;  in  the  second, 
Indian  corn ;  in  the  third,  pease  or  potatoes ;  in  the  fourth,  vetches  ;  in  the 
fifth,  wheat ;  and  in  the  sixth  and  seventh,  clover.  Thus  each  of  his  fields  yields 
some  produce  every  year,  and  his  rotation  of  successive  culture,  while  it  prepares 
the  soil  for  the  following  crop,  increases  its  produce.  The  abundance  of  clover, 
potatoes,  pease,  etc.,  will  enable  him  to  keep  sufficient  cattle  for  manuring  his  land, 
which  at  present  receives  hardly  any  dung  at  all,  independently  of  the  greater 
profit  which  he  will  in  future  derive  from  the  sale  of  his  cattle. 

"  Each  farm,  under  the  direction  of  a  particular  steward  or  bailiff,  is  cultivated 
by  four  negroes,  four  negresses,  four  oxen,  and  four  horses.  The  bailiffs,  who  in 
general  manage  their  farms  separately,  assist  each  other  during  the  harvest,  as  well 
as  at  any  other  time  when  there  is  any  pressing  labor.  The  great  declivity  of  the 
fields,  which  would  render  it  extremely  troublesome  and  tedious  to  carry  the  pro 
duce,  even  of  each  farm,  to  one  common  central  point,  has  induced  Mr.  Jefferson 
to  construct  on  each  field  a  barn,  sufficiently  capacious  to  hold  its  produce  in  grain  ; 
the  produce  in  forage  is  also  housed  there,  but  this  is  generally  so  great,  that  it 
becomes  necessary  to  make  stacks  near  the  barns.  The  latter  are  constructed  of 
trunks  of  trees,  and  the  floors  are  boarded.  The  forests  and  slaves  reduce  the  ex 
pense  of  these  buildings  to  a  mere  trifle 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  possesses  one  of  those  excellent  threshing  machines  which  a  few 
years  since  were  invented  in  Scotland,  and  are  already  very  common  in  England. 
This  machine,  the  whole  of  which  does  not  weigh  two  thousand  pounds,  is  conveyed 
from  one  farm  to  another  in  a  wagon,  and  threshes  from  one  hundred  and  twenty 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  bushels  a  day.  A  worm,1  whose  eggs  are  almost  con 
stantly  deposited  in  the  ear  of  the  grain,  renders  it  necessary  to  thresh  the  corn  a 

i  Known  in  Va.  as  the  white  weevil,  but  now  nearly  excluded  by  early  threshing 
made  practicable  by  the  introduction  of  threshing-machines. 


CHAP,  vi.]     DE  LIANCOUKT'B  JOURNAL  AT  MONTICELLO.  305 

short  time  after  the  harvest ;  in  this  case  the  heat  occasioned  by  the  mixture  of 
grain  with  its  envelope,  from  which  it  is  disengaged,  but  with  which  it  continues 
mixed,  destroys  the  vital  principle  of  the  egg,  and  protects  the  corn  from  the  incon 
veniences  of  its  being  hatched.  If  the  grain  continued  in  the  ears,  without  being 
speedily  beaten,  it  would  be  destroyed  by  the  worm,  which  would  be  excluded  from 
the  eggs.  This  scourge,  however,  spreads  no  further  northwards  than  the  Poto 
mac,  and  is  bounded  to  the  west  by  the  Blue  Mountains.  A  few  weeks  after  the 
corn  has  been  beaten  it  is  free  from  all  danger,  winnowed,  and  sent  to  market. 
The  Virginia  planters  have  generally  their  corn  trodden  out  by  horses ;  but  this 
way  is  slow,  and  there  is  no  country  in  the  world  where  this  operation  requires 
more  dispatch  than  this  part  of  Virginia.  Besides,  the  straw  is  bruised  by  the 
treading  of  horses.  Mr.  Jefferson  hopes  that  his  machine,  which  has  already  found 
some  imitators  among  his  neighbors,  will  be  generally  adopted  in  Virginia.  In  a 
country  where  all  the  inhabitants  possess  plenty  of  wood,  this  machine  may  be  made 
at  a  very  trifling  expense. 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  rates  the  average  produce  of  an  acre  of  land,  in  the  present 
estate  of  his  farm,  at  eight  bushels  of  wheat,  eighteen  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  and 
twenty  hundred  weight  of  clover.  After  the  land  has  been  duly  manured,  he  may 
expect  a  produce  twice,  nay  three  times  more  considerable.  But  his  land  will  never 
be  dunged  as  much  as  in  Europe.  Black  cattle  and  pigs,  which  in  our  country  are 
either  constantly  kept  on  the  farm,  or  at  least  return  thither  every  evening,  and 
whose  dung  is  carefully  gathered  and  preserved  either  separate  or  mixed,  according 
to  circumstances,  are  here  left  grazing  in  the  woods  the  whole  year  round.  Mr. 
Jefferson  keeps  no  more  sheep  than  are  necessary  for  the  consumption  of  his  own 
table.  He  cuts  his  clover  but  twice  each  season,  and  does  not  suffer  his  cattle  to 
graze  in  his  fields.  The  quantity  of  his  dung  is  therefore  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  cattle  which  he  can  keep  with  his  own  fodder,  and  which  he  intends  to 
buy  at  the  beginning  of  winter  to  sell  them  again  in  spring ;  and  the  cattle  kept  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  barns  where  the  forage  is  housed,  will  furnish  manure  only  for 
the  adjacent  fields. 

"  From  an  opinion  entertained  by  Mr.  Jefferson  that  the  heat  of  the  sun  destroys, 
or  at  least  dries  up  in  a  great  measure,  the  nutricious  juices  of  the  earth,  he 
judges  it  necessary  that  it  should  be  always  covered.  In  order,  therefore  to  pre 
serve  his  fields,  as  well  as  to  multiply  their  produce,  they  never  lie  fallow.  On  the 
same  principle  he  cuts  his  clover  but  twice- a  season,  does  not  let  the  cattle  feed  on 
the  grass,  nor  incloses  his  fields,  which  are  merely  divided  by  a  single  row  of  peach 
trees 

"  A  long  experience  would  be  required  to  form  a  correct  judgment,  whether  the 
loss  of  dung,  which  this  system  occasions  in  his  farms,  and  the  known  advantage 
of  fields  inclosed  with  ditches,  especially  in  a  declivitous  situation,  where  the  earth 
from  the  higher  grounds  is  constantly  washed  down  by  the  rain,  are  fully  compen 
sated  by  the  vegetative  powers  which  he  means  thus  to  preserve  in  his  fields.  His 
system  is  entirely  confined  to  himself;  it  is  censured  by  some  of  his  neighbors, 
who  are  also  employed  in  improving  their  culture  with  ability  and  skill,  but  he 
adheres  to  it,  and  thinks  it  founded  on  just  observations. 

"  Wheat,  as  has  already  been  observed,  is  the  chief  object  of  cultivation  in  this 
country.  The  rise,  which  within  these  two  years  has  taken  place  in  the  price  of 
this  article,  has  engaged  the  speculations  of  the  planters,  as  well  as  the  merchants. 
The  population  of  Virginia,  which  is  so  inconsiderable  in  proportion  to  its  extent, 
and  so  little  collected  in  towns,  would  offer  but  a  very  precarious  market  for  large 
VOL.  II.— 20 


306  DE  TMANCOURT'S  JOURNAL  AT  MONTICELLO.     [CHAP,  vi 

numbers  of  cattle.  Every  planter  has  as  many  of  them  in  the  woods  as  are 
required  for  the  consumption  of  his  family.  The  negroes,  who  form  a  considerable 
part  of  the  population,  eat  but  little  meat,  and  this  little  is  pork.  Some  farmers 
cultivate  rye  and  oats,  but  they  are -few  in  number.  Corn  is  sold  here  to  the  mer 
chants  of  Milton  or  Charlottesville,  who  ship  it  to  Richmond,  where  it  fetches  a 
shilling  more  per  bushel  than  in  other  places.  Speculation  or  a  pressing  want  of 
money  may  at  times  occasion  variations  in  this  manner  of  sale,  but  it  is  certainly  the 
most  common  way.  Money  is  very  scarce  in  this  district,  and  bank-notes  being 
unknown,  trade  is  chiefly  carried  on  by  barter;  the  merchant  who  receives  the 
grain  returns  its  value  in  such  commodities  as  the  vender  stands  in  need  of. 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  sold  his  wheat  last  year  for  two  dollars  and  a  hnlf  per  bushel. 
He  contends  that  in  this  district  it  is  whiter  than  in  the  environs  of  Richmond,  and 
all  other  low  countries,  and  that  the  bushel  which  weighs  there  only  from  fifty-five  to 
fifty-eight  pounds,  weighs  on  his  farm  from  sixty  to  sixty-five. 

"  In  addition  to  the  eleven  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land,  divided  into  four 
farms,  Mr.  Jefferson  sows  a  few  acres  with  turnips,  succory,  and  other  seeds. 

"  Before  I  leave  his  farm,  I  shall  not  forget  to  mention  that  I  have  seen  here  a 
drilling-machine,  the  name  of  which  cannot  be  translated  into  French  but  by 
"machined  semer  en  paquets."  By  Mr.  Jefferson's  account  it  has  been  invented 
in  his  neighborhood.  If  this  machine  fully  answers  the  good  opinion  which  he 
entertains  of  it,  the  invention  is  the  more  fortunate,  as  by  Arthur  Young's  assertion 
not  one  good  drilling-machine  is  to  be  found  in  England.  *  *  *  *  On 
several  occasions  I  have  heard  him  speak  with  great  respect  of  the  virtues  of  the 
President,  and  in  terms  of  esteem  of  his  sound  and  unerring  judgment."  l  *  *  *. 

"  In  private  life,  Mr.  Jefferson  displays  a  mild,  easy  and  obliging  temper,  though 
he  is  somewhat  cold  and  reserved.  His  conversation  is  of  the  most  agreeable  kind, 
and  he  possesses  a  stock  of  information  not  inferior  to  that  of  any  other  man.  In 
Europe  he  would  hold  a  distinguished  rank  among  men  of  letters,  and  as  such  he 
ftus  already  appeared  there ;  at  present  he  is  employed  with  activity  and  perseve 
rance  in  the  management  of  his  farms  and  buildings  ;  and  he  orders,  directs  and 
pursues  in  the  minutest  detail  every  branch  of  business  relative  to  them.  I  found 
him  in  the  midst  of  the  harvest,  from  which  the  scorching  heat  of  the  sun  does  not 
prevent  his  attendance.  His  negroes  are  nourished,  clothed,  and  treated  as  well  as 
white  servants  could  be.  As  he  cannot  expect  any  assistance  from  the  two  small 
neighboring  towns,  every  article  is  made  on  his  farm  ;  his  negroes  are  cabinet 
makers,  carpenters,  masons,  bricklayers,  smiths,  etc.  The  children  he  employs  in  a 
nail  factory,  which  yields  already  a  considerable  profit.  The  young  and  old  ne- 
gresses  spin  for  the  clothing  of  the  rest.  He  animates  them  by  rewards  and  distinc 
tions ;  in  fine,  his  superior  mind  directs  the  management  of  his  domestic  concerns 
with  the  same  abilities,  activity,  and  regularity  which  he  evinced  in  the  conduct  of 
public  affairs,  and  which  he  is  calculated  to  display  in  every  situation  of  life.  In 
the  superintendence  of  his  household  he  is  assisted  by  his  two  daughters,  Mrs  Ran 
dolph  and  Miss  Maria,  who  are  handsome,  modest,  and  amiable  women.  They  have 
been  educated  in  France." 

*#****#** 

"Mr.  Randolph  ?  is  proprietor  of  a  considerable  plantation,  contiguous  to  that  of 
Mr.  Jefferson's ;  he  constantly  spends  the  summer  with  him,  and,  from  the  affection 
be  bears  him,  he  seems  to  be  his  son  rather  than  his  son-in-law.  Miss  Maria  con- 

1  Page  79  a  Page  81. 


C1HAP.  VI.]  EXPLANATIONS    AND   ADDITIONS.  307 

stantly  resides  with  her  fathei  ;  but  as  she  is  seventeen  years  old,  and  is  remarkably 
handsome,  she  will,  doubtless,  soon  find  that  there  are  duties  which  it  is  still  sweeter 
to  perform  than  those  of  a  daughter.  Mr.  Jefferson's  philosophic  turn  of  mind,  his 
love  of  study,  his  excellent  library,  which  supplies  him  with  the  means  of  satisfying 
it,  and  his  friends,  will  undoubtedly  help  him  to  endure  this  loss,  which  moreover  is 
not  likely  to  become  an  absolute  privation,  as  the  second  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  may,  like  Mr.  Randolph,  reside  in  the  vicinity  of  Monticello,  and,  if  he  be  worthy 
of  Miss  Maria,  will  not  be  able  to  find  any  company  more  desirable  than  that  of  Mr. 
Jefferson." 

*******  *  * 

"  The  price  of  land  is  from  four  to  five  dollars  per  acre.  *  *  Meat — that  is, 
mutton,  veal,  and  lamb — fetches  fourpence  a  pound ;  beef  cannot  be  had  but  in 
winter.  The  wages  of  white  workmen,  such  as  masons,  carpenters,  cabinet-makers, 
and  smiths,  amount  to  from  one  and  a  half  dollars  to  two  dollars  a  day.  *  *  * 
There  are  not  four  stone  masons  in  the  whole  county  of  Albemarle.  *  *  *  Left 
Monticello  on  the  29th  of  June." 

There  are  some  errors  in  the  geographical  names  in  the  above 
description,  but  on  the  whole,  it  is  uncommonly  accurate,  par 
ticularly  in  the  account  of  farming  operations.  It  requires  but 
a  few  explanations  and  additions  to  give  a  full  view  of  the  do 
mestic  economy  of  Monticello.  In  the  nail  factory  mentioned, 
the  work  was  all  performed  by  hand,  and  not  exclusively  by 
children.  They  only  did  the  lighter  portions  of  it.  The  spin 
ning  is  noticed,  but  not  the  weaving.  There  was  a  house  de 
voted  to  the  latter,  and  the  labor  was  performed  by  females. 

Mr.  Jefferson  thus  manufactured  the  woollens  used  for  dressing 

& 

his  slaves.  Among  the  "rewards  and  distinctions"  alluded  to 
by  our  traveller,  were  those  of  dress.  But  these  were  conferred 
to  "  animate  "  them  to  marry  and  settle  down  steadily  in  life, 
and  not  as  premiums  on  extra  labor.  The  men  and  women  who 
married  and  lived  properly  together,  received  dresses  of  a  better 
quality  and  color  than  those  who  did  not.  The  effect  of  this 
regulation  was  perceptibly  favorable.  The  Duke  omits  one 
manufacturing  establishment — that  grist  mill,  which  was  elevated 
by  the  imagination  of  contemporary  satirists,  to  a  situation  on  a 
mountain  ravine,  "  where  nothing  was  lacking  but  water,1'  but 
which  occupied  its  present  eligible  site  on  the  Eivanna. 

Mr.  Jefferson  performed  another  practical  achievement, 
about  this  period,  which  has  not,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  been 
recorded  in  prose  or  verse,  by  newspaper  wits,  or  writers  of  a 
graver  cast.  It  may  be  remembered,  that  on  returning  to 
Paris  from  a  tour  in  Germany,  in  1788,  the  primitive  structure 


308  JEFFEBSON'S  PLOW  OF  LEAST  RESISTANCE.      [CHAP.  vi. 

of  the  plows  which  he  saw  employed  by  the  peasantry  about 
I1 'en estrange,  Moyenvic,  and  Nancy  (in  the  northeast  of  France), 
induced  him  to  enter  into  some  speculations  on  the  subject,  and 
that  in  his  journal  (April  19th),  he  attempted  to  sketch  an  ori 
ginal  and  uniform  mathematical  rule  for  shaping  the  mould- 
board  of  a  plow  l — the  object  being,  of  course,  to  attain  the  form 
which  would  best  accomplish  the  desired  result  (the  regular  in 
version  of  a  certain  depth  of  surface  soil),  with  the  least  applica 
tion  of  force.  Among  the  memoranda  in  his  farm  book,  of 
1796,  are  diagrams  and  specifications  for  laying  off  the  block 
(iron  plows  were  not  then  introduced,)  of  a  mould-board,  accor 
ding  to  or  matured  from  his  earlier  plan;  and  also  a  well 
executed  drawing  of  a  plow,  constructed  on  the  principle  he 
had  discovered.  He  wrote  Jonathan  Williams  on  this  sub 
ject,  July  3d,  1796 : 

u  You  wish  me  to  present  to  the  Philosophical  Society  the  result  of  my  philoso 
phical  researches  since  my  retirement.  But,  my  good  sir,  I  have  made  researches 
into  nothing  but  what  is  connected  with  agriculture.  In  this  way  I  have  a  little 
matter  to  communicate,  and  will  do  it  ere  long.  It  is  the  form  of  a  mould-board  of 
least  resistance.  I  had  some  time  ago  conceived  the  principles  of  it,  and  I  explained 
them  to  Mr.  Rittenhouse.  I  have  since  reduced  the  thing  to  practice  and  have  rea 
son  to  .believe  the  theory  fully  confirmed.  I  only  wish  for  one  of  those  instruments 
used  in  England  for  measuring  the  force  exerted  in  the  drafts  of  different  plows, 
etc.,  that  I  might  compare  the  resistance  of  my  mould-board  with  that  of  others 
But  these  instruments  are  not  to  be  had  here." 

So  it  seems  his  new  plows  were  already  in  operation.  The 
further  history  of  this  invention,  or  discovery,  may  as  well  at 
once  be  given.  Mr.  ftittenhouse,  one  of  the  best  mathemati 
cians  and  scientific  inventors  of  his  century,  had  given  it  as  his 
opinion,  that  it  was  mathematically  demonstrable  that  Mr. 
Jefferson's  mould-board  was  what  he  supposed  it  to  be,  namely, 
the  one  of  least  resistance.2  Mr.  Strickland,  a  member  of  the 
English  Board  of  Agriculture,  being  on  a  visit  to  Monticello,  saw 
there  plows  in  operation  constructed  on  this  principle,  and  men 
tioning  them  favorably  on  his  return,  the  Board,  through  its  Presi 
dent  Sir  John  Sinclair,  requested  from  Mr.  Jefferson  a  model  and  a 
description.  These  were  forwarded  to  England  in  1798.3  This 

1  See  vol.  i.  p.  501. 

3  For  this  fact,  see  Jefferson  to  Patterson,  March  27,  1798.    Mr.  Rittenhouse  died 
June  26,  1796. 

*  Jefferson  to  Patterson.  March  27,  1798. 


rHAP.  VI.]  HIS    DISCOVERT   OF   THE   PRINCIPLE.  309 

description  was  long  and  very  minute,  and  is  published  in  the 
Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  and  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  Transac 
tions  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society.  We  have  found 
no  further  certain  traces  of  this  matter  until  1808,  when  Mr. 
Jefferson  wrote  M.  Sylvestre,  of  France,  thanking  him  for  vari 
ous  agricultural  works,  and  for  a  newly-improved  plow,  pre 
sented  to  him  through  M.  Sylvestre  by  the  Agricultural  So 
ciety  of  the  Seine.  He  says : 

"  I  shall  with  great  pleasure  attend  to  the  construction  and  transmission  to  the 
Society  of  a  plow  with  my  mould-board.  This  is  the  only  part  of  that  useful  in 
strument  to  which  I  have  paid  any  particular  attention.  But  knowing  how  much 
the  perfection  of  the  plow  must  depend,  1st,  on  the  line  of  traction  ;  2d,  on  the 
direction  of  the  share  ;  3d,  on  the  angle  of  the  wing  ;  4th,  on  the  form  of  the 
mould-board  ;  and  persuaded  that  I  shall  find  the  three  first  advantages  eminently 
exemplified  in  that  which  the  Society  sends  me,  I  am  anxious  to  see  combined  with 
these  a  mould-board  of  my  form,  in  the  hope  it  will  still  advance  the  perfection  of 
that  machine.  But  for  this  I  must  ask  time  till  I  am  relieved  from  the  cares  which 
have  now  a  right  to  all  my  time,  that  is  to  say,  till  the  next  spring.  Then  giving, 
in  the  leirure  of  retirement,  all  the  time  and  attention  this  construction  merits  and 
requires,  1  will  certainly  render  to  the  Society  the  result  in  a  plow  of  the  best 
form  I  shall  be  able  to  have  executed.  In  the  meantime,  accept  for  them  and  your 
self  the  assurances  of  my  high  respect  and  consideration." 

It  would  seem,  however,  that  one  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  plows 
went  to  France  several  years  earlier,  and  received  a  nattering 
acknowledgment  of  it  merits.1 

It  also  seems  to  be  understood,  in  France,  that  Mr.  Jefferson 
was  the  first  discoverer  of  the  formula  for  constructing  a  mould- 
board  on  mathematical  principles — it  being  previously  deter 
mined,  by  manufacturers  of  the  implement,  merely  by  the  eye, 
assisted  by  experiment.  This  fact  is  distinctly  asserted  in  a 
work  which  we  understand  to  be  of  high  authority  :  "  Maison 
Rustique  du  19me  Siecle,  ou  Encydopedie  d*  Agriculture  Pra 
tique"  Paris,  1836.2  Our  researches  have  not  enabled  us  to 
find  any  traces  of  a  discovery  of  this  theoretical  formula,  prior 
to  Mr.  Jefferson's.  The  Rotherham  plow,  as  it  is  called  in  Eng 
land,  was  patented  in  1720,  but  afterwards  the  patent  was  set 

1  In  1853  a  statement  went  the  rounds  of  the  American  newspapers,  that  Mr.  Rives, 
our  Minister  to  Prance,  on  being  received  as  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  "  Imperial 
Central  Agricultural  Society  of  Prance,"  made  allusion  to  the  fact  that  fifty  years  before 
the  same  honor  was  conferred  on  one  of  his  most  distinguished  countrymen,  to  whom  it 
gave  a  prize  for  a  plow.  "Yes,"  replied  the  President  of  the  Society,  "we  still  have 
and  will  show  you  the  prize-plow  of  Thomas  Jefferson." 

2  Tome  i.  p.  174.    "  Jefferson est,  a  notre  connaissance,  le  premier  qui  ait  forrauV  "eta. 


310  A   UTILITARIAN    DI8COVEEY.  [CHAP.  VI 

aside  on  the  ground  of  its  not  being  a  new  invention.  It  is  sup 
posed  that  it  was  originally  introduced  from  Holland.  The 
Rotherham  plow  was  a  great  practical  improvement  on  pre 
ceding  ones ;  but  we  have  yet  to  learn  that  its  fortn  was  de 
duced  from  anything  beyond  practical  observation  and  experi 
ment,  and  we  know  of  no  other  having  such  claims,  that  ante 
dates  Jefferson's. 

One  fact  is  certain,  that  Jefferson,  with  pure  originality,  so 
far  as  he  was  concerned,  produced  such  a  formula.  If  any 
one  preceded  him  in  this,  let  us  have  the  proofs  of  it  brought 
forward.  It  would  not  be  sufficient  to  show,  that  somebody 
before  had  experimentally  or  accidentally  hit  upon  nearly,  or 
even  precisely  the  same  form.  We  do  not  believe  the  proof 
will  be  forthcoming — though  we  have  made  no  very  elabor 
ate  investigations  on  the  subject.1  "We  take  it  for  granted,  that 
when  Jefferson  claimed  the  origination  of  a  rule,  some  of  his 
learned  French,  English,  or  American  correspondents  on  this 
class  of  topics,  would  have  set  him  right,  or  pointed  out  pre 
ceding  formulas,  had  they  been  known  to  exist. 

Jefferson,  then,  the  imaginary  prince  of  theorists,  made  a 
great  utilitarian  discovery  !  If  it  was  not  quite  so  brilliant  or 
lofty  in  its  associations  as  the  exploit  of  him  "  who  snatched 
the  lightning  from  heaven,"  it,  at  all  events,  ranks  its  author 
among  those  practical  benefactors  of  their  species,  who  have 
made  the  physical  world  better  for  having  lived  in  it — who  have 
made  more  blades  of  grass  grow  than  grew  before — who  have 
lightened  the  labors,  and  added  to  the  enjoyments  of  the  toil 
ing  masses  of  mankind. 

We  cannot  say  what  he  himself  thought  about  it,  for  he  had 
no  pet  performances  of  his  own  constantly  to  write  or  talk  about. 
So  purely  unegotistical  a  man  of  great  deeds  scarcely  ever 
lived.  But  if  lie  believed  he  had  done  something  to  perma 
nently  benefit  the  practical  every  day  interests  of  the  tiers  etat 
of  his  country  and  Christendom,  of  this  we  feel  fully  assured, 
that  he  would  not  have  exchanged  the  consciousness  of  the 
achievement  for  that  of  having  witten  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence. 

J  The  active  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  N.  Y.  State  Agricultural  Society, 
Mr.  Johnson,  furnished  us  with  considerable  information  in  regard  to  "he  Rotherham 
plow  ;  but  we  get  no  glimpse  of  a  theoretical  rule. 


CHAP.   VI. J  PRESIDENTIAL   ELEUTIOX,  1796.  311 

The  preceding  facts  illustrate  the  characteristic  promptitude 
with  which  Mr.  Jefferson  adapted  his  theoretical  knowledge  to 
practical  applications.  He  was  indeed  re.narkable  for  this 
power.  In  anything  involving  principles  of  mechanism,  whether 
the  simplest  or  most  profound — whether  developed  in  a  wheel 
barrow  or  a  steam-engine — he  saw  at  a  glance  conformity  to  or 
departure  from  sound  theory.  If  a  wagon,  a  gate,  a  bridge,  a 
seed-drill,  a  threshing-machine,  or  a  plow  needed  any  improve 
ment,  lie  knew  it,  at  once,  and  where  and  how  the  change  should 
be  made.  This  gave  him  what  seemed  a  marvellous  ingenuity 
in  practical  matters,  in  the  eyes  of  practical  men,  who  knew 
what  had  been  the  pursuits  of  his  life.  Innumerable  examples 
of  this  existed,  until  desolation  fell  on  Monticello,  and  until  de 
cay  swept  from  it  nearly  all  that  was  perishable.  Instances 
enough  will  appear  hereafter. 

In  November,  Mr.  Jefferson  had  the  new  walls  of  his  house 
so  far  completed,  that  but  little  more  than  a  week  was  wanted 
to  get  them  ready  for  roofing,  when  they  were  suddenly  arrested 
by  the  cold.  That  and  the  two  succeeding  months  l  were  the  cold 
est  known  since  the  terrible  winter  of  1789-90;  and  all  build 
ing  operations  were  necessarily  brought  to  a  stand.  The  drought 
was  also  severe.  From  the  middle  of  October  to  the  middle  of 
December,  there  did  not  fall  rain  enough  to  lay  the  dust. 

The  fall  elections  of  1796,  brought  an  important  change  to  the 
future  life  and  prospects  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  We  have  seen  him 
reiterating  to  Madison  his  strong  and  determined  disinclination 
against  becoming  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency — and  urging 
the  latter  to  assume  that  position.  The  Republican  party  willed 
it  otherwise.  When  the  subject  began  to  be  generally  mooted, 
it  became  speedily  apparent  that  the  decided  preferences  of  that 
party  all  pointed  to  Mr.  Jefferson — indeed,  that  no  other  man 
was,  or  would  be,  thought  of  as  its  candidate.  By  the  middle  of 
summer  he  was  its  universally  understood  nominee,  in  case 
General  Washington  should  decline  a  reelection.  The  latter 
declared  his  determination  to  do  so,  in  his  celebrated  Farewell 
Address,  published  in  September;  and  thenceforth  the  canvass 
was  opened  with  spirit  between  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Adams, 
who  was  the  candidate  of  the  Federalists. 

This  remarkable  weather  for  Virginia  set  in  on  the  23d  of  November.  It  froze  that 
?lay:  and  the  weather  continued  so  severe,  thut  Mr.  Jefferson  lost  his  crop  of  potatoes  by 
froezing ! 


JEFFERSON    HOPES    HE   IS    BEATEN.  [CHAP.  VI. 

Political  affairs  were  not  conducted  in  those  days  as  they 
now  are.  From  the  moment  Mr.  Jefferson  was  understood 
to  be  a  candidate,  down  to  a  period  considerably  subsequent  to 
the  election,  he  wrote  but  one  political  letter,  and  that  to  Colonel 
Monroe  in  France.  This  barely  alludes  to  an  item  or  two  of 
general  politics,  but  contains  not  a  word  in  regard  to  the  ap 
proaching  election.  He  was  not,  during  the  same  period,  an 
hour's  journey  from  home.  The  farm-book  kteps  up  all  its 
usual  details.  The  account-book,  a  never  silent  chronicler  where 
money  was  expended,  betrays  not  an  unusual  item.  Not  even 
an  additional  newspaper  was  ordered. 

On  the  17th  of  December  he  wrote  Mr.  Madison  ii  letter  in 
regard  to  the  recent  election,  portions  of  which  will  be  read  with 
surprise  : 

"  Your  favor  of  the  5th  came  to  hand  last  night.  The  first  wish  of  my  heart  was 
that  you  should  have  been  proposed  for  the  administration  of  the  government.  On 
your  declining  it,  I  wish  anybody  rather  than  myself;  and  there  is  nothing  I  so 
anxiously  hope,  as  that  my  name  may  come  out  either  second  or  third.  These 
would  be  indifferent  to  me ;  as  the  last  would  leave  me  at  home  the  whole  year,  and 
the  other  two-thirds  of  it.  I  have  no  expectation  that  the  Eastern  States  will  suffer 
themselves  to  be  so  much  outwitted,  as  to  be  made  the  tools  for  bringing  in  P.  in 
stead  of  A.1  I  presume  they  will  throw  away  their  second  vote.  In  this  case,  it 
begins  to  appear  possible,  that  there  may  be  an  equal  division  where  I  had  supposed 
the  Republican  vote  would  have  been  considerably  minor.  It  seems  also  possible, 
that  the  Representatives  may  be  divided.  This  is  a  difficulty  from  which  the  Con 
stitution  has  provided  no  issue.  It  is  both  my  duty  and  inclination,  therefore,  to  re 
lieve  the  embarrassment,  should  it  happen  ;  and  in  that  case,  I  pray  you  and  author 
ize  you  fully,  to  solicit  on  my  behalf  that  Mr.  Adams  may  be  preferred.  He  has 
always  been  my  senior,  from  the  commencement  of  our  public  life,  and  the  expres 
sion  of  the  public  will  being  equal,  this  circumstance  ought  to  give  him  the  prefer 
ence.  And  when  so  many  motives  will  be  operating  to  induce  some  of  the  mem 
bers  to  change  their  vote,  the  addition  of  my  wish  may  have  some  effect  to  prepon 
derate  the  scale.  I  am  really  anxious  to  see  the  speech.  It  must  exhibit  a  very 
different  picture  of  our  foreign  affairs  from  that  presented  in  the  adieu,  or  it  will 
little  correspond  with  my  views  of  them.  I  think  they  never  wore  so  gloomy  an 
aspect  since  the  year  1783.  Let  those  come  to  the  helm  who  think  they  can  steer 
clear  of  the  difficulties.  I  have  no  confidence  in  myself  for  the  undertaking." 

He  who  should  write  such  a  letter  as  this,  under  like  circum 
stances,  now,  would  be  considered  guilty  of  a  great  piece  of 
inconsistency,  or  else  of  a  great  piece  of  puerile  affectation. 
How,  with  the  writer's  rooted  and  earnest  political  principles — 
principles  to  which  we  have  heard  him  declare  Mr.  Adarns'e 

1  Piucliney  instead  of  Adams. 


CHAP.  VI.]       PRESIDENTIAL   PATRONAGE   THEN   AND   NOW.  313 

antagonism — could  he  properly  wish  the  latter  success  over  him 
self,  after  permitting  himself  to  be  made  the  candidate  of  his 
own  party?  After  such  permission,  tacit  though  it  was,  what 
right  had  he  to  talk  of  his  love  of  being  at  home,  or  bis  want 
of  confidence  in  his  ability  to  steer  clear  of  the  difficulties  which 
would  environ  the  next  administration? 

True,  the  President  had  not  then  the  appointment  of  upwards 
of  twenty-five  thousand  post-masters1 — an  army  of  revenue  offi 
cers — regiments  of  marshals,  district-attorneys,  territorial  officers 
of  every  grade,  judges,  etc. — squadrons  ol  foreign  ministers,  and 
great  numbers  of  other  officers  of  various  descriptions — as  he  now 
has.  The  President  of  the  United  States  has,  probably,  a  far 
greater  amount  of  what  may  be  termed  personal  patronage  than 
the  chief-magistrate  of  any  other  country,  whose  forms  are  not 
despotic  or  allied  to  the  despotic — for  although  the  Senate  may 
reject  among  a  numerous  class  of  his  appointees,  and  perhaps 
would  reject  in  many  departments  of  office  on  political  grounds,  the 
idea  has  never  been  advanced  or  acted  upon  that  the  Senate  are 
entitled  to  any  mere  personal  option  among  candidates.  Neither 
Senate,  Cabinet,  constituencies,  nor  any  other  body  are  held  to 
have  any  right -to  control  the  individual  selection  of  the  Execu 
tive  appointees.  It  is  sufficient  in  all  cases  that  the  President 
wills  ir,  and  that,  where  the  Senate  are  to  approve,  there  are  not 
particular  objections  to  the  individual.  In  1796,  the  rill  of  pa 
tronage  had  not  swelled  into  an  Amazonian  river;  but  still  the 
office  of  President,  if  less  important  to  party,  was  equally  impor 
tant  to  the  nation.  The  President  had  the  recommending  of 
measures,  and  the  opportunity  to  give  his  recommendations  pres 
tige  and  weight  (a  great  one  among  legislators,  partisans,  and 
conservative  men  irrespective  of  party)  as  "  administration  mea 
sures,"  so  that  to  oppose  them  was  to  oppose  "  the  Government." 
He  had  the  veto  power,  necessarily  a  tremendous  one  in  the 
hands  of  a  resolute  and  managing  man  when  backed  by  the 
shred  of  a  party  ;  and  still  more  important,  where  the 'Executive 
party  balanced  or  nearly  balanced  its  opponents.  On  every 
account,  then,  in  1796,  when  great  parties,  divided  by  almost 
cardinal  principles  of  government,  were  rough-hewing  the 
future  destinies  of  the  Republic,  the  Presidency  was  an  all  im 
portant  position  politically  and  nationally.  Why  then,  we 
1  Directly  or  through  the  Postmaster-General 


314-  CANDIDATES MODE    OF   ELECTION.  [CHAP.  VL 

repeat,  do  we,  at  such  a  moment,  hear  Mr.  Jefferson  talking  like 
a  u  carpet  Knight "  about  storms,  and  wishing  "  to  corne  out 
either  second  or  third  "  in  the  contest  ?  We  shall,  after  tracing 
a  few  more  facts,  attempt  to  give  an  answer  to  this  question. 

The  Presidential  and  Vice-Presidential  candidates  in  the  elec 
tion  of  ITytf  were  John  Adams  and  Thomas  Pinckney  on  the 
pait  of  the  Federalists,  and  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr 
on  the  part  of  the  Republicans.  Under  the  then  Constitution, 
the  candidates  for  both  offices  were  voted  for  in  the  electoral 
college  of  each  State,  without  designating  which  the  elector 
intended  tor  the  first  and  which  for  the  second  office.  Lists  of 
these  votes  were  transmitted  to  the  seat  of  Government,  and  the 
candidate  having  the  greatest  number  (if  a  majority  of  the 
whole)  became  President,  and  the  one  having  the  next  greatest 
number,  Vice-President.  It  might  thus  happen  that  by  the  in 
tentional  or  accidental  subtraction  of  one  vote  from  the  real 
Presidential  candidate  of  the  victorious  party,  he  might  be 
reduced  to  the  second  position,  and  a  man  not  voted  for  by  a 
single  Presidential  elector  in  the  Union  (unless  the  one  who  sub 
tracted  his  vote  from  the  real  candidate)  with  the  intention  or 
de&ire  of  making  him  President,  would  receive  that  office.1  If 
the  two  highest  candidates  received  an  equal  number  of  votes, 
the  House  of  Representatives  (as  now)  was  to  proceed  imme 
diately  to  choose  by  ballot  one  of  them  for  President,  voting  by 
States,  each  State  having  one  vote,  and  a  majority  of  all  the 
States  being  necessary  to  a  choice.  In  case  of  a  tie  on  the  Vice- 
President,  the  Senate  was  to  choose  between  the  equal  candi 
dates.  This  explains  the  force  of  Jefferson's  expression  of  his 
wishes  (in  the  preceding  letter  to  Madison)  in  case  there  should 
be  "  an  equal  division  "  between  himself  and  Mr.  Adams.  But, 
in  one  respect,  he  contemplated  a  contingency,  as  he  remarks,  not 
then  provided  for  in  the  Constitution  in  saying  what  he  desired 
done  should  the  Presidential  candidates  be  found  in  the  situa 
tion  just  named — that  is,  should  the  ticket  or  the  highest  can 
didates  on  each  ticket  receive  an  equal  number  of  electoral 
votes,  and  should  the  Representatives  (voting  by  States)  be 
also  equally  divided. 

»  The  theory  on  which  this  provision  was  made  in  the  Constitution  was  that  it  was 
necessary  to  secure  equal  character  and  talents  in  both  offices.  But  never,  in  practice, 
was  there  a  more  ingenious  and  successful  contrivance  to  produce  intriguo  and  political 
dishonesty. 


CHAP.  VI.]  GENERAL   AND   LOCAL   RESULTS.  315 

The  vote  in  the  electoral  college  stood  for  Mr.  Adams 
seventy-one  ;  for  Mr.  Jefferson  sixty-eight ;  for  Mr.  Pinckney 
fifty -nine  ;  for  Mr.  Burr  thirty  ;  for  Samuel  Adams  fifteen  ;  for 
Oliver  Ellsworth  eleven;  for  John  Jay  five  ;  for  George  Clin 
ton  seven  ;  and  ten  votes  were  scattered  between  five  other  can 
didates.  Mr.  Adams  received  the  entire  votes  of  the  New  Eng 
land  States,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware  ;  one  from 
Pennsylvania,  seven  from  Maryland,  one  from  Virginia,  and  one 
from  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Jefferson  received  the  entire  votes 
of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  fourteen 
from  Pennsylvania,  four  from  Maryland,  twenty  from  Virginia, 
and  eleven  from  North  Carolina.  Accordingly  Mr.  Adams  was 
chosen  to  the  Presidency  and  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  Vice-Presi 
dency. 

Thus  Mr.  Jefferson  lost  the  office  by  three  scattering  votes. 
Hamilton  afterwards  pronounced  this  "  a  sort  of  miracle."  He 
said  that  "  in  each  of  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and 
North  Carolina  Mr.  Adams  had  one  vote.  In  the  two  latter 
States,  the  one  vote  was  as  much  against  the  stream  of  popular 
prejudice,  as  it  was  against  the  opinions  of  the  other  electors."1 
The  family  biographer  of  Mr.  Adams  says,  "  A  single  voice  in 
Virginia  and  one  in  North  Carolina,  prompted  by  the  linger 
ing  memory  of  Revolutionary  services  had  turned  the  scale." 
"He  felt  the  insecurity  of  his  position  as  a  President  of  three 
votes,  as  he  described  himself,  and  those  votes  accidental  tri 
butes  of  personal  esteem,  not  likely  further  to  resist  the  engulf 
ing  tendencies  of  party  passion."8 

Among  the  results  of  this  election  which  were  peculiarly  cal 
culated  to  gratify  Mr.  Jefferson,  was  the  vote  in  his  own  State 
Mr.  Adams  had  received  the  same,  and,  nominally,  a  higher 
compliment  in  Massachusetts,  for  he  received  its  entire  vote. 
Mr.  Adams  was  undoubtedly  popular  with  his  party  at  home, 
except  among  a  little  handful  of  leaders  ;  and  his  party  was  com 
pletely  the  dominant  one.  No  special  causes  operated  against 
him  there  calculated  to  endanger  easy  success.  It  was  not  so 
with  Mr.  Jefferson.  Against  him  was  brought  to  bear  the  po 
litical  prestige  of  the  late  administration — of  the  most  eminent 


1  Hamilton  on  "The  public  conduct  and  character  of  John  Adams,"  etc.    Ham  Iton's 
Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  696. 

a  Life  of  John  Adams  by  C.  F.  Adams,  pp.  493,  494. 


316  UNPUBLISHED    LETTERS.  [CHAP.  VI- 

citizen  of  the  Republic — that  citizen  a  native  and  resident  of 
Virginia.  Mr.  Jefferson's  vote,  however,  was  in  no  point  of 
view  a  triumph  over  the  late  President.  It  simply  showed  that 
while  Virginia  yielded  to  no  other  State  in  the  Union  in  her  vene 
ration  and  affection  for  Washington,  she  now,  as  on  all  preceding 
and  future  occasions,  also  gave  her  full  confidence  to  Jefferson. 

In  both  editions  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Writings  are  to  be  found 
two  important  letters  of  this  period,  both  declared  in  their  cap 
tions  to  be  statements  from  memory — copies  of  the  originals 
having  been  omitted  to  be  retained.  The  first  is  directed  to 
John  Adams  under  date  of  December  28,  1796,  and  the  second 
to  James  Madison  under  date  of  January  1,  1797. 

In  two  letters  which  we  will  give  in  Appendix,1  written  in 
1827  and  1828,  will  be  seen  Mr.  Madison's  solicitation  from  the 
representatives  of  Mr.  Jefferson  of  the  return  of  his  political  let 
ters  addressed  to  the  latter,  his  acknowledgment  of  having 
received  them,  his  return  of  some  extracts  which  had  been 
requested,  and  his  return  of  copies  of  two  letters  not  asked,  un 
less  by  implication,  after  having,  however,  reduced  one  of  them 
to  "  an  extract  only,  by  lopping  from  it  a  paragraph  irrelative  to 
the  subject."  We  have  received  these  letters  from  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  family,  and  shall  give  them  in  their  place.  The  lopped 
letter  was  Mr.  Madison's  answer  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  of  January  1, 
1797,  and  has  a  curious  bearing  on  the  history  of  this  period. 

Before  giving  it,  we  will  present  the  original  version  of  the 
two  letters  to  which  it  forms  the  answer,  published  in  Jefferson's 
Works  "  from  memory."  That  to  Mr.  Madison  was  lent  by  him 
to  Mr.  Trist  with  permission  to  copy  ;  that  inclosed  in  it, 
addressed  and  to  be  delivered  to  Mr.  Adams  (unless  Mr.  Madi 
son  should  consider  it  "  ineligible"),  was  presented  to  Mr.  Trist.2 

Apart  from  the  historical  importance  of  these  letters,  we 
have  a  good  opportunity,  by  comparing  them  with  the  state 
ments  "  from  memory,"  heretofore  published,  to  test  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  accuracy  in  this  kind  of  recollections.  In  the  previously 
published  version  of  that  to  Madison,  a  line  of  asterisks  marks  a 
chasm  between  the  two  paragraphs  of  the  letter.  In  the  copy 
below  that  chasm  will  be  found  significantly  filled.  We  give 
the  letters  in  what  seems  the  most  natural  order  under  the  cir 
cumstances,  though  it  does  not  accord  with  that  of  date  : 

1  boo  APPENDIX,  No.  14.      *  The  original  of  this  is  and  will  remain  in  our  possession. 


CHAP.  VI.]          THE    UNPUBLISHED   LETTER   TO   MADISON.  317 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  TO  JAMES  MADISON. 

MoNTiCfiLLO,  Jan.  \gt.,  'ST. 

Yours  of  Dec.  19  has  come  safely.  The  event  of  the  election  has  never  been  a 
matter  of  doubt  in  my  mind.  I  knew  that  the  Eastern  States  were  disciplined  in  the 
schools  of  their  town  meetings,  to  sacrifice  differences  of  opinion  to  the  great  object 
of  operating  in  phalanx,  and  that  the  more  free  and  moral  agency  practised  in 
the  other  States  would  always  make  up  the  supplement  of  their  weight.  Indeed, 
the  vote  comes  much  nearer  an  equality  than  I  had  expected.1  I  know  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  belief  to  one's  declarations  of  a  disinclination  to  honors,  and  that  it  is 
greatest  to  those  who  still  remain  in  the  world  But  no  arguments  were  wanting  to 
reconcile  me  to  a  relinquishment  of  the  first  office,  or  acquiescence  under  the  second. 
As  to  the  first,  it  was  impossible  that  a  more  solid  unwillingness,  settled  on  full  cal 
culation,  could  have  existed  in  any  man's  mind,  short  of  the  degree  of  absolute  re 
fusal.  The  only  view  on  which  I  would  have  gone  into  it  for  a  while,  was,  to  put 
our  vessel  on  her  republican  tack,  before  she  should  be  thrown  too  much  to  leeward 
of  her  true  principles.  As  to  the  second,  it  is  the  only  office  in  the  world,  about 
which  I  am  unable  to  decide  in  my  own  mind  whether  I  had  rather  have  it  or  not 
have  it.2  Pride  does  not  enter  into  the  estimate  ;  for  I  think  with  the  Romans,  that 
the  general  of  to-day  should  be  a  soldier  to-morrow  if  necessary.  I  can  particularly 
have  no  feelings  which  would  revolt  at  a  secondary  position  to  Mr.  Adams.  I  am 
his  junior  in  life,  was  his  junior  in  Congress,  his  junior  in  the  diplomatic  line,  his 
junior  lately  in  our  civil  government.  Before  the  receipt  of  your  letter,  I  had  writ 
ten  the  inclosed  one  to  him.  I  had  intended  it  some  time  ;  but  had  deferred  it  from 
time  to  time,  under  the  discouragement  of  a  despair  of  making  him  believe  I  could 
be  sincere  in  it.  The  papers  by  the  last  post  not  rendering  it  necessary  to  change 
anything  in  the  letter,  I  inclose  it  open  for  your  perusal ;  not  only  that  you  may 
possess  the  actual  state  of  dispositions  beween  us,  but  that  if  anything  should  render 
the  delivery  of  it  ineligible  in  your  opinion,  you  may  return  it  to  me.  If  Mr.  Adams 
can  be  induced  to  administer  the  government  on  its  true  principles,  and  to  relinquish 
his  bias  to  an  English  constitution,  it  is  to  be  considered  whether  it  would  not  be  on 
the  whole  for  the  public  good  to  come  to  a  good  understanding  with  him  as  to  his 
future  elections.  He  is,  perhaps,  the  only  sure  barrier  against  Hamilton's  getting  in.' 

Since  my  last,  I  have  received  a  packet  of  books  and  pamphlets,  the  choiceness 
of  which  testifies  that  they  come  from  you.  The  incidents  of  Hamilton's  insurrection 
is  a  curious  work  indeed.  The  hero  of  it  exhibits  himself  in  all  the  attitudes  of  a 
dexterous  balance  master. 

The  Political  Progress  is  a  work  of  value,  and  of  a  singular  complexion.  The 
eye  of  the  author  seems  to  be  a  natural  acromatic,  which  divests  every  object  of  the 
glare  of  color.  The  preceding  work,  under  the  same  title,  had  the  same  merit.  One 

1  Madison's  letter  to  Jefferson  of  December  5th,  produced  a  momentary  impression  on 
the  mind  of  the  latter  that  there  might  possibly  be  a  tie.  But  this  immediately  wore 
away ;  and,  indeed,  a  subsequent  communication  of  Mr.  Madison  would  have  dispelled 
all  such  expectations,  had  they  been  retained. 

8  Mr.  Trist  says :  "  The  estimate  here  expressed  of  the  office  of  Vice-President, 
Mr.  Jefferson  retained  to  the  end  of  his  life.  In  his  latter  days,  he,  on  several  occasions, 
expressed  it  to  me,  pointing  out  the  advantages  which  it  combined — high  consideration 
-sufficient  salary — leisure,"  etc.  etc. 

These  were  familiar  views  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  well  known  throughout  his  family  circle. 

8  Mr.  Trist  says :  "  On  the day  of  December,  1827,  just  before  I  left  Montpellier, 

Mr.  Madison  and  myself  were  reading  over  this  letter  together,  which  he  had  just  found, 
after  considerable  search  among  his  papers.  When  he  came  to  the  end  of  this  paragraph, 
Mr.  M.  stopped,  shook  his  head,  and  said  :  '  Hamilton  never  could  have  got  in.  " 


318  THE    UNPUBLISHED    LETTER   TO    ADAMS.  [CHAP.  VI. 

is  disgusted  indeed,  -with  the  ulcerated  state  which  it  presents  of  the  human  mind  ; 
but,  to  cure  an  ulcer,  we  must  go  to  its  bottom ;  and  no  writer  has  ever  done  this 
more  radically  than  this  one.  The  reflections  into  which  he  leads  one  are  not  flat 
tering  to  our  species.  In  truth,  I  do  not  recollect  in  all  the  animal  kingdom  a 
single  species  but  man,  which  is  eternally  and  systematically  engaged  in  the  destruc 
tion  of  its  own  species.  What  is  called  civilization  seems  to  have  no  other  effect  on 
him  than  to  teach  him  to  pursue  the  principle  of  bellum  omnium  in  omnia,  on  a 
larger  scale  ;  and  in  place  of  the  little  contests  of  tribe  against  tribe,  to  engage  all 
the  quarters  of  the  earth  in  the  same  work  of  destruction.  When  we  add  to  this, 
that,  as  to  the  other  species  of  animals,  the  lions  and  tigers  are  mere  lambs  com 
pared  with  man  as  a  destroyer,  we  must  conclude  that  it  is  in  man  alone  that  nature 
has  been  able  to  find  a  sufficient  barrier  against  the  too  great  multiplication  of 
other  animals,  and  of  man  himself:  an  equilibrating  power  against  the  fecundity 
of  generation.  My  situation  points  my  views  chiefly  to  his  wars  in  the  physical 
world ;  yours  perhaps  exhibits  him  as  equally  warring  in  the  moral  one.  We  both 
I  believe,  join  in  M'ishing  to  see  him  softened.  Adieu. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON  TO  JOHN  ADAMS. 

(Inclosed  in  the  preceding.) 

MONTICELLO,  Dec.  28th,  1796. 
DEAR  SIR: 

The  public  and  the  public  papers  have  been  much  occupied  lately  in  placing 
us  in  a  point  of  opposition  to  each  other.  I  trust  with  confidence  that  less  of  it  has 
been  felt  by  ourselves  personally.  In  the  retired  canton  where  I  am,  I  learn  little 
of  what  is  passing:  pamphlets  I  see  never;  papers  but  a  few;  and  the  fewer  the 
happier.  Our  latest  intelligence  from  Philadelphia  at  present  is  of  the  16th  inst. 
But  tho'  at  that  date  your  election  to  the  first  magistracy  seems  not  to  have  been 
known  as  a  fact,  yet  with  me  it  has  never  been  doubted.  I  knew  it  impossible  you 
should  lose  a  vote  north  of  the  Delaware,  and  even  if  that  of  Pennsylvania  should 
be  against  you  in  the  mass,  yet  that  you  would  get  enough  south  of  that  to  place 
your  succession  out  of  danger.  I  have  never  one  single  moment  expected  a  differ 
ent  issue  ;  and  tho'  I  know  I  shall  not  be  believed,  yet  it  is  not  the  less  true,  that  I 
have  never  wished  it.  My  neighbors,  as  my  compurgators,  could  aver  that  fact, 
because  they  see  my  occupations  and  my  attachment  to  them.  Indeed  it  is  pos 
sible  that  you  may  be  cheated  out  of  your  succession  by  a  trick  worthy  the  subtlety 
of  your  arch-friend  of  New  York,  who  has  been  able  to  make  of  your  real  friends 
tools  to  defeat  their  and  your  just  wishes.  Most  probably  he  will  be  disappointed 
as  to  you,  and  my  inclinations  place  me  out  of  his  reach.  I  leave  to  others  the  sub 
lime  delight  of  riding  in  the  storm,  better  pleased  with  sound  sleep  and  a  warm 
berth  below,  with  the  society  of  neighbors,  friends,  and  fellow-laborers  of  the  earth, 
than  of  spies  and  sycophants.  No  one,  then,  will  congratulate  you  with  purer  dis 
interestedness  than  myself.  The  share  indeed  which  I  may  have  had  in  the  late 
rote,  I  shall  still  value  highly,  as  an  evidence  of  the  share  I  have  in  the  esteem  of 
my  fellow-citizens.  But  still,  in  this  point  of  view,  a  few  votes  less  would  be  little 
sensible  ;  the  difference  in  the  effect  of  a  few  more  would  be  very  sensible  and  op 
pressive  to  me.  I  have  no  ambition  to  govern  men.  It  is  a  painful  and  thankless 
office.  Since  the  day,  too,  on  which  you  signed  the  treaty  of  Paris,  our  horizon 


CHAP.  TI.] 

was  never  so  overcast.  I  devoutly  wish  you  may  be  able  to  shun  for  us  this  war, 
by  which  our  agriculture,  commerce,  and  credit  .will  be  destroyed.  If  you  are,  the 
glory  will  be  all  your  own  ;  and  that  your  administration  may  be  filled  with  glory 
and  happiness  to  yourself  and  advantage  to  us,  is  the  sincere  wish  of  one  who,  tho', 
in  the  course  of  our  voyage  through  life,  various  little  incidents  have  happened  or 
been  contrived  to  separate  us,  retains  still  for  you  the  solid  esteem  of  the  moments 
when  we  were  working  for  our  independence,  and  sentiments  of  respect  and  affec 
tionate  attachment. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


JAMES  MADISON  TO  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  January  15, 1T97. 

DEAR  SIA: 

The  last  mail  brought  me  your  favor  of  Jau'y  1st,  inclosing  an  unsealed  one 
for  Mr.  A.,  and  submitting  to  my  discretion  the  eligibility  of  delivering  it.  In  ex 
ercising  this  delicate  trust,  I  have  felt  no  small  anxiety ;  arising  by  no  means,  how 
ever,  from  an  apprehension  that  a  free  exercise  of  it  could  be  in  collision  with  your 
real  purpose,  'but  from  a  want  of  confidence  in  myself,  and  the  importance  of  a 
wrong  judgment  in  the  case.  After  the  best  consideration  I  have  been  able  to  be 
stow,  I  have  been  led  to  suspend  the  delivery  of  the  letter,  till  you  should  have  an 
opportunity  of  deciding  on  the  sufficiency  or  insufficiency  of  the  following  reasons  : 
1st.  It  is  certain  that  Mr.  Adams,  on  his  coming  to  this  place,  expressed  to  different 
persons  a  respectful  cordiality  towards  you,  and  manifested  a  sensibility  to  the  can 
did  manner  in  which  your  friends  had  in  general  conducted  the  opposition  to  him. 
And  it  is  equally  known  that  your  sentiments  towards  him  personally  have  found 
their  way  to  him  in  the  most  conciliatory  form.  This  being  the  state  of  things  be 
tween  you,  it  deserves  to  be  considered  whether  the  idea  of  bettering  it  is  not  out 
weighed  by  the  possibility  of  changing  it  for  the  worse.  2d.  There  is  perhaps  a 
general  air  on  the  letter,  which  betrays  the  difficulty  of  your  situation  in  writing  it ; 
and  it  is  uncertain  what  the  impression  might  be,  resulting  from  the  appearance. 
3d.  It  is  certain  that  Mr.  A.  is  fully  apprised  of  the  trick  aimed  at  by  his  pseudo 
friends  of  New  York  ;  and  there  may  be  danger  of  his  suspecting,  in  mementos  on 
that  subject,  a  wish  to  make  his  resentment  an  instrument  for  avenging  that  of 
others.  A  hint  of  this  kind  was  some  time  ago  dropped  by  a  judicious  and  sound 
man,  who  lives  under  the  same  roof,  with  a  wish  that  even  the  newspapers  might  be 
silent  on  that  point.  4th.  May  not  what  is  said  of  "the  sublime  delights  of  riding 
in  the  storm,"  etc.,  be  misconstrued  into  a  reflection  on  those  who  have  no  distaste 
to  the  helm  at  the  present  crisis  ?  You  know  the  temper  of  Mr.  A.  better  than  I  do  ; 
but  I  have  always  conceived  it  to  be  rather  a  ticklish  one.  5th.  The  tenderness 
due  to  the  zealous  and  active  promoters  of  your  election,  makes  it  doubtful  whether 
their  anxieties  and  exertions  ought  to  be  depreciated  by  anything  implying  the  un 
reasonableness  of  them.  I  know  that  some  individuals  who  have  deeply  committed 
themselves,  and  probably  incurred  the  political  enmity  at  least  of  the  P.  elect,  are 
already  sore  on  this  head.  6th.  Considering  the  probability  that  Mr.  A.'s  course  of 
administration  may  force  an  opposition  to  it  from  the  Republican  quarter,  and  the 
general  uncertainty  of  the  posture  which  our  affairs  may  take,  there  may  be  real 
embarrassments  from  giving  written  possession  to  him,  of  the  degree  of  compliment 
and  confidence  which  your  personal  delicacy  and  friendship  have  suggested. 


320  JEFFERSON'S  MOTIVES  EXAMINED.  [CHAP.  vi. 

/ 

I  have  ventured  to  make  these  observations,  because  I  am  sure  you  will  equally 
appreciate  the  motive  arid  the  matter  of  them  ;  and  because  I  do  not  view  them  as 
inconsistent  with  the  duty  and  policy  of  cultivating  Mr.  Adams's  favorable  disposition, 
and  giving  a  fair  start  to  his  Executive  career.  As  you  have,  no  doubt,  retained  a 
copy  of  the  letter,  I  do  not  send  it  back  as  you  request.  It  occurs,  however,  that 
if  the  subject  should  not  be  changed  in  your  view  of  it,  by  the  reasons  which  influ 
ence  mine,  and  the  delivery  of  the  letter  be  accordingly  judged  expedient,  it  may 
not  be  amiss  to  alter  the  date  of  it,  either  by  writing  the  whole  over  again,  or 
authorizing  me  to  correct  that  part  of  it.1 

We  return  now  to  the  question ;  what  mean  these  avowals 
concerning,  and-  to  President  Adams — suppressed  by  the  greater 
and  (as  things  resulted)  more  discreet  caution  of  Madison? 
Was  the  nolo  episcopari  of  the  defeated  candidate  insincere? 
Was  it  an  artifice  to  wheedle  Mr.  Adams?  Or  was  Jefferson, 
partly  from  friendship,  and  partly  from  disinclination  to  encoun 
ter  the  storm,  willing  to  resign  the  helm  to  the  hand  of  a  pilot 
\vlio  he  knew  would  not  "put  our  vessel  on  her  Republican 
tack  before  she  should  be  thrown  too  much  to  leeward  of  her 
true  principles  ?" 

None  of  these  conclusions  are  necessarily  deducible  from 
the  facts.  Whatever  Mr.  Adams's  theoretical  opinions  in  poli 
tics,  his  practical  line  of  action  was  already  known  to  vary  most 
essentially  from  Hamilton's.  He  was  not  suspected  of  any 
fondness  for  stupendous  treasury  schemes.  He  was  known  to 
have  no  real  partialities  for  England.  He  was  not  an  "exotic  " 
by  the  accident  of  birth,  or  in  his  impressions  of  his  own  char 
acter  and  "genus."  "This  American  world"  was  "made  for 
him ;"  he  both  loved  and  was  proud  of  it.  He  was  as  widely 
separated'  from  Hamilton  in  personal  feelings  as  in  political 
designs.  The  latter  had  never  made  a  show  of  befriending  him, 
except  when  it  was  necessary  to  attribute  a  criminal  intent  to 
Jefferson's  J.  B.  Smith  letter.8  He  had  no  hopes  that  he  could 
render  Mr.  Adams  a  tool.  Pie  and  his  particular  friends  had 
submitted  to  Mr.  Adams's  nomination  only  as  a  matter  of  neces 
sity.3  He  had  recently  attempted  to  procure  his  defeat  for  the 

1  In  regard  to  the  "lopping"  which  this  letter  underwent,  before  it  was  returned  by 
Mr.  Madison,  Mr.  Trist  says:  "The  paragraph  lopped  off  related  to  the  politics  of  the 
hour,  in  connection  (so  far  as  memory  serves)  with  Colonel  Hamilton.  Whatever  it  was, 
it  was  not  trivial  or  unimportant,  but  the  reverse  in  a  high  degree." 

The  last  fact  would  be  readily  guessed.  We  venture  to  conjecture  the  lopped  portion 
was  a  reply  to  the  middle  paragraph  of  Jefferson's  letter  of  January  1st. 

1J  See  ante,  p.  4  and  72. 

a  See  Ames  and  Wolcott's  declarations  on  this  point.    Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.  vol.  ii. 


OHAP.  vi.]  JEFFEKSON'S  MOTIVES.  321 

Presidency  by  bringing  in  Mr.  Pinckney  over  his  head.1  Mr. 
Adams  knew  the  coitrse  that  he  and  some  other  chiefs  of  the 
ultra  Federal  school  had  pursued  in  the  election.2  He  ought 
to  have  known  that  as  President  he  would  be  compelled  to  sub 
mit  to  the  dictation  of  these  men,  or  encounter  their  deadly 
opposition — the  more  deadly  as  they  could  fire  upon  him  within 
his  own  party  camp.  Again,  Jefferson  had  an  abiding  faith  in 
Mr.  Adams's  personal  integrity  under  all  circumstances.  But 
while  he  believed  Hamilton  was  *'  disinterested,  honest  and 
honorable  in  all  private  transactions,"  he  considered  him  "  so 
bewitched  and  perverted  by  the  British  example  as  to  be  under 
thorough  conviction  that  corruption  was  essential  to  the  govern 
ment  of  a  nation."3  How  far  the  disclosures  made  by  Hamil 
ton's  now  published  Works  would  have  modified  Jefferson's 
conclusions  in  either  of  the  particulars  here  expressed,  we  will 
not  undertake  to  say. 

Lastly,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Jefferson  dreaded  Hamilton's 
ambition  and  his  designs.  He  not  ^infrequently  mentioned  the 
impression — the  chill — that  came  over  him  on  hearing  Hamil 
ton  extravagantly  praise  the  character  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  pro 
nounce  him  the  greatest  man  that  ever  lived.4  If  we  were 
unable  to  conjecture  the  reasons  why  these  remarks  should  have 
produced  so  strong  an  effect,  perhaps  we  should  find  a  clue  to 
it  in  a  declaration  of  Cicero's,6  that  Csesar  had  frequently  in  his 
mouth  a  verse  of  Euripides  "  which  expressed  the  image  of  his 
soul,"  that  "  if  right  and  justice  were  ever  to  be  violated,  they 
were  to  be  violated  for  the  sake  of  reigning,"  or  words  to  that 
effect.  That  Jefferson  believed  that  Hamilton  was  capable  of 

?p.  368,  400.  See  also  Hamilton's  "Public  Character,  etc.,  of  John  Adams,"  in  the 
th  vol.  of  his  Works. 

1  Hamilton  menacingly  insisted  on  an  equal  support  of  Adams  and  Pinckney  in  New 
England,  to  make  sure,  as  he  alleged,  of  defeating  Jefferson,  but  he  admitted  that  this 
"  would  have  given  Mr.  Pinckney  a  somewhat  better  chance  than  Mr.  Adams,"  that  "an 
issue  favorable  to  the  former  would  not  have  been  disagreeable  to  him,"  as  "  he  declared 
at  the  time  in  the  circles  of  his  confidential  friends."  (Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vii. 
pp.  694  and  695.)  In  other  words,  Hamilton  labored  to  the  verge  of  political  safety,  to 
bring  about  a  state  of  things  which  he  was  morally  certain  weald  procure  Pinckney's 
elevation  over  Adams,  the  real  and  avowed  candidate  of  his  party. 

FT  the  complicity  of  other  parties  to  this  scheme,  see  two  letters  from  Higginson  to 
Hamilton.  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  v.  pp.  185,  191.  Also  Oliver  Wolcott,  sen.,  to  his 
son  and  Goodrich  to  Wolcott.  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  pp.  408,  411,  cum  mult.  al. 

a  See  letter  of  John  Adams  to  his  wife,  Dec.  12,  1796.  Life  of  John  Adams  by  C.  P. 
Adams,  p.  495. 

8  Ana,  Randolph's  edition,  vol.  iv.  p.  451 ;  Congress  edition,  vol.  ix.  p.  97. 

4  A  statement  of  this  general  tenor  appears  somewhere  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  writings. 
We  do  not  for  the  moment  recollect  where  it  is. 

6  This  statement  is  attributed  to  Cicero  in  Dr.  Middleton's  Life  of  him. 

VOL.    IT. — 21 


322  JEFFERSON'S  MOTIVES.  [CHAP.  vi. 

nourishing  dangerous  practical  designs — that  he  suspected  pre 
cisely  what  Governeur  Morris  suspected,  that  Hamilton  con 
templated  in  some  "  crisis  "  resorting  to  the  sword — we  shall 
have  clear  proof. 

The  result  of  the  Presidential  election  in  1796,  in  the  face  of 
Jay's  treaty,  discouraged  Jefferson  of  the  success  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  unless  the  contest  could  be  rendered  less  a  geo 
graphical  one.  His  views  on  this  head  are  sufficiently  given  in 
the  letter  to  Madison  of  January  1st,  1797.  And  he  felt  there 
could  be  no  decisive  and  permanent  advantage  secured  by  merely 
electing  a  Republican  President,  while  Congress  and  the  numeri 
cal  weight  of  the  country  were  against  him.  He  believed  that 
the  only  hope  against,  greater  evils  lay  in  a  union  with  the 
moderate  Federalists,  and  that  this  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
prevent  the  ultras  from,  soon  succeeding  to  power — probably  to 
prevent  Hamilton  himself  from  becoming  President.  He 
doubtless  felt  satisfied  that  if  Mr.  Adams  could  be  separated 
from  the  ultra-Federalists,  placed  in  an  attitude  of  antagonism 
to  them,  rendered  dependent  upon  the  Republican  party, 
surrounded  by  its  chiefs,  who  were  men  of  immeasurably  more 
ability  than  the  chiefs  of  the  moderate  Federalists,  the  result 
would  be  rather  an  absorption  of  than  a  coalition  with  the 
latter.  Possibly  Jefferson  felt  that  his  own  influence  with  Mr. 
Adams  personally  and  as  the  Republican  leader,  and  his  con 
venient  propinquity  to  him  as  Yice-President,  would  enable 
him  to  render  that  absorption  certain  and  complete. 

.Mr.  Adams  was  certainly  much  nearer  to  the  Hamiltonians 
than  to  the  Republicans  in  certain  theories.  In  his  views  of 
practical  policy  he  was,  until  he  became  intoxicated  with  the 
possession  of  authority,  nearer  the  latter;  or,  at  least,  with  his 
large  and  warm  heart  and  early  democratic  biases,  he  would 
have  found  it  much  more  easy  to  diverge  from  his  own  line  to 
them  than  to  their  opponents.  Hamilton  had  no  hold  on  the 
Federal  masses  compared  with  Adams,  but  he  had  made  himself 
a  dictator  among  a  great  majority  of  their  leaders,  and  this  even 
in  Mr.  Adams's  own  State.  Ames,  Sedgwick,  Cabot,  Pickering, 
and  the  whole  "  Essex  Junto,"  were  thorough  Hamiltonians. 
There  was  no  moderate  Federal  party  in  Congress  beyond  a 
mere  wing,  nor  could  there  be  so  long  as  the  able,  energetic  and 
managing  Federal  chiefs  in  every  State  where  the  party  could 


.  vr.]  JEFFERSON'S   MOTIVES.  323 

elect  Congressmen  were  Hamiltonians.  Mr.  Adams  could  not 
therefore  possibly  sustain  his  administration  without  the  sup 
port  of  either  the  ultra-Federalists  or  the  Republicans.  He 
would  be  forced  to  concede  a  good  deal  to  secure  either. 

From  quarters  from  which  we  should  not  have  expected  it, 
namely  from  Mr.  Adams's  friends  and  apologists,  we  have  seen 
the  idea  held  out  that  there  was  something  specially  designing, 
and  intended  to  wheedle,  in  Jefferson's  advance  to  Mr.  Adams 
on  this  occasion.  The  facts  do  not  furnish  any  color  for  the 
hypothesis  that  Mr.  Jefferson  thought  so  poorly  of  the  President 
as  to  believe  that  he  could  be  seduced  away  from  a  party  to 
which  he  was  united  by  principle  and  affection,  merely  by  the 
promise  of  what  this  same  hypothesis  would  presume  he  would 
not  be  compelled  to  look  for  from  any  new  friends.  If  Mr. 
Adams  entertained  the  same  views  with  a  great  proportion  of 
the  Federal  Members  of  Congress — if  there  were  no  concealed 
differences  of  opinion,  or  disaffection  between  him  and  the 
chiefs  of  that  victorious  party  who  ostensibly  stood  around  him 
—what  kind  of  a  lure  would  it  be  if  he  was  supposed  in  his 
senses,  and  the  offerer  was  in  his  senses,  to  offer  him  the  sup 
port  of  a  minority  in  exchange  for  that  of  a  majority  ? 

But  neither  Mr.  Adams  himself,  nor  the  Hamiltonians 
believed  there  was  such  political  and  personal  harmony  between 
them.  Mr.  Adams  wrote  to  his  wife,  December  12th,  1796 : 

"  If  Colonel  Hamilton's  personal  dislike  of  Jefferson  does  not  obtain  too  much 
influence  with  Massachusetts  electors,  neither  Jefferson  will  be  President,  nor 
Pinckney  Vice-President. 

44  I  am  not  enough  of  an  Englishman,  nor  little  enough  of  a  Frenchman,  for 
some  people.  These  would  be  willing  that  Pinckney  should  come  in  chief.  But 
they  will  be  disappointed.  * 

44  Giles  says,  '  the  point  is  settled  The  V.  P.  will  be  President.  He  is  undoubtedly 
chosen.  The  old  man  will  make  a  good  President  too.'  (There's  for  you.)  '  But  we 
shall  have  to  check  him  a  little  now  and  then.  That  will  be  all.'  Thus  Mr.  Giles.  *  * 

44  The  Southern  gentlemen  with  whom  I  have  conversed,  have  expressed  more 
affection  for  me  than  they  ever  did  before,  since  1774.  They  certainly  wish  Mr. 
Adams  elected  rather  than  Mr.  Pinckney.  Perhaps  it  is  because  Hamilton  and  Jay 
are  said  to  be  for  Pinckney.  *  *  *  * 

44  There  have  been  manoeuvres  and  combinations  in  this  election  that  would  sur 
prise  you.  I  may  one  day  or  other  develop  them  to  you. 

44  There  is  an  active  spirit  in  the  Union  who  will  fill  it  with  his  politics  wherever 
he  is.  He  must  be  attended  to,  and  not  suffered  to  do  too  much."  J 

1  Life  of  John  Adams,  p.  495.  But  strangely  enough  (or  what  would  appear  strangely 
enough  in  any  other  man),  in  answer  to  a  letter  of  Gerry,  of  February  3d,  (See  Adams's 


324  JEFFERSON'S   MOTIVES.  [CHAP.  vi. 

While  Mr.  Adams  thus  dreaded  "  the  active  spirit"  of  Ham 
ilton,  it  is  certain,  if  we  may  trust  his  own  assertions,  that  he 
entertained  no  corresponding  suspicions  of  Jefferson,  and  was 
not  aware  that  they  differed  very  materially  in  their  views  of 
the  United  States  Constitution.  Giving  (in  1809)  a  published 
account  of  a  transaction  \vfcich  took  place  immediately  after  his 
inauguration  in  the  Presidency,  he  said  : 

"  I  sought  and  obtained  an  interview  with  Mr.  Jefferson.  With  this  gentleman 
I  had  lived  on  terms  of  intimate  friendship  for  five-and-twenty  years,  had  acted  with 
him  in  dangerous  times  and  arduous  conflicts,  and  always  found  him  assiduous, 
laborious,  and,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  upright  and  faithful.  Though  by  this  time 
I  differed  with  him  in  opinion  by  the  whole  horizon  concerning  the  practicability 
and  success  of  the  French  Revolution  and  some  other  points,  I  had  no  reason  to 
think  that  he  differed  materially  from  me  with  regard  to  our  national  Constitution. 
I  did  not  think  that  the  rumbling  noise  of  party  calumny  ought  to  discourage  me 
from  consulting  men  whom  I  knew  to  be  attached  to  the  interest  of  the  nation,  and 
whose  experience,  genius,  learning,  and  travels  had  eminently  qualified  them  to 
give  advice.  I  asked  Mr.  Jefferson  what  he  thought  of  another  trip  to  Paris,  anc 
whether  he  thought  the  Constitution  and  the  people  would  be  willing  to  spare  hinc 
for  a  short  time.  '  Are  you  determined  to  send  to  France  ?'  '  Yes.'  '  That  is 
right,'  said  Mr.  Jefferson  ;  '  but  without  considering  whether  the  Constitution  will 
allow  it  or  not,  I  am  so  sick  of  residing  in  Europe,  that  I  believe  I  shall  never  go 
there  again!'  I  replied,  'I  own  I  have  strong  doubts  whether  it  would  be  legal  to 
appoint  you ;  but  I  believe  no  man  could  do  the  business  so  well.  What  do  you 
think  of  sending  Mr.  Madfson  ?  Do  you  think  he  would  accept  an  appointment?' 
'I  do  not  know,'  said  Mr.  Jefferson.  '  Washington  wanted  to  appoint  him  some 

Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  520.)    Mr.  Adams  wrote,  February  13th  (two  months  after  the  letter 
to  his  wife) : 

"  Phocion,  the  ex-Secretary,  and  their  connections,  did  not,  I  believe,  meditate  by 
surprise  to  bring  in  Pinckney.  I  believe  they  honestly  meant  to  bring  in  me  ;  but  they 
were  frightened  into  a  belief  that  I  should  fail,  and  they,  in  their  agony,  thought  it  better 
to  bring  in  Pinckney  than  Jefferson,  and  some,  I  believe,  preferred  bringing  in  Pinckney 
President,  rather  than  Jeifersori  should  be  Vice-President.  I  believe  there  were  uo  very 
dishonest  intrigues  in  this  business.  The  zeal  of  some  was  not  very  ardent  for  me,  but  I 
believe  none  opposed  me." — Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  524. 

To  this  Mr.  Adams's  editor  and  biographer,  so  ready  to  impute  "discrepancies"  of 
statement,  "vapors  of  duplicity,"  stratagems,  etc.,  to  others  besides  the  subject  of  his 
biography,  attaches  a  note  after  the  words  "  bring  in  me,"  as  follows  : 

"  Not  many  days  after  the  confident  expression  of  this  opinion,  Mr.  Adams  received1 
from  an  old  friend  in  Albany  unequivocal  evidence  of  the  secret  hostility  of  Mr.  Hamilton 
and  his  immediate  friends.  *  *  *  Mr.  Jefferson,  far  more  keen  sighted  in 
stratagem,  had  hit  the  truth  two  months  earlier,"  etc. 

This  gentleman  has  a  convenient  way  of  citing  unnamed  or  unquoted  (in  the  words) 
witnesses  to  supply  links  to  his  theories — as  we  shall  see  on  a  more  conspicuous  occasion, 
where  Mr.  Jefferson  is  named.  But  it  would  seem  in  the  above  case,  from  his  letter  to 
his  wife,  that  Mr.  (John)  Adams  did  not  need  the  anonymous  intimations  with  which  we 
are  now  furnished  in  the  supplied  link  of  facts — but  that  he  actually,  for  once,  was  aa 
u  keen-sighted  in  stratagem"  as  Jefferson  himself! 

John  Adams  does  not  really  need  any  testimony  named  or  unnamed  to  explain  away 
the  most  rapid  transition  and  re-transition  in  his  statements.  On  the  contrary,  incon 
sistency  in  his  declarations  is  so  much  more  habitual  than  consistency,  that  we  should 
suspect  him  of  a  "stratagem  "  himself,  did  we  find  him  agreeing  with  himself  through  tw 
or  three  consecutive  narrations  of  the  same  fact.  He  was  only  consistent  in  incoa 
sistencv- 


CHAP,  vi.]  JEFFERSON'S  MOTIVES.  325 

time  ago,  and  kept  the  place  open  for  him  a  long  time  ;  but  he  never  could  get  him 
to  say  that  he  would  go.'  Other  characters  were  considered,  and  other  conversa 
tion  ensued.  We  parted  as  good  friends  as  we  had  always  lived  ;  but  we  consulted 
very  little  together  afterwards.  Party  violence  soon  rendered  it  impracticable,  01 
at  least  useless,  and  this  party  violence  was  excited  by  Hamilton  more  than  any 
other  man. 

"  I  will  not  take  leave  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  this  place  without  declaring  my 
opinion  that  the  accusations  against  him  of  blind  devotion  to  France,  of  hostility  to 
England,  of  hatred  to  commerce,  of  partiality  and  duplicity  in  his  late  negotiations 
with  the  belligerent  powers,  are  without  foundation."  1 

It  appears  from  this  that  Mr.  Adams  was  quite  as  ready  for 
a  union  with  the  Republicans,  as  any  of  them  could  be  with 
him — that  he  made  the  tirst  important  actual  advance — that  he 
was  willing,  two  months  after  the  date  of  Jefferson's  suppressed 
letter  to  him,  to  give  Jefferson  or  Mr.  Madison  an  office  on  the 
successful  conduct  of  which,  under  the  precise  circumstances  of 
the  time,  the  whole  fate  of  his  own  administration  hung. 

We  could  readily  accumulate  proof  to  any  amount  to  show 
that  Adams  entered  the  Presidency  sufficiently  conscious  of  his 
true  position,  to  be  anxious  to  form  that  union  which  Jefferson 
suggested  to  Madison. 

In  Mr.  Trist's  Memoranda  occurs  the  following  passage, 
giving  the  substance  of  Madison's  letter  to  Jefferson,  on  the 
points  under  examination,  in  a  little  more  unvarnished  form  : 

"  Yesterday,  July  15th,  1827,  speaking  of  Mr.  Adams  [Mr.  Madison  said]:  *  On 
coming  into  the  office  of  President,  he  brought  with  him  a  sincere  disposition  to 
conciliate  the  Republican  party — to  bring  them  into  the  administration  and  give 
them  their  share  of  it — but  his  advisers,  Hamilton,  Pickering,  etc.,  would  not  hear 
of  it.  He  was  wrought  up  into  a  frenzy  almost  by  those  around  him.'  '  You  speak  in 

that  letter   [Madison's  letter   to   Jefferson   of  January  15,  1797]    of  H — — n's 

treachery  to  Adams — what  was  that?'  Why,  sir,  A.  had  been  taken  up  by  the 
Federal  party  as  their  candidate  ;  but  the  ultra-Federalists,  as  they  may  be  called, 
fearing  that  he  would  not  be  disposed  to  go  as  far  as  they  might  wish,  look  up 
Pinckney  as  their  candidate."  a 

i  Mr.  Adams's  Correspondence  originally  published  in  the  Boston  Patriot.  See  his 
Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  285. 

8  This  postscript  of  the  conversation  of  the  15th  is  preceded,  in  the  Memoranda,  by  a 
report  of  the  conversation  of  that  day,  written  immediately  after,  which,  though  it  con 
tains  irrelevant  matter,  we  cannot  bring  ourselves  to  omit  from  the  liberal  apology  it 
offers  for  the  early  Federalists,  from  the  justice  it  does  Mr.  Adams,  and  from  the  favorable 
opinion  it  records  of  the  manly  elder  Wolcott,  whom  it  is  our  province  to  meet  in  these* 
pagos  only  in  one  unfortunate  pha-se — croaking  against  Republican  government. 

"  UNIVERSITY,  July  15M,  1817.—  Mr.  Madison  [said]  : 

"'•  I  have  reasons  to  believe  that  Mr.  Adams's  objections  to  Democracy  were  con 
giderably  mitigated  towards  the  close  of  his  life.  I  have  had  a  correspondence  with  him 
since  I  left  public  life,  anl  on  one  occasion  expressed  a  belief  that,  our  institutions  would 
— his  answer  was  such  as  to  induce  the  above  opinion.  At  the  time  he  wrote  hi#» 


326  JEFFERSON'S  MOTIVES.  [CHAP,  vi 

The    ultra-Federalists  understood   Mr.  Adams's  leanings  as 
well  as  they  were  understood  by  himself  and  the  Republicans. 
Hamilton  wrote  to  King,  February  loth  : 

"  Mr.  Adams  is  President,  Mr.  Jefferson  Vice-President.  Our  Jacobins  say  they 
are  well  pleased,  and  that  the  lion  and  the  lamb  are  to  lie  down  together.  Mr. 
Adams's  personal  friends  talk  a  little  in  the  same  way :  '  Mr.  Jefferson  is  not  half  so 
ill  a  man  as  we  have  been  accustomed  to  think  him.  There  is  to  be  a  united  and  a 
vigorous  administration.'  Skeptics  like  me  quietly  look  forward  to  the  event,  wil 
ling  to  hope,  but  not  prepared  to  believe.  If  Mr.  Adams  has  vanity,  'tis  plain  a 
plot  has  been  laid  to  take  hold  of  it.  We  trust  his  real  good  sense  and  integrity 
will  be  a  sufficient  shield."  l 

Hamilton,  in  his  letter  on  "  The  public  conduct  and  character 
of  John  Adams,"  etc.,  published  in  1800,  said : 

"  The  outset  [of  Mr.  Adams's  Presidency]  was  distinguished  by  a  speech  which 


book,  he  was  in  England — he  had  witnessed  considerable  evils  and  eruptive  symptoms 
arising  from  the  Democratical  institutions  in  his  own  country — his  mind  was  filled  with 
the  history  of  past  Democracies. 

"  '  Do  you  know  that  in  his  youth  he  was  a  thorough-going  Democrat ;  and  have  you 
ever  seen  his  letter  to  Mr.  Wythe?'  'No!'  'Well,  sir,  Mr.  W.  always  entertained  a 
great  regard  for  him,  in  fact,  sir,  when  the  delegation  came  back,  their  mouths  were  full 
of  his  praises — his  eloquence — his  logical  argumentativeness.  Mr.  W.  wrote  to  ask  his 
opinions  on  a  form  of  government ;  and  his  answer  proves  that  he  went  as  far  in  his 
choice  of  the  Democratic  principle,  as  any  man  even  now  does  in  these  States.  Every 
office  was  to  be  annually  elective.  The  Government  was  to  have  not  only  the  most  com 
plete  dependence  on,  but  the  closest  sympathies  with  the  people.'  'There  is  con 
siderable  excuse  for  the  wanderings  (the  word  used  was  one  taken  from  astronomy)  of 
the  eastern  politicians.  Many  eruptive  symptoms  had  appeared  among  them  ;  a  jealous, 
levelling  spirit,  such  as  to  create  just  alarm.  *  *  *  *  There  was  a  strong 
inclination  manifested  in  that  section  not  to  pay  debts,  not  to  do  anything  which  could 
tend  to  create  wealth.  So  strong  was  this,  that  it  influenced  the  votes  of  their  repre 
sentatives.  On  the  question  for  paying  the  army,  we  had  eight  States ;  it  required  nine. 
It  turned  on  the  vote  of  Connecticut.  These  representatives  were  Dyer,  a  man  of  gen 
tlemanly  manners,  who  had  seen  the  world  (he  had  been  to  England),  but  not  of  very 
sound  principle.  Wolcott,  an  honest  man.  Wolcott  determined  that  he  would  brave 
the  storm  that  awaited  him  at  home.  Dyer  hung  back.  He  was  of  course  very  much 
pressed.  At  length,  he  consented,  on  condition  that  it  should  be  referred  to  a  committee, 
and  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  write  a  preamble.  In  this  he  was  indulged.  You  know 
the  very  proper  principle  that  the  resolution  is  first  adopted;  and  then,  the  preamble :  in 
order  that  the  latter  may  be  made  to  fit.  This  was  the  course  in  this  instance.  The  reso 
lution  being  adopted — the  preamble  came  under  consideration.  Whereupon,  a  good 
many  criticisms  were  made  upon  the  preamble  (not  in  earnest:  but  some  of  the  members 
felt  provoked  at  the  uneasiness  which  D.  had  caused  them  to  experience),  and  ne  was 
kept  for  an  hour  as  pale  as  a  sheet  under  the  apprehension  that  his  preamble  would  be 
rejected."  (Written  directly  after  by  N.  P.  T.) 

Under  the  date  of  16th,  is  one  of  those  parenthetical  anecdotes  which  Mr.  Madison's 
humor  and  irresistible  way  of  relating  made  such  a  seasoning  to  his  familiar  and 
especially  his  table  talk. 

Some  days  previous,  speaking  of  the  distress  experienced  during  the  Revolution : 

"  Did  I  ever  tell  you  of  the  loss  of  my  hat?"  "  No."  "Well,  sir,  I  was  staying  at 
Bp.  Madison's  in  Williamsburg  (he  was  not  yet  Bp.  by-the-by),  and  my  hat  was  stolen 
out  of  the  window  in  which  I  had  laid  it.  It  was  about  a  mile  from  the  house  to  the 
palace,  and  I  was  kept  from  going  to  the  latter  two  days,  by  the  impossibility  of  getting 
a  hat  of  any  kind.  At  last,  however,  I  obtained  one  from  a  little  Frenchman  who  sold 
snuff— very  coarse— an  extremely  small  crown  and  broad  brim,  and  it  was  the  subject 
of  great  merriment  to  my  friends." 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  206. 


CHAP.  VI.]  FEDERAL    VIEWS    OF    ADAMs's    ATTITUDE.  327 

his  friends  lamented  as  temporizing.     It  had  the  air  of  a  lure  for  the  favor  of  his 
opponents,  at  the  expense  of  his  sincerity. 

***** 

"  The  considerations  which  had  reconciled  me  to  the  success  of  Mr.  Pinckney, 
were  of  a  nature  exclusively  public.  They  resulted  from  the  disgusting  egotism, 
the  distempered  jealous)7,  and  the  ungovernable  indiscretion  of  Mr.  Adams's  tem 
per,  joined  to  some  doubts  of  the  correctness  of  his  maxims  of  administration. 
Though  in  matters  of  finance  he  had  acted  with  the  Federal  party,  yet  he  had 
more  than  once  broached  theories  at  variance  with  his  practice.  And  in  conversa 
tion  he  repeatedly  made  excursions  in  the  field  of  foreign  politics,  which  alarmed 
the  friends  of  the  prevailing  system." ' 

Elsewhere  in  the  paper,  the  intimation  that  Mr.  Adams, 
though  he  acted  for  the  Treasury  Schemes,  so  far  as  his  official 
position  required,  talked  against  them,  appears  in  the  more 
explicit  declaration  that  he  gave  "  the  sanction  of  his  opinion  to 
the  worst  of  the  aspersions  which  the  enemies  of  the  Adminis 
tration  [Washington's]  had  impudently  thrown  upon  it" — had 
"  stooped  himself  to  become  one  of  its  calumniators."  a 

Letters  written  just  before  and  just  after  Mr.  Adams's  acces 
sion  to  the  Presidency  by  a  multitude  of  other  leading  ultra 
Federalists,  more  or  less  directly  show  that  they  entertained 
similar  suspicions  in  regard  to  Mr.  Adams's  political  opinions 
and  leanings.  We  will  cite  a  few  of  the  first  that  present  them 
selves  :  General  Schuyler  (Hamilton's  father-in-law)  to  Hamil 
ton,  March  19th;3  O.  Wolcott,  sen.,  to  O.  Wolcott,  jr.,  March 
20th;4  Ames  to  O.  Wolcott,  jr.,  March  24th;6  Jeremiah  Wads- 
worth  to  O.  Wolcott,  jr.,  March  26th.fl 

Tha^.  Adams  most  keenly  felt  and  resented  their  preference 
for  Pinckney,  the  ultra-Federalists  had  no  doubt,  Hamilton 
directly  charged,  in  the  paper  we  have  quoted  from,  that  it  was 
the  source  of  the  "  schism  which  had  since  grown  up  in  the 
Federal  party  " — that  u  Mr.  Adams  never  could  forgive  the  men 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  plan  " — that  u  he  had  discovered 
bitter  animosity  against  several  of  them" — that  "against  him 
[Hamilton]  his  rage  had  been  so  vehement  as  to  have  caused 
him,  more  than  once,  to  forget  the  decorum  which,  in  his  situ 
ation,  ought  to  have  been  an  inviolable  law  " — that  "  it  would 
not  appear  an  exaggeration  to  those  who  had  studied  his  charao 

1  See  Hamilton's  WorKS,  vol.  vii.  p.  695.       «  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.  p.  476. 
»  Ib.  p.  701.  8  Ib.  p.  477. 

»  Ib.  vU.  vi.  p.  213.  a  Tb  p.  473. 


3ii8  JEFFERSON'S  PLAN  WISELY  UNACTED  ON.      [CHAP,  vi 


ter,  to  suppose  that  he  was  capable  of  being  alienated  from  a 
system  to  which  he  had  been  attached,  because  it  was  held  by 
men  whom  he  hated."  1 

We  are  enabled,  in  the  light  of  the  preceding  facts,  properly 
to  estimate  the  hypothesis  that  Jefferson  proposed  a  coalition 
with  a  thorough-going  opponent,  and  with  a  man  he  expected  to 
meet  at  least  half  way  in  yielding  up  opinions  and  principles; 
and  then  that  the  lure  thrown  out  to  Mr.  Adams's  somewhat  old 
political  virginity  and  simplicity  was  the  proffer  of  the  support 
of  the  minority  instead  of  that  of  the  majority!  And  we  are 
enabled  properly  to  estimate  a  much  more  important  matter  in 
question — Jefferson's  real  motives  and  expectations  in  suggesting 
such  a  union.  There  remains  no  reasonable  doubt  that  he 
expected  to  absorb  Mr.  Adams  into  a  substantially  complete 
coaction  with  the  Republicans.  Had  the  offer  of  the  Republican 
support  been  formally  made  and  accepted  by  the  latter,  those 
familiar  with  all  the  circumstances  and  with  the  characters  of  the 
several  actors,  will  have  very  little  doubt  that  Mr.  Jefferson's 
expectations  of  the  result  would  not  have  been  materially  disap 
pointed.  It  would  have  been  a  shorter  step  for  Mr.  Adams  to 
go  among  the  Republicans  in  1797,  than  it  was  to  go  among 
them  as  he  did.  a  few  years  later,  after  meanwhile  placing  him 
self  in  a  far  wider  position  of  political  and  personal  hostility  to 
them. 

It  is  to  be  regarded  as  fortunate,  however,  that  Madison 
did  not  act  on  the  suggestion  of  Jefferson  mnde  on  a  partial 
view  from  his  "retired  canton  ;"  or,  at  all  events,  that  no  such 
union  took  place  between  the  Republicans  and  the  moderate 
Federalists.  Mr.  Adams  was  imprudent,  headstrong,  irascible 
and  capricious.  Men  of  the  prudence  and  tact  of  Jefferson  and 
Madison,  might  have  kept  consistency  and  smooth  sailing  as  long 
as  they  could  remain  close  about  his  person.  But  there  was  no 
telling  what  sudden  explosion  might  follow  their  momentary 
absence,  or  the  approach  of  such  ignited  masses  as  Giles.  It  is 
amusing  to  observe  the  tone,  half  of  gratification  and  half  of 
readiness  to  scent  offence,  with  which  Mr.  Adams  described  to 
his  wife,2  the  rough  and  rapid  wooing  of  the  unceremonious 
Virginia  partisan.  And  then  we  suspect  that  no  proof  can  be 

1  Hamilton's  Wcrks,  vol.  vii.  p.  69G.  2  Letter  of  December  12,  1796. 


CHAP.  VI.]  DEFEAT    FAB    PREFERABLE. 

found  that  Mr.  Adams  would  have  considered  himself  called 
upon  to  retire  at  the  close  of  a  second  term ;  and  that  the  pro 
babilities  lean  decidedly  the  other  way. 

At  best,  things  would  have  rested  on  an  insecure  basis,  with 
a  man,  to  borrow  Madison's  expressive  phrase,  of  so  "  ticklish'' 
a  temper ;  and  unfortunate  deviations  or  concessions  might  have 
been  sometimes  required  to  keep  harmony  with  him,  and  with 
that  handful  of  moderate  Federal  leaders  whom  he  would  bring 
to  the  alliance. 

It  was  far  better  that  the  Republicans  should  be  kept  in  the 
minority,  four  years  longer,  and  when  they  did  come  into  power, 
that  they  should  come  with  no  shackles  on  their  action,  no  "  old 
men  of  the  sea,"  on  their  shoulders.  Besides,  in  1796— T,  a  vic 
tory  of  the  Republicans  could  not  of  possibility  have  been  deci 
sive.  Parties  had  not  ripened  and  exposed  their  real  aims. 
Had  the  Federalists  been  defeated  either  in  that  election,  or  by 
a  subsequent  union  of  the  moderates,  they  would  have  gone 
down  ostensibly  with  the  mantle  of  Washington  covering  them 
— ostensibly  but  a  conservative  republican  party.  It  was  well 
that  they  were  allowed  a  trial  when  the  eye  and  ear  of  the  great 
and  good  Statesman  were  no  longer  in  a  place  to  discover  and 
control  their  machinations.  It  was  necessary  that  Icarus  should 
guide  his  own  flight  and  attempt  a  higher  one  than  the  wise 
Daedalus,  to  make  his  fall  certain  and  fatal  ! 

The  moment  Mr.  Jefferson  learnt  the  result  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  election,  he  discovered  his  error.  He  found  that  geo 
graphical  considerations  had  not  prevailed.  And  he  caught 
with  marvellous  celerity  a  great  political  idea.  Speaking  of 
a  territorial  dispute  between  Virginia  and  Maryland,  in  a  letter 
to  Madison,  January  22d  (1797),  he  said: 

"  Let  us  cultivate  Pennsylvania  and  we  need  not  fear  the  universe."  (And  the 
idea  thus  expands.)  "  Let  but  this  block  [Virginia]  stand  firm  on  its  basis,  and 
Pennsylvania  do  the  same,  our  Union  will  be  perpetual,  and  our  general  Govern 
ment  kept  within  the  bounds  and  form  of  the  Constitution." 

In  the  same  letter  to  Mr.  Madison  (written  before  receiving 
an  answer  to  his  preceding  one  of  January  1st),  he  said  that  he 
was  happy  to  learn  that  Mr.  Adams  "  spoke  of  him  with  great 
friendship  and  with  satisfaction  in  the  prospect  of  administering 
the  government  in  concurrence  with  him,"  and  he  added: 


330  JEFFERSON    APPROVES    MADISON's    COURSE.  [CHAP.  VI. 

"  I  am  glad  of  the  first  information,  because  though  I  saw  that  our  ancient 
friendship  was  affected  by  a  little  leaven,  produced  partly  by  his  constitution,  partly 
by  the  contrivance  of  others,  yet  I  never  felt  a  diminution  of  confidence  in  hia 
integrity,  and  retained  a  solid  affection  for  him.  His  principles  of  government  I 
knew  to  be  changed,  but  conscientiously  changed.  As  to  my  participating  in  the 
administration,  if  by  that  he  meant  the  Executive  cabinet,  .both  duty  and  inclina 
tion  will  shut  that  door  to  me.  I  cannot  have  a  wish  to  see  the  scones  of  1793 
revived  as  to  myself,  and  to  descend  daily  into  the  arena  like  a  gladiator,  to  suffer 
martyrdom  in  every  conflict.  As  to  duty,  the  Constitution  will  know  me  only  as 
the  member  of  a  legislative  body  :  and  its  principle  is,  that  of  a  separation  of 
legislative,  Executive,  and  judiciary  functions,  except  in  cases  specified.  If  this 
principle  be  not  expressed  in  direct  terms,  yet  it  is  clearly  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution,  and  it  ought  to  be  so  commented  and  acted  on  by  every  frieud  to  free 
government." 

Receiving  Madison's  reply  to  his  letter  of  January  1st,  he 
wrote  : 

To  JAMES  MADISON. 

MONTICELLO,  January  80,  1797. 

Yours  of  the  18th  *  came  to  hand  yesterday.  I  am  very  thankful  for  the  discre 
tion  you  have  exercised  over  the  letter.  That  has  happened  to  be  the  case, , which 
I  knew  to  be  possible,  that  the  honest  expression  of  my  feelings  towards  Mr. 
Adams  might  be  rendered  mat-apropos  from  circumstances  existing,  and  known  at 
the  seat  of  Government,  but  not  known  by  me  in  my  retired  situation.  Mr.  Adams 
and  myself  were  cordial  friends  from  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution.  Since  our 
return  from  Europe,  some  little  incidents  have  happened,  which  were  capable  of 
affecting  a  jealous  mind  like  his.  His  deviation  from  that  line  of  politics  on  which 
we  had  been  united,  has  not  made  me  less  sensible  of  the  rectitude  of  his  heart;  and 
I  wished  him  to  know  this,  and  also  another  truth,  that  I  am  sincerely  pleased  at 
having  escaped  the  late  draft  for  the  helm,  and  have  not  a  wish  which  he  stands  in 
the  way  of.  That  he  should  be  convinced  of  these  truths,  is  important  to  our  mutual 
satisfaction,  and  perhaps  to  the  harmony  and  good  of  the  public  service.  But 
there  was  a  difficulty  in  conveying  them  to  him,  and  a  possibility  that  the  attempt 
might  do  mischief  there  or  somewhere  else ;  and  I  would  not  have  hazarded  the 
attempt,  if  you  had  not  been  in  place  to  decide  upon  its  expediency.  It  has  now 
become  unnecessary  to  repeat  it  by  a  letter.  *  *  * 

In  letters  of  this  period  to  Mr.  Langdon  of  New  Hampshire, 
Mr.  Sullivan  and  Gerry  of  Massachusetts,  Doctor  Rush  of  Penn 
sylvania,  etc.,  he  most  pointedly  asserted  that  his  having  been 
a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  was  contrary  to  his  inclinations, 
and  that  he  preferred  the  second  office. 

1  This  undoubtedly  refers  to  Madison's  letter  dated  15th,  which  we  have  given.  Oca 
copy  has  the  date  of  15th,  but  both  editions  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Works  the  18th,  as  above. 
There  has  been  a  slip  of  the  pen  or  of  the  type.  Randolph's  edition  is  generally  very 
accurately  printed.  The  other  is  a  blotch  of  errors,  and  we  presume  that  where  it  gives 
the  same  letters  with  Randolph's  edition,  they  were  copied  from  the  latter  to  save  the 
(unnecessary)  trouble  of  making  copies  of  the  MSS.  for  the  printer.  If  this  is  so,  it  addf 
nothing  to  the  authority  of  the  text  of  Randolph's  edition. 


CHAP.  VI.]  OTHER   DECLARATIONS.  331 

Perhaps  it  may  be  thought  in  these  declarations — 

"  Good  King  Robert's  eye 

Might  have  some  glance  of  policy;" 

and  if  so,  we  have  no  disposition  to  combat  the  theory  as  dis 
creditable,  or  as  at  all  invalidating  the  veracity  of  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  affirmations. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

1797. 

Presidential  Vote  declared — Expectations  that  Jefferson  would  refuse  the  Vice-Presidency 
— Steps  he  took  thereon — His  Views  on  proper  Method  of  notifying  the  Elected 
Candidates — His  Efforts  to  Escape  a  Ceremonious  Reception — His  Reception — Inter 
view  with  the  President  and  Mr.  Adaras's  Overtures— Sworn  into  Office — His  Speech — 
Scene  of  the  Inauguration — President's  Speech — Sequel  to  preceding  Interviews  with 
President — Jefferson  returns  Home — Letter  to  Mrs.  Randolph— Action  of  French  Gov 
ernment  on  receiving  the  Treaty  of  London — Action  of  American  Government — Hamil 
ton  appearing  to  great  Advantage — Mr.  Adams's  real  Feelings  in  respect  to  our 
Foreign  Relations  when  he  entered  the  Presidency — Character  of  the  Members  of  his 
Cabinet — Their  unfortunate  Influence  over  him — Early  Indications  of  this — Pinckney 
ordered  out  of  France — President  convenes  Congress — His  violent  Message — Answers 
of  the  Houses — Congress  enters  upon  War  Measures — Cooled  by  News  of  French 
Victories — Jefferson's  View  of  the  Call  of  an  Extra  Session,  and  of  the  President's 
Speech — Last  Political  Link  between  him  and  Adams  snapped — Another  Theory, 
based  on  Misrepresentation — Origin  of  Jefferson's  Parliamentary  Manual — Letters  to 
his  Daughters — The  Mazzei  Letter  published  in  the  United  States — Its  Inaccuracies  and 
Interpolations — Comments  of  Federal  Press — Jefferson  to  Madison  on  the  Subject — 
Washington's  manner  of  receiving  the  Letter — Marshall's  Statements — Pickering's 
absurd  Assertions  and  Conjectures — Jefferson's  Denial — Sparks's  supposed  Suspicions 
that  Correspondence  had  been  abstracted  from  Letter-books  of  Washington — His  Letter 
to  Author  on  the  Subject — History  of  the  Langhorne  Letter — The  "  Falsehoods  of  a 
Malignant  Neighbor" — Jefferson's  Personal  Feelings  towards  Washington— A  Remark 
of  Lafayette — Testimony  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Family — Jefferson  President  of  American 
Philosophical  Society— Charge  of  Judge  Iredell  at  United  States  Court  at  Richmond- 
Grand  Jury  present  Letters  of  Members  of  Congress — Jefferson's  deep  Feeling  on  the 
Subject — His  Home  Life  during  the  Summer  of  1797. 

ON  the  8th  of  February,  1797,  the  votes  for  President  and 
Vice-President  having  been  openea  and  declared  in  the  pre 
sence  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress,  Vice-President  Adams  rose 
and  proclaimed  John  Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson  President 
and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  from  the  4th  of  March 
next ;  and  in  the  fullness  of  his  heart  he  proceeded  to  "  ask 
grace"  as  follows:  "  And  may  the  Sovereign  of  the  Universe, 
the  ordainer  of  civil  government  on  earth  for  the  preservation 


CHAP,  vir.]      JEFFERSON'S  ACCEPTANCE — CEREMONIES.  333 

of  liberty,  peace  and  justice  among  men,  enable  them  both  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  those  offices  with  conscientious  diligence, 
punctuality  and  perseverance!" 

It  had  been  widely  reported  that  Mr.  Jefferson  would,  in  all 
probability,  decline  accepting  the  Yice-Presidency ;  and  there 
fore,  though  "  not  aware  of  any  necessity  of  going  on  to  Phila 
delphia  immediately,  yet,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  public, 
and  to  do  away  the  doubts  which  had  spread  that  he  should 
consider  the  second  office  as  beneath  his  acceptance,"  he  deter 
mined  on  a  winter  journey  to  Philadelphia — u  a  tremendous 
undertaking  for  him,"  he  said,  "  who  had  not  been  seven  miles 
from  home  since  his  re-settlement" 1 — for  the  purpose  of  presiding 
at  the  usual  special  session  of  the  Senate  on  the  4th  of  March, 
and  which  was  not  likely  to  continue  beyond  one  day. 

To  Mr.  Tazewell,  one  of  the  Virginia  senators,  he  wrote, 
January  16th,  mentioning  that  on  the  first  election  of  President 
and  Vice- President,  he  heard  "gentlemen  of  considerable  office 
wrere  sent  to  notify  the  parties  chosen.  But  that  wras  the  inau 
guration  of  our  new  Government,  and  ought  not  to  be  drawn 
into  example.  At  the  second  election  both  gentlemen  were  on 
the  spot  and  needed  no  messengers.  On  the  present  occasion  the 
President  would  be  on  the  spot,  so  that  what  was  now  to  be 
done  respected  himself  alone."  For  these  reasons,  and  from  the 
great  inconvenience  which  would  often  arise  from  the  custom, 
he  hoped  "  the  Senate  would  adopt  that  method  of  notification 
which  would  always  be  least  troublesome  and  most  certain," 
namely,  the  post-office.  As  there  might  be  a  difference  in  the 
Senate  on  the  subject,  from  the  impression  of  members  of  what 
might  be  his  preferences,  he  authorized  Mr.  Tazewell,  "  if  a 
different  proposition  should  make  it  necessary,"  to  declare  what 
those  preferences  were. 

He  again  wrote  Madison,  January  30th,  that  he  was  satisfied 
he  could  as  legally  be  sworn  in  at  home,  but  that  "  he  should 
come  on,  on  the  principle  which  had  first  determined  him — 
respect  to  the  public."  He  added,  "  I  hope  I  shall  be  made  a 
part  of  no  ceremony  whatever.  I  shall  escape  into  the  city  aa 
covertly  as  possible.  If  Governor  Miffiin  should  show  any 
symptoms  of  ceremony,  pray  contrive  to  parry  them." 

»  Jefferson  to  Madison,  Jan.  22,  1797. 


334  HIS    INTERVIEW    WITH   MR.    ADAMS.  [CHAP.  VII. 

On  the  20th  day  of  February  he  set  out  for  Philadelphia. 
He  drove  a  phaeton  and  pair  to  Alexandria,  from  whence  he 
sent  home  "  Jupiter"  with  the  horses,  and  completed  his  journey 
by  the  public  mail-coach.  He  reached  Philadelphia  on  the  2d 
day  of  March.1  In  spite  of  his  efforts  to  avoid  a  ceremonious 
reception,  a  body  of  military  were  on  the  lookout,  and  when 
he  was  discovered  made  the  welkin  ring  with  salvos  of  artillery, 
while  they  bore  a  banner  inscribed  with  the  already  familiar 
words,  "  JEFFERSON,  THE  FRIEND  OF  THE  PEOPLE." 

He  immediately  called  on  the  President  elect  at  his  lodg 
ings  at  Francis's  in  Fourth  street.  The  next  morning  Mr. 
Adams  returned  the  call,  and  Jefferson  thus  gives  some  import 
ant  particulars  of  the  interview : 

"  He  found  me  alone  in  my  room,  and,  shutting  the  door  himself,  he  said  he  was 
glad  to  find  me  alone,  for  that  he  wished  a  free  conversation  with  me.  He  entered 
immediately  on  an  explanation  of  the  situation  of  our  affairs  with  France,  and  the 
danger  of  rupture  with  that  nation,  a  rupture  which  would  convulse  the  attachments 
of  this  country ;  that  he  was  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  an  immediate  mission 
to  the  Directory ;  that  it  would  have  been  the  first  wish  of  his  heart  to  have  got  me 
to  go  there,  but  that  he  supposed  it  was  out  of  the  question,  as  it  did  not  seem 
justifiable  for  him  to  send  away  the  person  destined  to  take  his  place  in  case  of 
accident  to  himself,  nor  decent  to  remove  from  competition  one  who  was  a  rival  in 
the  public  favor.  That  he  had,  therefore,  concluded  to  send  a  mission,  which,  by 
its  dignity,  should  satisfy  France,  and  by  its  selection  from  the  three  great  divisions 
of  the  continent,  should  satisfy  all  parts  of  the  United  States ;  in  short,  that  he  had 
determined  to  join  Gerry  and  Madison  to  Pinckney,  and  he  wished  me  to  consult 
Mr.  Madison  for  him.  I  told  him  that  as  to  myself.  I  concurred  in  the  opinion  of 
the  impropriety  of  my  leaving  the  post  assigned  me,  and  that  my  inclinations, 
moreover,  would  never  permit  me  to  cross  the  Atlantic  again ;  that  I  would,  as  he 
desired,  consult  Mr.  Madison,  but  I  feared  it  was  desperate,  as  he  had  refused  that 
mission  on  my  leaving  it,  in  General  Washington's  time,  though  it  was  kept  open  a 
twelvemonth  for  him.  He  said  that  if  Mr.  Madison  should  refuse,  he  would  still 
appoint  him,  and  leave  the  responsibility  on  him.  I  consulted  Mr.  Madison,  who 
declined,  as  I  expected." 

Mr.  Adams,  in  a  publication  made  in  the  Boston  Patriot,  in 
3809,  presents  a  rather  different  account  of  this  conversation, 
but  the  discrepancy  involves  no  material  fact.  He  says,  the 

»  Perhaps  those  who  now  fly  over  the  same  route  (barring  accidents !)  in  hours 
instead  of  days,  would  like  to  see  a  time  and  fare-table  of  1797,  between  Alexandria  (the 
city  of  Washington  did  not  then  exist)  and  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Jefferson's  pocket  account- 
book  shows  that  he  left  Alexandria  after  dinner,  February  23d,  and  reached  Baltimore 
on  the  '26th — the  fare  $4  75.  From  tkence  he  reached  Philadelphia,  March  2d— fare  $7  00. 
(The  last  fare  is  more  commonly  entered  on  other  occasions  at  $8  00.)  Whole  amount 
of  travelling  expenses  from  home — including  $12  00  to  send  home  Jupiter  and  the  horses 
—$49  03.  This  is  about  the  average  expense  of  each  trip  during  his  Vice-Presidency. 


CHAP.   VII.]  SPEECH    TO   THE    SENATE.  335 

morning  after  his  inauguration,1  Fisher  Ames  called  upon  him, 
and  after  advising  a  new  mission  to  France,  pressed  upon  nim 
the  selection  of  Mr.  George  Cabot  from  the  northern  States,  if 
a  commission  was  sent,  or  alone,  if  but  one  wras  to  go.  Mr. 
Adams  "  had  rolled  all  these  things  in  his  own  mind  long 
before."  He  had  thought  of  joining  Madison  and  Hamilton  in 
a  commission  with  Pinckney.  He  had  thought  of  Ames,  Cabot, 
Dana,  Gerry  and  many  others.  "  He  had  thought  much  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  but  had  great  doubts  whether  the  Constitution 
would  allow  him  to  send  the  Yice-President  abroad."  He  had 
dovbts  about  reappointing  Pinckney,  fearing  that  among  the 
horrors  he  had  seen  and  heard  in  France,  he  might  have  uttered 
things  which  would  ensure  his  second  rejection  ;  but  he  could 
not  bear  the  thought  of  abandoning  him.  He  had  "  long  wished 
to  avail  himself  and  the  public  of  the  fine  talents  and  amiable 
qualities  and  manners  of  Mr.  Mac^ison,"  and  as  soon  as  Ames 
left  him  "  he  sought  and  obtained  an  interview  with  Mr 
Jefferson."  The  narrative  then  proceeds  as  given  in  the  fore 
going  chapter  (p.  324),  commencing  with  the  words,  "  Witt 
this  gentleman  I  had  lived  on  terms  of  intimate  friendsmp  for 
five  and  twenty  years,"  etc. 

The  oath  of  office  as  Yice-President  and  President  of  the 
Senate  was  administered  to  Mr.  Jefferson  by  William  Bingham, 
President  pro  tempore  of  that  body,  on  the  morning  of  Saturday, 
March  4th,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  thereupon  delivered  the  following 
speech : a 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE: 

Entering  on  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  I  am  called,  I  feel  it  incumbent 
on  me  to  apologize  to  this  honorable  house,  for  the  insufficient  manner  in  which  I 
fear  they  may  be  discharged.  At  an  earlier  period  of  my  life,  and  through  some 
considerable  portion  of  it,  I  have  been  a  member  of  legislative  bodies ;  and  not 
altogether  inattentive  to  the  forms  of  their  proceedings.  But  much  time  has 
elapsed;  since  that,  other  duties  have  occupied  my  mind  ;  in  a  great  degree  it  has 
lost  its  familiarity  with  this  subject.  I  fear  that  the  House  will  have  but  too  fre 
quent  occasion  to  perceive  the  truth  of  this  acknowledgment.  If  a  diligent  atten 
tion,  however,  will  enable  me  to  fulfill  the  functions  now  assigned  me,  I  may  promise 
that  diligence  and  attention  shall  be  sedulously  employed.  For  one  portion  of  my 

1  He  corrected  this  error  of  time,  however,  in  a  letter  to  Gerry,  April  6,  1797.  (See 
his  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  538.)  The  interview  took  place  the  day  defore  the  inauguration. 

9  A  paper  of  the  times  lying  before  us,  says  it  was  extempore.  We  doubt  whether 
Mr.  Jefferson  would  have  trusted  himself,  on  so  important  au  occasion,  in  an  extempore 
speech. 


336  THE    INAUGURATION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

duty  I  will  engage  with  more  confidence  because  it  will  depend  on  my  will,  not  on 
my  capacity. 

The  rules  which  are  to  govern  the  proceedings  of  this  House,  so  far  as  they  shall 
depend  on  me  for  their  application,  shall  be  applied  with  the  most  rigorous  and 
inflexible  impartiality,  regarding  neither  persons,  their  views,  nor  principles,  and 
seeing  only  the  abstract  proposition  subject  to  my  decision.  If,  in  forming  that 
opinion,  I  concur  with  some,  and  differ  from  others,  as  must  of  necessity  happen,  I 
shall  rely  on  the  liberality  and  candor  of  those  from  whom  I  differ,  to  believe  that 
I  do  it  on  pure  motives  I  might  here  proceed,  and  with  the  greatest  truth,  to 
declare  my  zealous  attachment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  that  I  con 
sider  the  union  of  these  States  as  the  first  of  blessings,  and  as  the  first  of  duties, 
the  preservation  of  that  Constitution  which  secures  it ;  but  I  suppose  these  declara 
tions  not  pertinent  to  the  occasion  of  entering  into  an  office  whose  primary  business 
is  merely  to  preside  over  the  forms  of  this  House;  and  no  one  more  sincerely  prays, 
that  no  accident  may  call  me  to  the  higher  and  more  important  functions  which  the 
Constitution  eventually  devolves  on  this  office.  These  have  been  justly  confided  to 
the  eminent  character  which  has  preceded  me  here,  whose  talents  and  integrity  have 
been  known  and  revered  by  me  through  a  long  course  of  years,  and  have  been  the 
foundation  of  a  cordial  and  uninterrupted  friendship  between  us;  and  I  devoutly 
pray  he  may  be  long  preserved  for  the  Government,  the  happiness,  and  prosperity 
of  our  common  country. 

The  Yice-President  then  conducted  the  Senate  to  the  House 
of  Representatives.  He  and  the  Secretary  took  their  seats  on 
the  right  of  the  Speaker's  chair,  the  Speaker  and  the  Clerk  of 
the  late  House  of  Representatives  on  the  left,  and  Chief  Justice 
Ellsworth,  with  Justices  Gushing,  Wilson  and  Iredell,  at  a  table 
belaw  and  in  front.  The  doors  being  thrown  open,  the  hall  was 
at  once  filled  to  overflowing.  When  the  late  President  entered 
and  advanced  across  the  floor,  loud  applause  was  heard  from  all 
parts  of  the  assembly,  and  th>s  was  renewed  when  President 
Adams  appeared,  accompanied  by  the  Heads  of  Departments 
and  other  officers. 

Mr.  Adams  rose  and  delivered  his  inaugural  speech.  In  this 
elaborate  production,  he,  like  the  Yice-President,  eulogized  the 
Constitution,  and  declared  that  when  he  first  saw  it  in  a  foreign 
country  he  approved  of  it  as  "better  adapted  to  the  genius, 
character,  situation  and  relations  of  this  nation  and  country  than 
any  which  had  ever  been  proposed  or  suggested" — that  "it  was 
not  then,  nor  had  been  since,  any  objection  to  it  in  his  mind, 
that  the  Executive  and  Senate  were  not  more  permanent " — that 
he  never  had  a  thought  of  "  promoting  any  alteration  in  it  but 
such  as  the  people  themselves,  in  the  course  of  their  experience, 
should  see  and  feel  to  be  necessary  or  expedient,"  He  asked. 


CHAP,  vii.]   MR.  ADAMS'S  SPEECH — ANOTHER  INTERVIEW.  337 

"  What  other  form  of  government  could  so  well  deserve  our 
esteem  and  love  ?" — what,  that  was  u  essential,  any  more  than 
mere  ornament  and  decoration,  could  be  added  to  this  by  robe? 
and  diamonds?" — or  whether  "authority  could  be  more  amiable 
and  respectable  when  it  descends  from  accidents  or  institutions 
established  in  remote  antiquity,  than  when  it  springs  fresh  from 
the  hearts  and  judgments  of  an  honest  and  enlightened  people?" 
He  paid  a  warm  tribute  to  the  public  services  of  his  predecessor. 
He  declared  himself  in  favor  of  peace  and  a  rigid  neutrality 
between  the  belligerent  powers  of  Europe,  and  expressed  his 
"  personal  esteem  for  the  French  nation,  formed  in  a  residence  01 
seven  years  chiefly  among  them,  and  a  sincere  desire  to  preserve 
the  friendship  which  had  been  so  much  for  the  honor  and  inte 
rest  of  both  nations." 

This  was  the  speech  wThich  Hamilton  and  his  followers 
lamented  as  "  temporizing,"  and  as  having  "  the  air  of  a  lure 
for  the  favor  of  his  opponents  at  the  expense  of  his  sincerity." 
Happy  John  Adams  obtained  a  very  different  impression  of 
the  effect  of  his  eloquence  on  this  interesting  occasion.  He 
wrote  his  wife  there  was  " scarcely  a  dry  eye  but  Washington's" 
— that  "  all  agreed  that,  taken  together,  it  was  the  sublimest 
thing  ever  exhibited  in  America."1 

When  the  President  had  concluded  his  address,  the  Chief 
Justice  read  the  oaths  of  office  in  loud,  firm  tones,  and  Mr. 
Adams  repeated  them  with  equal  emphasis..  He  then  took  his 
seat,  but  soon  rose,  bowed  to  the  assembly,  and  left  the  hall. 
The  Vice-President  rose  to  leave,  but  sought  to  give  General 
Washington  precedence.  The  latter,  however,  persisted  in 
declining  it,  and  followed ;  and  as  they  passed  out,  shout  on 
shout  broke  from  the  assembled  multitude. 

Mr.  Jefferson  gives  the  following  sequel  to  his  interview  of 
the  3d  of  March  with  the  President : 

"  I  think  it  was  on  Monday  the  6th  of  March,  Mr.  Adams  ana  myself  met  at 
dinner  at  General  Washington's,  and  we  happened,  in  the  evening,  to  rise  from 
table  and  come  away  together.  As  soon  as  we  got  into  the  street,  I  told  him  the 
event  of  my  negotiation  with  Mr.  Madison.  He  immediately  said,  that,  on  consulta 
tion,  some  objections  to  that  nomination  had  been  raised  which  he  had  not  contem 
plated  ;  and  was  going  on  with  excuses  which  evidently  embarrassed  him,  when  we 
came  to  Fifth  street,  where  our  road  separated,  his  being  down  Market  street,  mine 

1  Life  of  John  Adams,  p.  506. 


338  JEFFERSON   RETURNS    HOME.  [CHAP.  VH 

off  along  Fifth,  and  we  took  leave :  and  he  never  after  that  said  one  word  to  me  on 
the  subject,  or  ever  consulted  me  as  to  any  measures  of  the  Government.  The 
opinion  I  formed  at  the  time  on  this  transaction,  was,  that  Mr.  Adams,  in  the  first 
moments  of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  occasion  (his  inauguration),  forgot  party  senti 
ments,  and  as  he  never  acted  on  any  system,  but  was  always  governed  by  the 
feeling  of  the  moment,  he  thought,  for  a  moment,  to  steer  impartially  between  the 
parties;  that  Monday,  the  6th  of  March,  being  the  first  time  he  had  met  his  Cabinet, 
on  expressing  ideas  of  this  kind,  he  had  been  at  once  diverted  from  them,  and 
returned  to  his  former  party  views."  1 

Mr.  Adams  gives  substantially  the  same  explanation  of  his 
dropping  Madison.  He  says,  the  Cabinet  offered  to  resign  on 
his  proposing  him  for  the  mission  ;  that  "  he  found  party  passions 
had  so  deep  and  extensive  roots,  that  he  seriously  doubted  whe 
ther  the  Senate  would  not  negative  Mr.  Madison  if  he  should 

o 

name  him,"  etc.2 

The  Vice-President  left  Philadelphia,  March  12,  met  his 
"chair"  or  sulky  at  Fredericksburg  on  the  18th,  and  reached 
home  on  the  20th. 

Both  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  daughters  were  absent  at  an  estate 

O 

of  Colonel  Randolph.     He  wrote  to  the  elder : 

To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

MONTICELLO,  March  27th,  '97. 

I  arrived  in  good  health  at  home  this  day  sennight.  The  mountain  had  then 
been  in  bloom  ten  days.  I  find  that  the  natural  productions  of  the  spring  are  about 
a  fortnight  earlier  here  than  at  Fredericksburg ;  but  where  art  and  attention  can  do 
anything,  some  one  in  a  large  collection  of  inhabitants,  as  in  a  town,  will  be  before 
ordinary  individuals,  whether  of  town  or  country.  I  have  heard  of  you  but  once 
since  I  left  home,  and  am  impatient  to  know  that  you  are  all  well.  I  have,  how 
ever,  so  much  confidence  in  the  dose  of  health  with  which  Monticello  charges  you 
in  summer  and  autumn,  that  I  count  on  its  carrying  you  well  through  the  winter. 
The  difference  between  the  health  enjoyed  at  Varina  and  Presqu'isle  3  is  merely  the 
effect  of  this.  Therefore  do  not  ascribe  it  to  Varina  and  stay  there  too  long.  The 
bloom  of  Monticello  is  chilled  by  my  solitude.  It  makes  me  wish  the  more  that 
yourself  and  sister  were  here  to  enjoy  it.  I  value  the  enjoyments  of  this  life 
only  in  proportion  as  you  participate  them  with  me.  All  other  attachments  are 
weakening,  and  I  approach  the  state  of  mind  when  nothing  will  hold  me  here  but 
my  love  for  yourself  and  yister,  and  the  tender  connections  you  have  added  to  me. 
I  hope  you  will  write  to  me  :  as  nothing  is  so  pleasing  during  your  absence  as  these 
proofs  of  your  love.  Be  assured,  my  dear  daughter,  that  you  possess  mine  in  ita 
utmost  limits.  Kiss  the  dear  little  ones  for  me.  I  wish  we  had  one  of  them  here. 
Adieu  affectionately. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

1  Ana,  Randolph's  edition,  vol.  iv.  p.  502  ;  Congress  edition,  vol.  ix.  p.  186. 

a  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  286. 

3  A  previous  residence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Randolph,  but  also  within  the  siHdy  region. 


CHAP.  YH.]  DUR  FRESTCH   BELATKKIS. 

To  IHE  SAME. 
(KxtncL) 

My  lore  to  Maria.  TeO  her  I  hare  made  a  new  law ;  which  k.  onlj  to  amswer 
letters  It  would  bar?  been  her  torn  to  hare  reeeired  a  letter  had  she  not  loot  it 
by  not  writing.  Adien  most  affectionately,  both  of  TOO. 

To  explain  circumstances  already  stated,  as  well  as  to  give  a 
proper  insight  into  future  ones  of  prime  importance  in  their 
bearing;  on  the  history  of  onr  public  men  and  parties  during 
Mr.  Adams's  administration,  it  is  necessary  that  we  take  a  rapid 
glance  of  our  French  relations  from  the  point  where  we  left 
them  soon  after  the  ratification  of  the  Treaty  of  London. 

When  the  news  of  ratification  reached  France  it  produced 
angry  dissatisfaction.  That  country  claimed  that  it  had  been 
treated  with  as  much  duplicity  as  injustice.  It  claimed  thai,  at 
Philadelphia  as  well  as  Paris,  the  strongest  assurances  had  been 
given  to  its  representatives,  during  the  negotiation  of  Jay's 
treaty,  that  it  would  only  embrace  a  redress  of  grievances. 
It  now  complained  that  our  conduct  evinced  a  settled  adhesion 
to  England,  and  a  settled  hostility  to  France,  on  the  part  of  the 
dominant  party  in  America. 

The  French  Directory,  however,  hesitated  on  decided  steps, 
believing,  it  would  seem  (a  point  that  had  been  strongly  in 
sisted  on  by  Genet  and  Fanchet),  that  the  state  of  affairs  was 
not  due  to  the  national  sentiment,*  but  to  the  hostility  of  the 
Administration,  and  that  a  new  election  would  be  likely  to 
produce  a  change  in  the  latter  particular. 

Monroe's  course  in  France,  as  we  have  already  seen,  drew 
pointed  censures  from  our  Cabinet.  And  his  failure  to  make 
the  Treaty  of  London  acceptable  to  that  nation,  appears  to  have 

*  See  Fmochefs  "Sketch  of  the  present  state  of  oar  Political  Relation?  with  the 
United  States,**  etc..  1197. 

He  attributes  the 


-----       .       -       ••/-..  —  ------ 

Hte  appl»re«  the  President  and  Cabinet  receded  in  England  far  t 
between  the  two  countries,  tended  doubtless  to  increase  French  prejudice 
-,;      \  -  -        -     -       V        -;.   -   -        :    ..-       •:   -      -   -   :      r 

Hamilton  from  London,  February  Sth,  1197 : 

-'Nothing  can  exceed  the  appmnae  that  fe  here  given  to  onr  Goverm 
AmericvTwno  hae  not  been  in Itagland,  can  nave  a  jnt  idea  of  the  admiral! 
among  all  partwh  or  General  Washington.  It  is  a  conunon  observation,  ti 
on!  j  the  mort  fflnstrions,  but  also  «ne  most  meritorious  character  that 
appeared  The  king  fa,  without  doubt,  a  very  popular  character  among  1 
ttfenmtion.  It  wouW  be  a  jm£  rery  nroeh  to  affirm  that  next  to  hhnGenf 


ton  is  the  most  popular  character  among  them-  and  yet*  1  rerOj  believ 
met"-  nimmmTWiri^  voL  vi.  p.  HT. 


340  MONROE   RECALLED,    ETC.  [CHAP.  VII. 

been  attributed  to  rem.issness  or  want  of  zeal.  The  President 
wished,  therefore,  to  send  an  extraordinary  minister  for  that 
particular  purpose ;  but  it  being  suggested  that  he  could  only 
fill  vacancies  during  a  recess  of  the  Senate,  he  recalled  Colonel 
Monroe,1  and  appointed  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney  of  South 
Carolina  in  his  place.  Monroe's  recall  was  dated  August  22d, 
and  his  successor  embarked  for  France  early  in  September. 

The  latter  was  really  a  very  unobjectionable  selection,  if  a 
change  was  to  be  made ;  but  General  Pinckney's  character  and 
position,  unfortunately,  were  not  properly  understood  at  home  or 
abroad.  He  had  refused  to  unite  in  the  anti-treaty  demonstra 
tion  at  Charleston.  He  was  understood  to  be  a  Federalist,  and 
his  selection  under  the  present  circumstances  was  construed  by 
those  who  erroneously  imputed  the  same  motives  to  the  Presi 
dent  which  influenced  his  advisers,  as  proof  that  the  new  minis 
ter  was  a  bigoted  Federalist,  and  consequently  violently  hostile 
to  France. 

These  impressions  received  great  augmentation  from  the 
recent  selection  of  Mr.  Eufus  King  as  the  successor  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Pinckney  at  the  Court  of  London.  Mr.  King  was  an 
able  and  experienced  man,  and  was  believed  to  be  an  ardent 
sympathizer  with  England  and  admirer  of  its  Government,  and 
in  all  respects  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  ultra-Federal  school 
of  American  politicians.3 

1  On  this  subject  see  Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  ii.  p.  393. 

The  President  consulted  his  Cabinet  on  the  subject  of  the  recall,  June  24th.  On  the 
2d  of  July,  those  present  (Pickering,  Wolcott  and  McHenry)  unanimously  advised  Mon 
roe's  recall ;  and  Lee  subsequently  united  in  this.  They  distinctly  advised  the  measure 
on  political  grounds.  After  assigning  the  reason  we  have  given  in  the  text  (and  which 
Judge  Marshall  gives  as  the  reason),  they  proceed  to  communicate  a  private  letter  from 
Monroe  to  some  person  in  Philadelphia  (which  they  had  "received  in  confidence"),  and 
they  add  :  "This  letter  corresponds  with  other  intelligence  of  his  political  opinions  and 
conduct.  A  minister  who  has  thus  made  the  notorious  enemies  of  the  whole  system  of 
government  his  confidential  correspondents,  in  matters  which  affect  that  government, 
cannot  be  relied  on  to  do  his  duty  to  the  latter,"  etc.  We  wish  we  had  a  copy  of 
Monroe's  confidential  letter.  We  are  inclined  to  think  its  contents  were  less  material 
than  the  fact  that  it  talked  on  political  subjects  to  a  member  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  probably  exhibited  the  writer's  well  known  sympathy  with  that  party.  We  infer 
this,  because  the  point  is  thus  made  by  the  Cabinet,  and  no  outcry  raised  over  the  par 
ticular  declarations  contained  in  the  letter. 

We  have  not  mentioned  this  in  the  text  among  the  reasons  which  influenced  the  Pre 
sident,  because  we  do  not  believe  it  did.  He  appointed  Monroe  to  this  mission  when  the 
latter  was  notoriously  the  Republican  leader  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  when  he  had 
gone  and  voted  as  far  against  measures  of  the  Administration,  as  any  member  of  that 
body.  Nay,  he  had  obviously  appointed  him  as  a  Republican,  when  he  was  seeking  to 
maintain  a  balance  of  parties.  He  would  have  been  the  last  man  to  seek  to  muzzle  pri 
vate  expressions  of  political  views.  He  would  have  been  the  last  man  to  expect  that  all 
the  diplomatic  commissions  in  the  world  would  for  a  moment  operate  as  such  a  muzzle 
on  James  Monroe. 

8  King  (then  in  the  Senate)  desired  this  appointment,  and  wished  Hamilton  and  Jay 
to  "communicate  with  the  Executive"  on  the  subject,  if  they  "agreed  in  the  propriety 


CHAP.  VII.]  HOSTILE   MEASURES    OF   FRANCE.  341 

Consequently,  the  French  Government  took  violent  offence 
at  the  recall  of  Monroe,  alleging  that  it  resulted  solely  from  his 
friendly  dispositions  towards  their  country.  The  Directory 
determined  by  an  "executive  act"  to  "take  advantage  of  the 
second  article  of  the  Treaty  [between  the  United  States  and 
France]  of  1778,  which  guaranteed  to  them  all  the  advantages 
of  navigation  and  commerce  which  might  be  granted  to  other 
powers,  and  place,  by  means  of  this  article,  the  [French]  Repub 
lic  upon  the  same  footing  as  England."  In  July,  this  system 
was  commenced  by  ordering  French  cruisers  to  treat  neutrals 
as  those  neutrals  permitted  the  English  to  treat  them.  In  October, 
an  arret  was  issued,  directing  the  seizure  of  British  property  on 
board  of  American  vessels  and  of  provisions  bound  to  England. 

Thus  another  great  European  power  joined  in  hunting  our 
commerce  from  the  ocean — in  placing  our  national  honor,  rights 
and  property  at  the  mercy  of  every  rash  and  embittered  person 
clad  in  the  "  brief  authority"  of  an  officer  of  a  national  vessel, 
or  even  the  mercenary  adventurer  who  commanded  a  privateer 
—leaving  us  an  appeal  only  to  courts  of  admiralty,  by  whom 
law  or  justice  were  scarcely  more  regarded.  The  Admiralty 
Courts  of  both  England  and  France,  established  in  the  West 
Indies,  were  shameful  burlesques  on  legal  tribunals,  in  which 
tools  without  professional  or  personal  character  adjudicated  only 
to  give  quasi-legal  sanction  to  outrage.  It  needed  but  that 
France  should  also  practically  enter  upon  the  reprisals  she 


and  utility  of  the  measure."  (King  to  Hamilton,  May  2d,  1796.  See  Hamilton  s  Works, 
vol.  vi.  p.  113.) 

Hamilton  addressed  the  President  on  the  subject,  and  Washington  replied,  May  15th, 
1796. 

"  With  respect  to  the  gentleman  you  have  mentioned  as  successor  to  Mr.  P , 

there  can  be  no  doubt  of  his  abilities,  nor  in  my  mind  [preceding  words  italicized  in  ori 
ginal]  is  there  any  of  his  fitness.  But  you  know  as  well  as  I  what  has  been  said  of  his 
political  sentiments  with  respect  to  another  form  of  government,  and  from  thence  can 
be  at  iitr  loss  to  guess  at  the  interpretation  which  would  be  given  to  the  nomination  of 
him.  However,  the  subject  shall  have  due  consideration  ;  but  a  previous  resignation 
would,  in  my  opinion,  carry  with  it  too  much  the  appearance  of  concert,  and  would  have  a 
bad  rather  than  a  good  effect."  (This  letter  does  not  appear,  we  believe,  in  Mr.  Sparks's 
edition  of  Washington's  Works.  It  will  be  found  in  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  120-122. 

Hamilton  replied,  May  20th,  1706  : 

"I  observe  what  you  say  on  the  subject  of  a  certain  diplomatic  mission.  Permit  me 
to  offer  with  frankness  the  reflections  which  have  struck  my  mind.  The  importance  of 
our  security,  and  commerce,  and  good  understanding  with  Great  Britain,  renders  it  very 
important  that  a  man  able  and  not  disagreeable  [preceding  words  italicized  in  original]  to 
that  Government,  should  be  there.  The  gentleman  in  question,  equally  with  any  who 
?ould  go,  and  better  than  any  willing  to  go,  answers  this  description.  The  idea  hinted  at 
in  your  letter  will  apply  to  every  man  fit  for  the  mission,  by  his  conspicuousness,  talent! 
and  dispositions,"  etc. — Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  125. 

The  reader  will  judge  for  himself  whether  the  "idea  hinted  at"  was  merely  that 
Mr.  King  was  a  member  of  the  Federal  party. 


342  HAMILTON'S  PKUDENT  ADVICE.  [CHAP,  vn 

threatened  in  the  matter  of  impressments,  to  fill  the  cup  of  our 
misfortune  and  humiliation  to  the  full. 

Meanwhile,  the  communications  of  the  American  Secretary 
of  State  to  the  French  Minister  in  the  United  States,  in  the 
unpleasant  discussions  which  arose  between  them,  were  not  only 
arrogant  and  untenable  in  some  of  their  positions  (essentially 
differing  from  any  ever  assumed  towards  England),  but  they  mani 
fested  a  heat  and  captiousness  in  their  style  which  called  out 
even  the  repeated  censures  and  warnings  of  Hamilton.  His 
letters  to  Washington  and  others  on  this  subject  were  very  fre 
quent  during  the  month  of  November,  1796,  and  we  find  them 
on  still  later  occasions.1 

Hamilton  appears  to  great  advantage  at  this  period.  His 
correspondence  shows  that  he  labored  earnestly  to  moderate  the 
fury  of  his  partisans  in  the  Cabinet,  and  to  avoid  a  rupture  with 
France.  As  plainly  as  Mr.  Adams  he  saw  the  propriety  and 
expediency,  in  case  of  the  establishment  of  an  extraordinary 
commission  to  the  latter  country,  to  include  in  it  some  con 
spicuous  person  who  would  be  acceptable  to  the  French  Govern 
ment.  He  urged  such  a  commission,  and  proposed  Jefferson  or 
Madison  as  one  of  the  members.  Bat  although  his  opinions 
almost  took  the  form  of  a  ukase,2  and  although  he  significantly 
intimated  that  the  "actual.  Administration"  was  accused  of 
endeavoring  to  provoke  a  war  with  France,8  he  failed  for  once 
to  command  obedience.  Wolcott  wrote  him  that  he  was  sensi 
ble  that  it'  he  insisted  on  a  commission  u  so  the  thing  must  be 
and  would  be,"  but  he /lid  not  acquiesce  in  its  proposed  compo 
sition,  and  Pickering  would  not  assent  even  to  the  commission.4 

General  Knox,  (now  thinking  and  acting  separately  from 
Hamilton),  Gerry  and  others  pressed  views  similar  to  Hamilton's 
on  Mr.  Adams.5 

It  would  be  expected  that  the  leaders  of  the  Republican 
party  would  view  the  proceedings  of  the  Cabinet  with  still  less 
favor.  Jefferson  rarely  mentions  them  in  his  contemporary 
correspondence ;  but  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Edwards,  January  22d, 
1797,  he  declares,  with  visible  irritation,  that  Monroe  was 

1  See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  162,  163,  168,  177,  194 ;  and  to  Wolcott  in  ib, 
pp.  167,  180. 

8  See  his  letter  to  Pickering,  March  22d,  1797.     (Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  213.) 

8  Ib.  pp.  217,  219.  *  Ib.  pp.  214,  223,  224. 

5  For  Knox's  letter  see  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  533  ;  for  Gerry's,  see  ib.  p.  533. 


CHAP,  vn.]  PRESIDENT'S  DIFFICULT  POSITION.  343 

appointed  to  get  him  out  of  the  Senate  and  then  seize  a  pretext, 
for  removing  him,  and  that  "it  will  never  be  easy  to  convince 
him  that  by  a  firm  yet  just  conduct  in  1793,  we  might  not  have 
obtained  such  a  respect  for  our  neutral  rights  from  Great  Britain 
as  that  her  violations  of  them,  and  use  of  our  means  to  all  her 
wars,  would  not  have  furnished  any  pretence  to  the  other  party 
to  do  the  same." 

The  result  of  the  Presidential  election  snapped  the  last  bond 
of  confidence  between  France  and  the  United  States.  Mr. 
Adams's  hostility  to  that  country  was  notorious  there  and  at 
home,  but  the  French  did  not  understand  that  he  was  equally 
or  but  little  less  hostile  to  England. 

He  had  written  to  his  wife  pending  the  election : 

"  At  Hartford  I  saw  Mr.  Adet's  note  to  our  Secretary  of  State,  and  I  find  it  an 
instrument  well  calculated  to  reconcile  me  to  private  life.  It  will  purify  me  of  all 
envy  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  or  Mr.  Pinckney,  or  Mr.  Burr,  or  Mr.  anybody  else  who  may 
be  chosen  President  or  Vice-President.  Although,  however,  I  think  the  moment  a 
dangerous  one,  I  am  not  scared.  Fear  takes  no  hold  of  me,  and  makes  no 
approaches  to  me  that  I  perceive ;  and  if  my  country  makes  just  claims  on  me,  I 
will  be,  as  I  have  ever  been,  prompt  to  share  fates  and  fortunes  with  her.  I  dread 
not  a  war  with  France  or  England,  if  either  forces  it  upon  us,  but  will  make  no 
aggression  upon  either  with  my  free  will,  without  just  and  necessary  cause  and 
provocation." — "  Nothing  mortifies  me  more  than  to  think  how  the  English  will  be 
gratified  at  this  French  flight.1  John  Bull  will  exult  and  shrug  his  shoulders  like  a 
Frenchman,  and,  I  fear,  show  us  some  cunning,  insidious  sort  of  kindness  on  the 
occasion.  I  should  dread  his  kindness  as  much  as  French  severity,  but  will  be  the 
dupe  of  neither.  If  I  have  looked  with  any  accuracy  into  the  hearts  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  the  French  will  find,  as  the  English  have  found,  that  feelings  may  be 
stirred  which  they  never  expected  to  find  there,  and  which  perhaps  the  American 
people  themselves  are  not  sensible  are  within  them." 

Mr.  Adams  entered  the  Presidency  in  the  predicament  of  a 
commander  who  should  first  set  his  foot  on  his  vessel  when  the 
rising  gale  was  howling  through  its  rigging,  and  the  full  might 
of  the  tempest  was  about  to  burst  on  it.  He  unquestionably 
came  into  power  with  pacific  and  proper  dispositions  towards 
France.  But,  to  recur  to  our  former  simile,  the  ship  had  already 
been  prepared  for  the  storm  by  her  crew,  and  the  same  officers 
who  had  directed  the  preparations  now  stood  at  their  posts.  If 
he  retained  these  officers,  the  "  actual  Government,"  as  Hamil 
ton  called  it — that  is,  the  majority  of  the  Cabinet — would  b€ 

The  retirement  of  the  French  Minister  from  the  United  Stat<*a, 


344  PRESIDENT    SUCCUMBS — HIS    CABINET.  [CHAP.  VII 

averse  to  any  change.  It  was  a  critical  moment  to  supersede 
them.  Unfortunately,  the  country  was  prepared  to  regard  it  as 
an  act  of  inexcusable  violence.  They  tested  his  determination 
the  first  moment  by  offering  to  resign  on  his  naming  (exactly 
what  Hamilton  had  proposed)  Madison  as  a  member  of  a  new 
French  commission.  Mr.  Adams  succumbed,  and  his  political 
fate  was  sealed. 

He  was  a  man  of  vastly  greater  ability  than  any  member  of 
his  Cabinet — it  would  not  be  exaggeration  to  say  that  he  pos 
sessed  more  than  their  collective  ability.  His  knowledge  of 
governments,  of  foreign  affairs,  his  sagacity  in  statesmanship, 
his  breadth  of  view  on  all  great  questions,  were  proportionably 
superior.  He  was  an  independent  man,  and  brave  to  the  point 
of  furious  pugnacity  when  excited.  But.  he  had  weaknesses 
which  placed  him  at  the  mercy  of  the  inferior  men  about 
him. 

Mr.  Pickering  afterwards  sat  for  a  most  felicitous  picture  to 
Mr.  Adams's  own  pen  : 

"  He  is,  for  anything  I  know,  a  good  son,  husband,  father,  grandfather,  brother, 
uncle,  and  cousin.  But  he  is  a  man  in  a  mask,  sometimes  of  silk,  sometimes  of 
iron,  and  sometimes  of  brass,  and  he  can  change  them  very  suddenly  and  with 
some  dexterity."  "  He  is  extremely  susceptible  of  violent  and  inveterate  prejudices, 
and  yet,  such  are  the  contradictions  to  be  found  in  human  character,  he  is  capable 
of  very  sudden  and  violent  transitions  from  one  extreme  to  an  opposite.  Under 
the  simple  appearance  of  a  bald  head  and  straight  hair,  and  under  professions  of 
profound  republicanism,  he  conceals  an  ardent  ambition,  envious  of  every  superior, 
and  impatient  of  obscurity.  He  makes  me  think  of  a  coal-pit,  covered  with  red 
earth,  glowing  within,  but  unable  to  conceal  the  internal  heat  for' the  interstices 
which  let  out  the  smoke,  and  now  and  then  a  flash  of  flame." 

.  Mr.  Wolcott,  with  the  political  principles  of  his  father,  had 
none  of  his  father's  boldness  and  frankness  of  character.  He 
was  a  capable  man  generally,  and  was  acute  and  able  in  the 
details  of  business.  But  his  views  were  never  comprehensive. 
As  inflexible  as  Pickering,  he  rarely  displayed  open  resistance, 
but  smiled  and  plotted,  and  when  he  fired,  fired  from  an  ambush. 
He  was  a  close  judge  of  the  lower  motives  of  men,  took  advan 
tage  of  them  with  suppleness  and  dexterity,  never  openly 
assumed  any  but  a  plausible  position,  never  lacked  a  sanc 
timonious  profession.  We  shall  have  abundant  occasion  to  see, 
before  leaving  the  history  of  his  official  connection  with  Mr 


CHAP.  VII.]  CHARACTER   OF   THE    CABINET.  345 

Adams,  that  his  craft  knew  no  scruples,  his  willingness  to  sub 
serve  his  interests  and  feelings  at  the  expense  of  honor,  no  limit. 
Yet,  like  Pickering,  he  was  exemplary  in  his  domestic  relations, 
was  an  agreeable  companion,  was  not  a  bad  friend  in  the  mere 
social  import  of  the  term  (that  is,  he  had  personal  partialities, 
like  other  men,  and  did  not  abandon  them  without  a  motive), 
and  among  superficial  acquaintances  might  have  passed  for  an 
excellent  character. 

Me  Henry,  the  Secretary  of  War,  had  been  taken  as  a  make 
shift.  Pie  was  a  cultivated  but  weak  man.  His  instincts  and 
feelings  were  those  of  a  gentleman,  and  he  was  disposed  to  be 
high-minded  in  his  conduct;  but  he  had  neither  understanding 
nor  force  to  play  any  independent  part,  hemmed  in  between 
the  obstinacy  of  Pickering  and  the  craft  of  Wolcott. 

Of  Lee,  the  Attorney-General, jwe  know  very  little,  as  we 
fail  to  find  him  rising  above  theJrtenor  of  official  routine,  or 
making  any  mark  on  his  times.  Some  hints  .would  lead  us  to 
conjecture  he  was  not  admitted  to  the  secrets  of  that  reigning 
majority  of  colleagues  already  named — that  he  did  not  belong 
to  the  Hamilton  clique  in  the  Cabinet.  We  nowhere  find  him 
implicated  in  their  official  treachery  and  dishonor. 

Benjamin  Stoddert  of  Maryland,  the  first  Acting-Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  did  not  take  his  place  until  May,  1798.  Like  Lee, 
he  seems  to  have  been  rather  an  outsider  with  the  majority. 
He  \vas  faithful  and  true  to  Mr.  Adams,  was  evidently  a  man 
of  principle,  and  discharged  his  official  duties  noiselessly  and  to 
the  general  acceptance. 

The  Hamiltonian  majority  of  the  Cabinet  were  not  ill  cal 
culated  to  bend  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Adams  to  their  designs. 
Pickering's  irascible  and  pugnacious  self-will  presented  that 
constant  issue  which  no  man  likes  to  accept — a  quarrel  with  a 
powerful  wing  of  his  party.  Wolcott  could  dexterously  play 
upon  the  President's  vanity,  and  lead  him  on  false  scents. 
McHenry  could  give  some  weight  to  his  opinions  by  his  appear 
ance  of  being  controlled  by  gentlemanly  considerations  and 
motives,  and  what  was  far  more  to  the  point,  he  could  give  the 
third  vote. 

Mr.  Adams  entered  office  with  something  of  the  meekness 
of  the  newly  accepted  lover — delighted  with  his  good  luck  and 
propitiated  by  success.  But  his  hot,  imperious  temper  nevei 


346  TWO   BIRDS    KILLED   BY    ONE    STONE.  [CHAP.  VII, 

long  condescended  to  play  a  part  implying  dependence  on  any 
body  or  thing  but  himself.  His  vanity  lying  as  exposed  as 
uncovered  powder-trains  to  a  great  magazine,  never  long 
escaped  ignition  when  he  was  in  a  position  to  fancy  a  rivalry. 
He  had  those  about  him  who  well  knew  how  to  produce  and 
give  direction  to  the  explosion.  To  incense  him  with  France 
and  with  Jefferson  were  two  primary  objects.  Both  the  "birds 
were"  ingeniously  "killed  by  the  same  stone."  He  thus 
wrote  General  Knox,  March  30th,  1797,  in  regard  to  the  inti 
mate  friend  of  five  and  twenty  years,  whom  he  had  acted  with 
"  in  dangerous  times  and  arduous  conflicts,"  and  just  parted 
from  "  as  good  friends  as  they  had  always  lived  :"* 

"It  is  a  delicate  thing  for  one  to  speak  of  the  late  election.  To  myself,  per 
sonally,  'my  election'  might  be  a  matte,  of  indifference,  or  rather  of  aversion.  Had 
Mr.  Jay,  or  some  others,  been  in  question,  it  might  have  less  mortified  my  vanity, 
and  infinitely  less  alarmed  my  apprehensions  for  the  public.  But  to  see  such  a  cha 
racter  as  Jefferson,  and  much  more  such  an  unknown  being  as  Pinckney,  brought 
over  my  head,  and  trampling  on  the  bellies  of  hundreds  of  other  men  infinitely  his 
superiors  in  talents,  services  and  reputation,  filled  me  with  apprehensions  for  the 
safety  of  us  all.  It  demonstrated  to  me  that,  if  the  project  succeeded,  our  Con 
stitution  could  not  have  lasted  four  years.  We  should  have  been  set  afloat,  and 
landed,  the  Lord  knows  where.  That  must  be  a  sordid  people,  indeed — a  people 
destitute  of  a  sense  of  honor,  equity,  and  character,  that  could  submit  to  be 
governed,  and  see  hundreds  of  its  most  meritorious  public  men  governed  by  a 
Pinckney,  under  an  elective  government.  Hereditary  government,  when  it  imposes 
young,  new,  inexperienced  men  on  the  public,  has  its  compensations  and  equivalent, 
but  elective  government  has  none.  I  mean  this  in  no  disrespect  to  Mr.  Pinckney. 
I  believe  him  to  be  a  worthy  man,  I  speak  only  by  comparison  with  others. 
******* 

"Your  project8  has  been  long  ago  considered  and  determined  on.  Mr.  Jefferson 
would  not  go.  ******** 

"  If  we  wish  not  to  be  degraded  in  the  eyes  of  foreigners,  we  must  not  degrade 
ourselves.  What  would  have  been  thought  in  Europe,  if  the  King  of  France 
had  sent  Monsieur,  his  eldest  brother,  as  an  envoy?  What  of  the  King  ot 
England,  if  he  had  sent  the  Prince  of  Wales?  Mr.  Jefferson  is,  in  essence, 
in  the  same  situation.  He  is  the  first  Prince  of  the  country,  and  the  heir  apparent 
to  the  sovereign  authority,  quoad  hoc.  His  consideration  in  France  is  nothing. 
They  consider  nobody  but  themselves.  Their  apparent  respect  and  real  contempt 
for  all  men  and  all  nations  but  Frenchmen,  are  proverbial  among  themselves.  They 
think  it  is  in  their  power  to  give  characters  and  destroy  characters  as  they  please, 
and  they  have  no  other  rule  but  to  give  reputation  to  their  tools,  and  to  destroy  the 
reputation  of  all  who  will  not  be  their  tools.  Their  efforts  to  ' populariser '  Jeffer- 
Bon,  and  to  '  depopulariser  '  Washington  are  all  upon  this  principle.  To  a  French- 

i  See  ante,  p.  325. 

8  Knox  had  recommended  that  Jefferson  be  sent  as  one  of  a  commission  to  France. 


CJIAi'.    VII.]        THE    SOVEREIGN    AUTHORITY    QUOAD    HOC.  347 

man,  the  most  important  man  in  the  world  is  himself,  and  the  most  important 
nation  is  France.  He  thinks  that  France  ought  to  govern  all  nations,  and  that  he 
ought  to  govern  France.  Every  man  and  nation  that  agrees  to  this,  he  is  willing  to 
' populariser  ;'  every  man  that  disputes  and  doubts  it,  he  will  '  depopulariser '  if  he 
can."  1 

On  the  6th  of  April  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Gerry : 

"  The  proposal  of  appointing  the  Vice-President  to  go  as  envoy  extraordinary  to 
Paris  has  arrived  from  so  many  quarters,  that  I  presume  the  thought  is  a  natural  one. 
I  will  tell  you  a  secret,  but  I  wish  you  to  keep  it  a  secret  in  your  breast.  I  was  so 
impressed  with  the  idea  myself,  that  on  the  3d  of  March  I  had  a  conversation  with 
Mr.  Jefferson,  in  which  I  proposed  it  to  him,  and  frankly  declared  to  him  that  if  he 
would  accept  it,  1  would  nominate  him  the  next  day,  as  soon  as  I  should  be  qualified 
to  do  it.  He  as  frankly  refused,  as  I  expected  he  would.3  Indeed  I  made  a  great 
stretch  in  proposing  it,  to  accommodate  to  the  feelings,  views,  and  prejudices  of  a 
party.3  I  would  not  do  it  again,  because,  upon  more  mature  reflection,  I  am  de 
cidedly  convinced  of  the  impropriety  of  it.  The  reasons  you  give  are  unanswer 
able,  but  there  are  others." 

Mr.  Adams  proceeds  to  give  those  reasons,  and  we  have  an 
amusing  flight  of  the  possessor  of  "  the  sovereign  authority 
quoad  hoc :" 

"  It  would  be  a  degradation  of  our  Government  in  the  eyes  of  our  own  people,  as 
well  as  of  all  Europe.  The  Vice  President,  in  our  Constitution,  is  too  high  a  per 
sonage  be  sent  on  diplomatic  errands,  even  in  the  character  of  an  ambassador. 

"We  cannot  work  miracles.  We  cannot  make  other  nations  respect  our  nation 
or  its  Government,  if  we  place  before  their  eyes  the  persons  answering  to  the  first 
princes  of  the  Government,  in  the  low  and  subordinate  character  of  a  foreign 
minister.  It  must  be  a  pitiful  country  indeed,  in  which  the  second  man  in  the  nation 
will  accept  of  a  place  upon  a  footing  with  the  corps  diplomatique,  especially  envoy 
such  a  one,  ambassador  such  a  one,  or  plenipotentiary  such  a  one.  The  nation 
must  hold  itself  very  cheap,  that  can  choose  a  man  one  day  to  hold  its  second  office, 
and  the  next  send  him  to  Europe,  to  dance  attendance  at  levees  and  drawing-rooms, 
among  the  common  major  generals,  simple  bishops,  earls  and  barons,  but  especially 
among  the  common  trash  of  ambassadors,  envoys  and  ministers  plenipotentiary."  4 

The  next  day  after  the  date  of  the  President's  letter  to 
General  Knox,  Wolcott  wrote  Hamilton,  as  a  secret  known  to 
"  no  one  of  the  Heads  of  Departments  except  himself,"  that  the 
President  "had  [once]  determined  on  instituting  a  commission, 
but  it  would  not  have  been  composed  as  he  [Hamilton]  now 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  pp.  535-536. 

8  This  contemporaneous  statement  of  facts,  as  far  as  it  goes,  it  will  be  seen,  conforms 
much  closer  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  than  the  one  already  quoted,  made  in  1809. 

8  If  this  accords  with  the  second  sentence  back,  it  does  not  with  the  spirit  01 
l£r.  Adams's  declarations  made  in  1809,  quoted  at  p.  324. 

4  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  538. 


348  THE   PKESIDENT   DIZZY.  [CHAP.  VII. 

proposed."  Hamilton  proposed  a  commission  containing  the 
name  of  one  prominent  Republican.1  Wolcott  persisted  in 
opposing  such  a  selection  if  the  commission  was  determined  on. 
The  association  of  ideas  here  suggested  need  not  be  traced 
out. 

Mr.  Adams's  head  now  touched  the  stars.  A  month  had 
sufficed  to  inflate  his  vanity  to  madness.  How  absurd  the  idea 
that  he — he  the  Olympian,  the  Dispenser — needed  to  be  obtru 
sively  told  by  so  many  of  his  friends  that  Jefferson's  services 
were  all  important  to  steer  the  vessel  safely  through  the  tem 
pest  !  On  second  thought,  how  mortifying  was  it  to  think  that 
such  men  as  Jefferson  and  Pinckney  had  been  made  to  endanger 
his  election  among  a  sordid  people,  destitute  of  character  and 
honor?  What  was  Jefferson  in  France?  And  what  was  France 
itself,  when  it  presumed  to  attempt  to  render  Jefferson  popular 
and  John  Adams2  unpopular? 

The  President  was  in  a  mood  to  demonstrate  the  terrors  of 
the  "  sovereign  authority  quoad  hoc"  and  an  occasion  was  not 
wanting.  France,  instead  of  either  declaring  her  treaty  with 
us  dissolved  or  entering  upon  grave,  pacific  measures  of  diplo 
macy,  had  adopted  a  middle  course,  on  a  doubtful  construction 
of  a  treaty  clause — a  course  calculated  highly  to  inflame  exist 
ing  irritations,  by  inflicting  constant  and  enormous  injus 
tice.  That  we  submitted  to  such  outrages  on  our  commerce 
from  England  did  not  render  it  expedient  for  her  also  to  inflict 
them,  unless  she  desired  a  total  rupture.  Wise  statesmen  must 
take  things  as  they  find  them.  If  our  Cabinet  was  hostile  to 
France,  France  should  have  known  that  our  people  would 
always  stand  lay  its  Government  when  the  sword  was  drawn,  or 
when  the  Executive  called  upon  the  people  to  resent  a  national 
affront.  If  France  desired  peace,  it  was  not  her  policy  to  enter 
upon  war  measures.  The  idea  of  forcing  us  or  intimidating 
us  back  to  friendly  alliance,  under  all  the  circumstances,  was  an 


1  Hamilton  then  proposed  Madison,  Pinckney  and  Cabot.  (See  Hamilton's  Works. 
vol.  vi.  p.  218 — note.)  We  understand  Wolcott  as  meaning  to  say  that  Adams  "had 
once,  or  "  had  "  heretofore  "  determined,"  etc. — without  saying  what  his  intentions  were 
at  the  date  of  the  letter.  The  last  words,  "  but  it  would  not  have  been  composed,"  etc., 
italicized  in  the  original,  as  particularly  significant,  we  doubt  not  are  intended  to  carry 
the  idea,  that  no  man  of  Mr.  Madison's  politics  would  have  been  in  the  commission.  For 
Wolcott's  letter  entire,  see  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  221. 

8  He  used  Washington's  instead  of  his  own  name,  but  had  his  personal  sympathy  foi 
Washington  been  far  keener  than  it  ever  showed  itself,  it  would  be  very  clear  who  he 
was  really  speaking  for  on  this  occasion. 


CHAP.  VII.]      FRENCH    AGGRESSIONS CONGRESS    CONVENED.  349 

idea  worthy  only  of  political  novices  or  men  too  angry  to  listen 
to  the  dictates  of  sober  reason. 

But  France  did  not  stop  with  her  edicts  against  our  com 
merce.  Dispatches  reached  the  State  department  towards  the 
close  of  March  from  General  Pinckney.  lie  had  reached  Paris 
on  the  5th  of  December  preceding.  Or?  the  9th,  he  and  Mr. 
Monroe  had  an  interview  with  De  la  Croix,  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs.  On  the  llth,  the  latter  notified  Monroe  that 
the  Directory  had  charged  him  to  say  "  that  it  would  no  longer 
recognize  nor  receive  a  minister  plenipotentiary  from  the  United 
States,  until  after  a  reparation  of  the  grievances  demanded  of 
the  American  Government,  and  which  the  French  Republic  had 
a  right  to  expect."  He  declared,  however,  that  this  did  "  not 
oppose  the  continuance  of  the  affection  between  the  French 
Republic  and  the  American  people,"  etc.  Monroe  received  a 
private  audience  for  the  delivery  of  his  letters  of  recall  on  the 
30th.  His  address  on  the  occasion  contained  the  usual  language 
of  friendly  compliment.  The  President  replied,  expressing 
much  respect  and  affection  for  the  American  people  and  for 
the  departing  Minister;  but  making  a  severe  allusion  to  the 
"  condescension  of  the  American  Government  to  the  wishes  of 
its  ancient  tyrants."  Letters  of  hospitality,  without  which  he 
could  not  remain  legally  in  Paris,  were  refused  to  Pinckney, 
and  on  the  25th  of  January  he  was  apprised  that  his  stay  ren 
dered  him  amenable  to  the  law.  Having  now  secured  this 
notification  in  writing,  he  immediately  demanded  his  passports, 
and  as  soon  as  practicable  departed  for  Holland. 

On  being  apprised  of  these  facts,  President  Adams  imme 
diately  (March  25th)  issued  a  proclamation  convening  a  special 
session  of  Congress,  on  the  15th  of  May. 

The  President's  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  special  session 
was  warlike.  It  recommended  the  creation  of  a  navy,  the  forti 
fication  of  harbors,  the  allowing  merchant  vessels  to  arm  in  their 
own  defence,  the  reorganization  of  the  militia,  etc.  It  comment 
ed  with  great  severity  on  the  injuries  inflicted  by  France  on  our 
commerce — on  the  refusal  of  that  government  to  receive  General 
Pinckney,  and  on  the  speech  of  the  President  of  the  Directory 
in  the  parting  audience  given  to  Colonel  Monroe,  which,  it 
declared,  "  disclosed  sentiments  more  alarming  than  the  refusal 
of  a  minister,"  more  dangerous  and  more  "  studiously  marked 


350  PRESIDENT'S  SPEECH — THE  ANSWERS.        [CHAP.  vn. 

with  indignities ''  towards  our  Government,  because  it  evinced 
a  disposition  "  to  separate  the  people  of  the  United  States,  from 
the  Government — to  persuade  them  that  they  had  different 
affections,  principles  and  interests  from  those  of  their  fellow-citi 
zens,  whom  they  themselves  had  chosen  to  manage  their  com 
mon  concerns,  and  thus  to  produce  divisions  fatal  to  our  peace." 

"Such  attempts  [continued  the  President]  ought  to  be  repelled  with  a  decision 
which  shall  convince  France  and  the  world  that  we  are  not  a  degraded  people, 
humiliated  under  a  colonial  spirit  of  fear  and  sense  of  inferiority,  fitted  to  be  the 
miserable  instruments  of  foreign  influence,  and  regardless  of  national  honor,  charac 
ter  and  interest."  * 

On  the  23d  of  May  the  Senate  adopted  an  answer  to  the 
President's  speech,  responding  to  its  sentiments,  by  a  vote  of 
seventeen  to  eleven.  Several  members  were  absent.  The  rea. 
strength  of  parties  in  that  body  was  eighteen  Federalists,  tec 
Hep ubli cans,  and  two  wavering.  Two  were  absent.2 

The  answer  of  the  House,  drawn  up  in  a  violent  strain,8  en 
countered  a  more  formidable  opposition.  An  amendment 
presented  by  Nicholas,  that  an  offer  be  made  to  place  France  on 
the  same  footing  conceded  to  Great  Britain  by  the  late  treaty  in 
regard  to  contraband  and  enemy's  goods,  and  expressing  the 
hope  that  this  offer  might  be  satisfactory  to  France,  was  after  a 
long  and  acrimonious  debate,  defeated  by  a  vote  of  fifty-two  to 
forty-eight.  An  amendment  was  moved  (May  30th)  by  Dayton, 
the  Speaker,  to  insert  these  words : 

J'  We  therefore  receive  with  the  utmost  satisfaction  your  information  that  a 
fresh  attempt  at  negotiation  will  be  instituted,  and  we  cherish  the  hope  that  a 
mutual  spirit  of  conciliation,  and  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to 

1  Hamilton  was  among  the  first  to  become  alarmed  at  the  tone  of  the  President's  com 
munications  at  this  period.    Speaking  (June  5th)  of  one  addressed  to  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  he  said : 

"The  sentiment  [near  the  close]  is  intemperate  and  revolutionary.  It  is  not  for  us, 
particularly  for  the  Government,  to  breathe  an  irregular  and  violent  spirit. 
There  are  limits  which  must  not  be  passed  ;  and  from  my  knowledge  of  the  ardor  of  the 
President's  mind,  and  this  specimen  of  the  effects  of  that  ardor,  I  begin  to  be  apprehen 
sive  that  he  may  run  into  indiscretion.  '  This  will  do  harm  to  the  Government,  to  the 
cause  and  to  himself.  Some  hint  must  be  given,  for  we  must  make  no  mistakes." — Ham 
ilton  to  Wolcott.  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  251. 

2  Schuyler,  of  New  York,  and  Gunn,  of  Georgia. 

8  Hamilton  was  disgusted  with  its  violence.  He  wrote  Wolcott,  June  6th : 
"  I  confess  I  have  not  been  well  satisfied  by  the  answer  reported  in  the  House.  It 
contains  too  many  hard  expressions ;  and  hard  words  are  very  rarely  useful  in  pubKc 
proceedings.  Mr.  Jay  and  other  friends  here  have  been  struck  in  the  same  manner  with 
myself.  We  shall  not  regret  to  see  the  answer  softened  down.  Real  firmness  is  good 
for  everything.  Strut  is  good  for  nothing." — Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  253  ;  see  also 
his  letter  of  same  date  to  King. 


CHAP.  VII.]  WAR   MEASURES    CHECKED.  351 

place  France  ou  grounds  as  favorable  as  other  countries  in  their  relation  and  con 
nection  with  us,  will  produce  an  accommodation  compatible  with  the  engagements, 
rights,  duties,  and  honor  of  our  nation." 

The  amendment  prevailed  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  by  a 
vote  of  fifty-two  to  forty-seven,  but  before  passing  the  House 
was  amended  by  inserting  after  the  words  u  on  the  part  of,"  the 
words  "France  to  compensate  for  any  injuries  which  may 
have  been  committed  on  our  neutral  rights,"  and  making  some 
other  changes  of  language.  The  final  vote  on  the  amended 
amendment  was  fifty-eight  to  forty-one.  The  address  was  then 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  sixty- two  to  thirty-six. 

Congress,  thereupon,  commenced  legislation  in  the  spirit  of 
these  addresses,  and  war  measures  of  various  kinds  were  put  on 
their  passage  ;  but  fortunately,  before  anything  decisive  was  per 
fected,  intelligence  was  received  calculated  to  cool  the  ardor  of 
the  war  party. 

The  tremendous  recent  victories  of  Bonaparte  and  the  other 
generals  of  France,  which  had  overwhelmed  some  ancient  dynas 
ties  and  forced  others  to  sue  for  peace — their  slaughter,  in  a 
single  campaign,  of  probably  twice  as  many  hostile  regular 
troops  fighting  with  devoted  bravery  in  the  field,  as  the  United 
States  had  ever  been  able  to  marshal  at  one  time,  in  a  war  for 
their  existence — events,  seemingly  fabulous  in  their  grandeur, 
in  the  annals  of  the  military  art,  swiftly  following  each  other 
like  the  gorgeous  illusions  of  a  dream — the  lion  of  St.  Mark 
forced  to  "  lick  the  dust "  by  one  stroke  of  the  terrible  avenger1 — 
Austria,  quailing  before  the  suspended  wrath  which  was  soon 
to  "  shatter  her  like  a  potsherd,"2  and  entering  upon  the  pro 
visional  treaty  of  Leoben,8  which  was  soon  to  ripen  into  the  dic 
tated  definitve  one  of  Campo-Formio — England  proposing  very 
modest  terms  of  peace  to  the  French  Republic4 — the  formidable 
mutiny  in  the  English  fleet — the  Irish  insurrection — the  suspen 
sion  of  specie  payment  by  the  Bank  of  England  threatening  to 
derange  all  the  sinews  of  a  future  struggle — were  indications  to 

1  See  Bonaparte's  answer  to  the  Doge  and  Senate. 

a  See  Bonaparte's  declaration  to  Cobentzel. 

s  April  18,  1797. 

4  Lord  Malmesbury,  at  the  negotiation  of  Lisle,  offered  to  surrender  all  the  distant 
conquests  England  had  made  from  France  and  her  allies,  on  condition  of  the  cession  of 
Trinidad  by  Spain,  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope?  Cochin  and  Ceylon  by  Holland,  and 
some  minor  concessions  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  the  Netherlands.  Malmesburj  wa* 
ordered  out  of  the  territories  of  the  Republic. 


352  JEFFEKSON'S  VIEWS.  [CHAP.  vn. 

which  no  dullness  of  observation,  no  narrow  partisan  fury  could 
be  insensible. 

Some  very  moderate  measures  finally  passed  Congress,  and 
Jefferson  intimates,  that  even  so  much  would  not  have  been 
done  to  carry  out  the  policy  proclaimed  at  the  opening  of  the 
session,  had  not  the  Federalists  gone  too  far  wholly  to  retract. 
He  wrote  to  Edward  Eutledge  June  24th : 

"  They  went  on  with  frigates  and  fortifications,  because  they  were  going  on  with 
them  before.  They  directed  eighty  thousand  of  their  militia  to  hold  themselves  in 
readiness  for  service.  But  they  rejected  the  proposition  to  raise  cavalry,  artillery, 
and  a  provisional  army,  and  to  trust  private  ships  with  arms  in  the  present  combus 
tible  state  of  things." 

Jefferson  had  originally  disapproved  of  the  call  for  an 
extra  session,  declaring  "  everything  pacific  could  have  been 
done  without  Congress,  and  [that]  he  hoped  nothing  was  contem 
plated  which  was  not  pacifici"1  After  reaching  the  capital,  but 
before  the  opening  of  the  session,  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Gerry, 
from  which  the  following  are  extracts  : 

"I  entirely  commend  your  dispositions  towards  Mr.  Adams;  knowing  his  Avorth 
as  intimately,  and  esteeming  it  as  much  as  any  one,  and  acknowledging  the  prefer 
ence  of  his  claims,  if  any  I  could  have  had,  to  the  high  office  conferred  on  him. 
But  in  truth,  I  had  neither  claims  nor  wishes  on  the  subject,  though  I  know  it  will 
be  difficult  to  obtain  belief  of  this." 

After  declaring  how  firmly  he  had  determined  on  perma 
nent  retirement ;  that  he  "never  in  his  life  exchanged  a  word 
with  any  person  on  the  subject"  of  being  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  "  till  he  found  his  name  brought  forward  generally  ;" 
that  he  ultimately  met  the  public  call  on  him  with  reluctance, 
and  then  with  the  hope  "  that  the  very  thing  might  happen  which 
had  happened  ;"  that  he  considered  the  second  office  easy  and 
honorable,  and  the  first  "  but  a  splendid  misery,"  he  added : 

"  You  express  apprehensions  that  stratagems  will  be  used  to  produce  a  misun 
derstanding  between  the  President  and  myself.  Though  not  a  word  having  this 
tendency  has  ever  been  hazarded  to  me  by  any  one,  yet  I  consider  as  a, certainty 
that  nothing  will  be  left  untried  to  alienate  him  from  me.  These  machinations  will 
proceed  from  the  Hamiltonians  by  whom  he  is  surrounded,  and  who  are  only  a  little 
less  hostile  to  him  than  to  me.  It  cannot  but  damp  the  pleasure  of  cordiality,  when 
we  suspect  that  it  is  suspected.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  it  is  impossible  for  Mr, 

»  To  Peregrine  Fitzhugh,  April  9th. 


CHAP.  VII.]  HIS    LETTER    TO    GERRY.  353 

Adams  to  believe  that  the  state  of  rny  mind  is  what  it  really  is  ;  that  he  may  think 
I  view  him  as  an  obstacle  in  my  way.  I  have  no  supernatural  power  to  impress 
truth  on  the  mind  of  another,  nor  he  any  to  discover  that  the  estimate  which  he 
may  form,  on  a  just  view  of  the  human  wind  as  generally  constituted,  may  not  be 
just  in  its  application  to  a  special  consul  uti on  This  may  be  a  source  of  private 
uneasiness  to  'is  ;  I  honestly  confess  that  it  is  so  to  me  at  this  time.  But  neither 
of  us  is  capable  of  letting  it  have  effect  on  our  public  duties.  Those  who  may  en 
deavor  to  separate  us,  are  probably  excited  by  the  fear  that  I  might  have  influence 
on  the  executive  councils  ;  but  when  they  shall  know  that  I  consider  my  office  as 
constitutionally  confined  to  legislative  functions,  and  that  I  could  not  take  any  part 
whatever  in  executive  consultations,  even  were  it  proposed,  their  fears  may  perhaps 
subside,  and  their  object  be  found  not  worth  a  machination." 

His  views  of  the  proper»policy  to  be  pursued  at  this  juncture, 
and  on  the  posture  and  designs  of  parties,  are  too  important  and 
earnestly  expressed  to  be  passed  ovrer : 

44 1  do  sincerely  wish,  with  you,  that  we  could  take  our  stand  on  a  ground  per 
fectly  neutral  and  independent  towards  all  nations.  It  has  been  my  constant  object 
through  my  public  life,  and  with  respect  to  the  English  and  French,  particularly,  I 
have  too  often  expressed  to  the  former  my  wishes,  and  made  to  them  propositions 
verbally  and  in  writfng,  officially  and  privately,  to  official  and  private  characters, 
for  them  to  doubt  of  my  views,  if  they  would  be  content  with  equality.  Of  this 
they  are  in  possession  of  several  written  and  formal  proofs,  in  my  own^  hand  writing. 
But  tiny  have  wished  a  monopoly  of  commerce  and  fnfluenoe  with  us  ;  and  they 
have  in  fact  obtained  it.  When  we  take  notice  that  theirs  is  the  workshop  to  which 
we  go  for  all  we  want ;  that  with  them  centre  either  immediately  or  ultimately,  all 
the  labors  of  our  hands  and  lands ;  tkat  to  them  belongs,  either  openly  or  secretly, 
the  great  mass  of  our  navigation ;  that  even  the  factorage  of  their  affairs  here  is 
kept  to  themselves  by  factitious  citizenships ;  that  these  foreign  and  false  citizens 
now  constitute  the  great  body  of  what  are  caTied  our  merchants,  fill  our  seaports, 
are  planted  in  every  little  town  and  district  of  the  interior  country,  sway  everything 
in  the  former  places  by  their  own  votes,  and  those  of  their  dependents  in  the  latter, 
by  their  insinuations  and  the  influence  of  their  ledgers  ;  that  they  are  advancing  fast 
to  a  monopoly  of  our  banks  and  public  funds,  and  thereby  placing  our  public  finances 
under  their  control ;  that  they  have  in  their  alliance  the  most  influential  characters 
in  and  out  of  office  ;  when  they  have  shown  that  by  aft  these  bearings  on  the  differ 
ent  branches  of  the  government,  they  can  force  it  to  proceed  in  whatever  direction 
they  dictate,  and  bend  the  interests  of  this  country  entirely  to  the  will  of  another  ; 
when  all  this,  I  say,  i?  attended  to,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  say  we  stand  on  inde 
pendent  gfound,  impossible  for  a  free  mind  nofc  to  see  and  to  groan  under  the  bond 
age  in  which  it  is  bound.  If  anything  after  this  could  excite  surprise,  it  would  be 
that  they  have  been  able  so  far  to  throw  dust  in  tke  eyes  of  our  own  citizens,  as  to 
fix  on  those  who  wish  merely  to  recover  self-government  the  charge  of  subserving 
one  foreign  influence,  because  they  resist  submission  to  another.  But  they  possess 
our  printing  presses,  a  powerful  engine  in  their  government  of  us.  At  this  very 
moment,  they  would  have  drawn  us  into  a  war  on  the  side  of  England,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  failure  of  her  bank.  Such  was  their  open  and  loud  cry,  and  that  of 
their  gazettes,  till  this  event.  After  plunging  us  in  all  the  broils  of  the  European 
VOL.  II. — 23 


354  HE    TAKES    GROUND    AGAINST   THE    PRESIDENT.     [CHAP.  VII 

nations,  there  would  remain  but  one  act  to  close  our  tragedy,  that  is,  to  break  up 
our  Union  ;  and  even  this  they  have  ventured  seriously  and  solemnly  to  propose  and 
maintain  by  arguments  in  a  Connecticut  paper.  I  have  been  bappy,  however,  in 
believing,  from  the  stifling  of  this  effort,  that  that  dose  was  found  too  strong,  and 
excited  us  much  repugnance  there  as  it  did  horror  in  other  parts  of  our  country, 
and  that  whatever  follies  we  may  be  led  into  as  to  foreign  nations,  we  shall  never 
give  up  our  Union,  the  last  anchor  of  our  hope,  and  that  alone  which  is  to  prevent 
this  heavenly  country  from  becoming  an  arena  of  gladiators  Much  as  I  abhor  war, 
and  view  it  as  the  greatest  scourge  of  mankind,  and  anxiously  as  I  wish  to  keep  out 
of  the  broils  of  Europe,  I  would  yet  go  with  my  brethren  into  these,  rather  than 
eeparute  from  them.  But  I  hope  we  may  still  keep  clear  of  them,  notwith 
standing  our  present  thraldom,  and  that  time  may  be  given  us  to  reflect  on  the 
awful  crisis  we  have  passed  through,  and  to  find  some  means  of  shielding  ourselves 
in  future  from  foreign  influence,  political,  commercial,  or  in  whatever  other  form  it 
may  be  attempted.  I  can  scarcely  withhold  myself  from  joining  in  the  wish  of  Silaa 
Deane,  that  there  were  an  ocean  of  fire  between  us  and  the  Old  World." 

Mr.  Adams's  message  at  the  opening  of  the  special  session 
met  with  Jefferson's  prompt  and  unequivocal  condemnation. 
His  first  letter  afterwards  (to  Colonel  Bell,  May  18th)  contains 
the  following  expressions : 

"  When  we  first  met,  our  information  from  the  members  from  all  parts  of  the 
Union  was,  that  peace  was  the  universal  wish.  Whether  they  will  now  raise  their 
tone  to  that  of  the  Executive,  and  embark  in  all  the  measures  indicative  of  war, 
and,  by  taking  a  threatening  posture,  provoke  hostilities  from  the  opposite  party, 
is  far  from  being  certain.  There  are  many  who  think,  that,  not  to  support  the 
Executive  is  to  abandon  Government.  As  far  as  we  can  judge  as  yet,  the  changes 
in  the  late  election  have  been  unfavorable  to  the  Republican  interest ;  still,  we  hope 
they  will  neither  make  nor  provoke  war." 

From  this  moment  forward  his  whole  correspondence  ranks 
him  unequivocally  and  avowedly  with  the  decided  opposition;  nor 
is  there  a  pretence  to  the  contrary  suffered  to  go  forth,  either 
by  implication,  or  by  withholding  his  views  where  there  was  any 
occasion  for  their  expression.  It  is  not  necesary  to  follow  his 
various  declarations,  betraying  as  they  do  more  or  less  feeling 
according  to  circumstances. — Some  were  mild,  and  some  as  severe 
as  was  his  wont  when  speaking  of  opponents  who  he  thought 
transcended  the  fair  bounds  of  propriety. 

On  Gerry's  being  appointed  to  the  French  mission,  he  imme 
diately  (June  21)  addressed  him  in  the  following  very  serious 
strain  : 

"  Our  countrymen  have  divided  themselves  by  such  strong  affections,  to  the 
French  and  the  English,  that  nothing  will  eecure  us  internally  but  a  divorce  from  both 


CHAP.   VII  ]  HIS    VIEWS    OF    THE    MISSION,    ETC.  3*55 

nstfrons ;  and  this  must  be  the  object  of  every  real  American,  and  its  attainment  ia 
practicable  without  much  self-denial.  But  for  this,  peace  is  necessary.  Be  assured 
of  this,  my  dear  sir,  that  if  we  engage  in  a  war  during  our  present  passions,  and  our 
present  weakness  in  some  quarters,  our  Union  runs  the  greatest  risk  of  not  coming 
out  of  that  war  in  the  shape  in  which  it  enters  it.  My  reliance  for  our  preser 
vation  is  in  yoitr  acceptance  of  this  mission.  I  know  the  tender  circumstances 
which  will  oppose  themselves  to  it.  But  its  duration  will  be  short,  and  its  reward 
long.  You  have  it  in  your  power,  by  accepting  and  determining  the  character  of 
the  mission,  to  secure  the  present  peace  and  eternal  union  of  your  country.  If  you 
decline,  on  motives  of  private  pain,  a  substitute  may  be  named  who  has  enlisted  his 
passions  in  the  present  contest,  and  by  the  preponderance  of  his  vote  in  the  mission 
may  entail  on  us  calamities,  your  share  in  which,  and  your  feelings,  will  outweigh 
whatever  pain  a  temporary  absence  from  your  family  could  give  you.  The  sacrifice 
will  be  short,  the  remorse  would  be  never-ending.  Let  me,  then,  my  dear  sir, 
conjure  your  acceptance,  and  that  you  will,  by  this  act,  seal  the  mission  with  the 
confidence  of  all  parties.  Your  nomination  has  given  a  spring  to  hope,  which  was 
dead  before." 

Jefferson  also  uniformly  speaks  well  of  the  selection  of  Gen 
eral  Pinckney  and  of  the  subsequent  conduct  of  that  gentleman 
in  France.  • 

The  height  which  party  exasperation  reached  during  the 
extra  session,  is  thus  strongly  depicted  in  a  letter  to  Edward 
But! edge,  June  24th  : 

"  You  and  I  have  formerly  seen  warm  debates  and  high  political  passions.  But 
gentlemen  of  different  politics  would  then  speak  to  each  other,  and  separate  the 
business  of  the  Senate  from  that  of  society.  It  is  not  so  now.  Men  who  have 
been  intimate  all  their  lives,  cross  the  streets  to  avoid  meeting,  and  turn  their 
heads  another  way,  lest  they  should  be  obliged  to  touch  their  hats.  This  may  do 
for  young  men  with  whom  passion  is  enjoyment,  but  it  is  afflicting  to  peaceable 
minds." 

He  remarks,  on  a  different  subject,  in  the  same  letter  : 

"  We  had,  in  1793,  the  most  respectable  character  in  the  universe.  What  the 
neutral  nations  think  of  us  now,  I  know  not ;  but  we  are  low  indeed  with  the  belli 
gerents.  Their  kicks  and  cuffs  prove  their  contempt.  If  we  weather  the  present 
storm,  I  hope  we  shall  avail  ourselves  of  the  calm  peace,  to  place  our  foreign  con 
nections  under  a  new  and  different  arrangement.  We  must  make  the  interest  of 
every  nation  stand  surety  for  their  justice,  and  their  own  loss  to  follow  injury  to  us, 
as  effect  follows  its  cause.  As  to  everything  except  commerce,  we  ought  to 
divorce  ourselves  from  them  all." 

It  appears  from  Mr.  Adams's  Works  that  one  of  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  political  letters  of  this  period  fell  into  his  hands ;  or  rather 
that  an  individual  saw  it  and  communicated  his  "impressions'"' 


356  ORIGIN    OF    HTS    PARLIAMENTARY    MANUAL.       [CHAP.  VII 

of  its  contents — and  it  called  out  a  characteristic  explosion  of 
temper  from  the  President.  But  as  he  made  no  allusion  to  it 
when,  a  few  years  after,  deliberately  writing  for  publication  an 
explanation  of  the  breaking  off  of  his  and  Jefferson's  intimacy  at 
this  very  period,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  lie  had  wholly 
forgotten  or  was  heartily  ashamed  of  his  unprovoked  and 
puerile  display  of  passion.1 

On  the  22d  of  January  preceding  (1797),  Mr.  Jeiferson 
wrote  his  old  friend  and  preceptor,  Mr.  Wythe,  to  know  whether 
he,  in  his  experience  as  a  presiding  officer  over  legislative  bodies, 
had  committed  any  parliamentary  rules  to  paper.  Mr.  Wythe 
had  not;  and  Jefferson  was  obliged  to  depend,  in  presiding  over 
the  Senate,  upon  his  knowledge  of  those  rules  acquired  by  ob 
servation  as  a  member  of  deliberative  bodies,  and  upon  a  common 
place  book,  on  the  subject,  made  while  he  was  a  student  and 
practitioner  of  law.  It  affords  a  new  specimen  of  his  wide  and 
minute  research  at  that  early  period,  that  this  common-place 
book  already  contained  the  great  body  of  those  citations  and 
references  which  all  public  men  are  now  familiar  with  as  Jef 
ferson's  Manual  of  Parliamentary  Law,  and  which  were  received 
as  implicit,  if  not  sole  authority  on  that  subject,  in  perhaps 
every  State  in  our  Union,  until  long  experience  and  new  develop 
ments  of  circumstances,  called  for  modifications  or  alterations  in 
some  particulars.  They  still  remain  the  ba-is  of  all  our  collec 
tions  of  parliamentary  law. 

This  original  common-place  book,  entitled  "Parliamentary 
Pocket  Book  "  is  before  us,  a  leather  bound  duodecimo,  one 
hundred  and  five  pages  of  which,  in  a  hand  as  compact  as 
ordinary  print,  are  coverea  with  references.  It  takes  a  consider 
ably  wider  range  than  the  Manual  which  he  codified  from  it 
while  President  of  the  Senate,  because  it  traces  down  the 
parliamentary  law  from  its  origin,  and  therefore  includes  con 
siderable  that  was  obsolete,  or  which,  being  specially  applicable 
to  the  English  system  of  government,  was  not  so  to  ours.* 

The  first  draft  of  the  Parliamentary  Manual — filled  with  inter- 

1  Mr.  Adams's  momentary  anger  was  vented  in  a  letter  to  Gen.  Uriah  Forrest.  .This 
is  made  the  text  and  occasion  of  some  very  remarkable  errors  of  statement  in  the  Con 
gress  edition  of  John  Adams's  Works.  See  APPENDIX,  No.  15. 

a  This  was  one  of  the  books  found  as  stated  at  vol.  i.  p.  16,  note.  To  give  some  idea 
of  its  scope,  we  quote  a  few  of  the  marginal  references  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur: 
u  Three  Estates  :  Members  for  new  boroughs  rejected  ;  Wittenagemote  ;  Courts  Saxon: 
Officers  Saxon  elected  and  deprived  ;  Parliaments  ordinary  and  extraordinary ;  Magna 


I  31  SAHOkf.  '../W?  MVAP'* 4*9  fH:i'/<-  W 


CHAP.  VIT.]        ADJOURNMENT LETTERS    TO    DAUGHTERS.  357 

lineations  and  erasures,  with  "  riders  "  attached,  and  amended 
passages  pasted  over  the  original — stitched  and  folded  so  as  to  be 
carried  within  the  more  comprehensive  Pocket  Book — is  also 
before  as.  It  corresponds  very  closely  with  the  familiar  pub 
lished  copy,  except  that  it  contains  one  more  section  (with  a  pen 
run  through  it,  however),  and  the  present  order  of  arrangement 
is  not  observed  except  in  the  index.  The  entries  were  obvious 
ly  made  seriatim,  as  the  several  facts  or  points  were  incidentally 
investigated  and  decided. 

The  special  session  terminated  on  the  10th  of  July ;  but  Mr. 
Jefferson,  according  to  custom,  yielded  the  chair  to  a  President 
pro  tempore  (William  Bradford  of  Rhode  Island)  before  the 
period  of  adjournment.  This  occurred  on  the  6th.  He  left  the 
capital  that  day  and  reached  home  on  the  llth. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  25&,  1T97. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA: 

I  wrote  to  your  sister  the  last  week,  since  which  I  have  been  very  slowly 
getting  the  better  of  my  rheumatism,  though  very  slowly  indeed ;  being  only  able 
to  walk  a  little  stronger.  I  see  by  the  newspapers  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chwrch  and 
their  family  are  arrived  at  New  York.  I  have  not  heard  fr<$n  them,  and  therefore 
am  unable  to  say  anything  about  your  friend  Kitty,  or  whether  she  be  still  Miss 
Kitty.  The  condition  of  England  is  so  unsafe  that  every  prudent  person  »*h'o  can 
quit  it,  is  right  in  doing  so.  James  is  returned  to  this  place,  and  is  not  given  up  to 
drink  as  I  had  before  been  informed.  He  tells  me  his  next  trip  will  be  to  Spain.  I 
am  afraid  his  journeys  will  end  in  the  moon.  I  have  endeavored  to  persuade  him  to 
stay  where  he  is  and  lay  up  money.  We  are  not  able  yet  to  judge  when  Congress 
will  rise.  Opinions  differ  from  two  to  six  weeks.  A  few  days  will  probably  enable 
TIS  to  judge.  I  am  anxious  to  hear  that  Mr.  Randolph  and  the  children  have  got 
home  in  good  health  ;  I  wish  also  to  hear  that  your  sister  and  yourself  continue  in 
health  ;  it  is  a  circumstance  on  which  the  happiness  of  my  life  depends.  I  feel  the 
desire  of  never  separating  from  you  grow  daily  stronger,  for  nothing  can  compen 
sate  with  me  the  want  of  your  society.  My  warmest  affections  to  you  both. 
Adieu,  and  continue  to  love  me  as  I  do  you. 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


Charta ;  Officers  elective  ;  Peace  conservators — justices ;  Parliaments,  how  to  begin  ; 
4.  session,  what;  Parliament  not  subject  to  rules  of  common  law;  But  one  House  of 
Parliament ;  Errors  of  Parliament,  how  corrected  ;  Session,  what;  Orders  of  Parliament, 
when  determined ;  When  a  law  expires  ;  Estates  ;  Commons,  who  ;  When  two  houses  ; 
Peers,  how  called ;  What  a  dissolution  ;  Prorogation,  how ;  Opening  of  Parliament ;  Who 
choose  Speaker  ;  Freedom  of  Speech  ;  Committees ;  Proxy ;  Freedom  of  Parliament ; 
Consult  constituents  ;  Representation  ;  Law  of  Parliament,"  etc.  Then  follows  the  body 
of  the  parliamentary  law  arranged  by  topics  as  in  the  Manual,  though  the  order  and 
much  of  the  phraseology  are  different. 


358  LETTERS    TO   DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.  VII. 

To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  June  Bth,  1797. 

I  receiv)  with  inexpressible  pleasure  the  information  your  letter  contained. 
After  your  happy  establishment,  which  has  given  me  an  inestimable  friend,  to  whom 
I  can  leave  the  care  of  everything  I  love,  the  only  anxiety  I  had  remaining  was,  to 
see  Maria  also  so  associated  as  to  ensure  her  happiness.  She  could  not  have  been 
more  so  to  my  wishes,  if  I  had  had  the  whole  earth  free  to  have  chosen  a  partner  for 
her. 

I  now  see  our  fireside  formed  into  a  group,  no  one  member  of  which  has  a  fibre 
in  their  composition  whfch  can  ever  produce  any  jarring  or  jealousies  among  us. 
No  irregular  passions,  no  dangerous  bias,  which  may  render  problematical  the 
future  fortunes  and  happiness  of  our  descendants.  We  are  quieted  as  to  their  con 
dition  for  at  least  one  generation  more. 

In  order  to  keep  us  all  together,  instead  of  a  present  position  in  Bedford,  as  in 
your  case,  I  think  to  open  and  resettle  the  plantation  of  Pantops  for  them.  When 
I  look  to  the  ineffable  pleasures  of  my  family  society,  I  become  more  and  more  dis 
gusted  with  the  jealousies,  the  hatred,  and  the  rancorous  and  malignant  passions  of 
this  scene,  and  lament  my  having  ever  again  been  drawn  into  public  view.  Tran 
quillity  is  now  my  object.  I  have  seen  enough  of  political  honors  to  know  that  they 
are  but  splendid  torments  ;  and  however  one  might  be  disposed  to  render  services 
on  which  any  of  their  fellow-citizens  should  set  a  value,  yet,  when  as  many  would 
depreciate  them  as  a  public  calamity,  one  may  well  entertain  a  modest  doubt  of 
their  real  importance,  and  feel  the  impulse  of  duty  to  be  very  weak.  The  real  diffi 
culty  is,  that  being  once  delivered  into  the  hands  of  others  whose  feelings  are 
friendly  to  the  individual  and  warm  to  the  public  cause,  how  to  withdraw  from 
them  without  leaving  a  dissatisfaction  in  their  mind,  and  an  impression  of  pusil 
lanimity  with  the  public. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  EPPINGTON. 

MONTICELLO,  Dec.  2dt  '97. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

You  will  be  surprised  at  receiving  a  letter  from  me  dated  here  at  this  time, 
out  a  series  of  bad  weather  having  suspended  our  work  many  days,  has  caused  my 
detention.  I  have  for  some  time  had  my  trunk  packed  and  issued  my  last  orders, 
and  been  only  waiting  for  it  to  cease  raining,  but  it  still  rains.  I  have  a  bad 
prospect  of  rivers  nd  roads  before  me.  Your  sister  removed  to  Belmont  about 
three  days  ago  ;  the  weather  ever  since  has  kept  us  entirely  asunder.  If  to-morrow 
permits  my  departure,  I  shall  be  in  Philadelphia  in  a  week  from  this  time.  You 
shall  hear  from  me  then,  should  it  be  only  to  provoke  answers  to  my  letters  assuring 
me  of  your  health,  and  Mr.  Eppes's,  and  the  good  family  of  Eppington.  I  received 
his  letter  from  Mrs.  Payne's  which  gave  us  great  comfort ;  but  we  have  appre 
hended  much  that  you  did  not  get  to  Eppington  before  the  bad  weather  set  in. 
Tell  Mr.  Eppes  thdbl  leave  orders  for  a  sufficient  force  to  begin  and  furnish  his  houses 
during  the  week  after  the  Christmas  holidays ;  so  that  his  people  may  come  safely 
after  New  Year's  Day ;  the  overseer  at  Shadwell  will  furnish  them  provisions.  Pre 
sent  my  afections  to  him,  and  continue  to  love  me  as  you  are  tenderly  beloved  by 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


CHAP.  VII.]  MARRIAGE    OF   MARIA   JEFFERSON.  359 

In  explanation  of  the  allusions  of  the  preceding  letters,  and 
of  the  changed  address  of  the  last  one,  it  is  to  be  stated  that  on 
the  13th  of  October,  1797,  Maria,  Mr.  Jefferson's  youngest 
daughter,  was  married  to  her  cousin,1  John  Wayles  Eppes,  and 
thenceforth,  for  a  period,  took  up  her  residence  at  Eppingtori, 
the  happy  home  of  her  childhood.  This  old  \?rirginia  seat  and 
its  inmates  are  thus  described  in  a  letter  to  us  from  the  only  son 
of  Maria  Jefferson  Eppes. 

TALLAHASSIB,  FLORIDA, ,  1856. 

DEAR  SIR: 

You  ask  me  for  a  description  of  Eppington,  but  such  an  impression  as  I  can 
now  give  must  be  considered  an  imperfect  sketch.  The  mansion-house  itself,  an 
old-fashioned,  two-story  building,  with  a  hipped  roof  in  the  centre  and  wings  on  the 
sides,  with  a  hall  or  passage  in  front  running  from  one  wing  to  the  other  and  open 
ing  on  the  offices,  and  with  piazzas  in  front  and  rear,  was  placed  at  the  extreme 
side  of  a  large  level  or  lawn  covered  with  green  sward,  extending  to  a  considerable 
distance  in  front,  and  declining  on  the  left  side  as  you  entered,  and  in  the  rear  of 
the  house,  to  the  low  grounds  of  the  Appomatox,  a  mile  off.  In  front,  and  over  the 
neighborhood  road  which  skirted  the  lawn,  was  situated  the  garden,  long  famous  in 
the  vicinity  for  its  fine  vegetables  and  fruit;  and  to  the  right  of  the  lawn,  as  you 
entered,  was  an  extensive  orchard  of  the  finest  fruit,  with  the  stables  between,  at 
the  corner  and  on  the  road.  The  mansion,  painted  of  a  snowy  white,  with  green 
blinds  to  the  windows,  and  its  row  of  offices  at  the  end,  was  almost  imbedded  in  a 
beautiful  double  row  of  the  tall  Lombardy  poplar — the  most  admired  of  all  trees  iu 
the  palmy  d%ys  of  old  Virginia — and  this  row  reached  to  another  double  row  or 
avenue  whi<jh  skirted  one  side  of  the  lawn,  dividing  it  from  the  orchard  and  stables. 
The  lawn  in  front  was  closed  in  by  a  fence  with  a  small  gate  in  the  middle  and  a 
large  one  011  either  extremity,  one  opposite  the  avenue  of  poplars,  and  the  other  at 
the  end  of  the  carriage-way  which  swept  around  it. 

The  plantation  was  quite  an  extensive  one,  and  in  the  days  of  my  grandfather, 
Francis  Eppes,  sen.,  was  remarkably  productive.  Indeed  it  could  hardly  have  been 
otherwise  under  such  management  as  his  ;  for  he  was  eminent  for  his  skill  both  in 
agriculture  and  horticulture;  and  I  have  heard  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  knew  him 
intimately,  say  of  him,  that  he  considered  him  not  only  "  the  first  horticulturist  iu 
America,"  but  "  a  man  of  the  soundest  practical  judgment  on  all  subjects  that  he 
had  ever  known." 

"  >•  ell  do  I  remember  his  venerable  appearance — his  grave  arid  dignified 
demeanor ;  his  serious,  thoughtful,  loving  look,  so  expressive  of  the  mingled  firm 
ness  and  kindness  of  his  character  ;  and  from  these  boyish  impressions  can  well 
credit  what  I  so  often  heard  in  after  life  of  his  inflexible  adherence  to  principle. 
Sure  I  am  that  he,  beyond  most  men,  was  a  man  who  could  not  be  easily  turned 
from  his  purpose ;  that  he  was  calm  and  deliberate  in  counsel  and  resolute  in  action 
— worthy  of  the  poet's  praise, 

"  Juptum  et  tenacem  proposlti  virum,"  etc. 

\nd  yet  my  own  boundless  love   for  him,  the  love   of  his  children,  his  wife,  hla 
J  Rather,  half  cousin. 


360  DESCRIPTION    OF    EPPINGTON.  [dlAP.  VIL 

friends,  his  neighbors,  his  domestics,  shows  that  the  sterner  features  of  his 
character  were  softened  and  subdued  by  the  possession  of  a  heart  overflowing 
with  love,  and  a  constant  and  active  solicitude  for  the  happiness  of  all  around  him. 
Never,  I  believe,  was  there  a  husband,  father,  master,  friend,  more  truly  and  justly 
beloved  while  living,  and  mourned  when  dead. 

Of  my  grandmother,  Elizabeth  Wayles,  it  is  but  a  just  meed  of  praise  to  say 
that  she  was  entirely  worthy  to  be  the  companion  and  friend  of  such  a  man.  Full 
of  love  and  gentleness,  she  won  and  held  not  only  the  heart  of  her  husband,  but 
the  affections  of  all  who  approached  her ;  while  her  well-ordered  household  and 
excellent  management  made  her  long  famous  as  a  "  housekeeper  "  in  that  part  of 
Virginia.  Endowed  with  a  mind  of  superior  order,  she  soon  perceived  the  excel 
lence  of  the  outside  economy  of  her  husband,  and  felt  and  understood  that  it  was 
her  part  and  duty  to  present  a  perfect  parallel  within  doors ;  and  with  a  vigor  and 
determination  of  spirit  only  equalled  by  its  uniform  kindness,  she  set  herself  to 
the  work,  and  most  effectually  did  he  accomplish  it  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  her 
husband,  and  the  admiration  of  her  children,  and  friends. 

Such  were  the  Heads  of  the  House,  and  such  was  Eppington  itself  as  seen  through 
the  vista  of  bygone  years !  Here  were  reared  a  family  of  one  son  (m^father,  John 
W.  Eppes),  and  six  daughters,  all  happily  married  and  settled  in  the  world.  And 
here  was  the  abode  of  a  hospitality  only  known  in  the  happiest  days  of  the  4  Old 
Dominion' — when  friends  and  even  acquaintances  would  visit  each  other  with  their 
carriages,  horses  and  servants,  and  sojourn  for  months  and  months,  always  sure  of 
and  always  receiving  the  kindest  welcome.  Here  too,  under  the  tuition  of  my  grand 
mother,  who  taught  me  to  read,  and  in  the  society  of  my  grandfather,  whose  con 
stant  companion  I  was  in  his  daily  rides  over  the  plantation,  were  spent  the  earliest, 
happiest  days  of  my  life.  Here  I  remember  but  one  sorrow,  the  death  of  my 
loved  playmate  and  only  sister,  Muria.  Never  can  I  forget  the  picture  ef  loveliness 
and  innocence  of  which  she  was  to  my  mind  the  fairest  type  !  never  the  grief  which 
seized  upon  my  young  heart  when  they  told  me  she  was  dead !  alas  1 

"  Elle  etait  de  ce  monde,  ou  les  plus  belles  choses 

Ont  le  pire  destin  : — 

Et  rose,  elle  a  vecu  ce  que  vivent  les  roses, 
L'espace  d'un  matin." 

In  the  garden  at  Eppington  repose  her  mortal  remains,  and  by  the  side  of  those 
of  my  beloved  grandmother.  For  "  as  a  tale  that  is  told,"  the  end  soon  came  !  At 
the  age  of  sixty-three,  my  grandfather,  who  until  three  years  before  had  enjoyed 
uninterrupted  health,  died,  and  was  buried  at  the  Sweet  Springs,  in  Virginia, 
whither  he  had  gone  in  company  with  my  father,  in  the  hope  of  being  relieved  of 
a  chronic  disease  ;  and  in  a  few  short  years  my  grandmother  followed  him  to  the 
spirit  world.  The  establishment  at  Eppington  passed  into  other  hands,  and  I  went 
forth  with  my  father  to  his  new  home. 

FRANCIS  EPPES. 
To  HENRY  S.  RANDALL,  Esq. 


The  husband  of  Maria  Jefferson, — the  "  Jack  Eppes  "  of  Mr, 
Jefferson's  letters — was  a  gallant  young  fellow  of  twenty -five,  of 
most  engaging  appearance  and  address,  possessing  a  sunny  tern 


CFJAP.   VII.]  MA.ZZEI    LETTER    PUBLISHED.  361 

per,  a  warm  heart,  high  principles,  intuitive  prudence,  a  finished 
education,  and  those  talents  which  subsequently  made  him  the 
Republican  leader  in  Congress  and  one  of  the  most  prompt  and 
effective  parliamentary  debaters  of  his  day.  He  might  have 
risen  to  a  still  more  commanding  position  had  his  life  not 
terminated  when  it  had  just  touched  the  full  meridian  of  intel 
lectual  manhood.1 

We  must  now  go  back  to  record  a  circumstance  which  caused 
a  good  deal  of  feeling,  not  to  say  excitement,  in  political  circles 
at  the  time,  and  which  has  been  the  theme  of  much  controver 
sial  and  historical  comment. 

We  gave  in  its  chronological  place  a  letter  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to 
Philip  Mazzei,  dated  April  24th  1796.'  The  latter,  having  no 
permission  so  to  do,  published  an  Italian  translation  of  it  in 
Florence  on  the  1st  of  January,  1797.  From  thence  it  appeared 
retranslated  into  French  in  the  "  Gazette  Rationale,  ou  le 
Moniteur  Universel "  Paris,  January  25th.  Translated  the  third 
time,  and  now  back  into  English,  it  made  its  appearance  in  the 
American  newspapers  in  the  beginning  of  May.  The  earliest 
American  publication  under  our  eye  is  dated  May  4th.  Its 
style  bore  traces  of  its  metamorphoses. — Though  far  from  accu 
rate,  its  purport  was  sufficiently  preserved  in  general,  except 
that  one  important  change  occurred  in  transposing  the  word 
'•forms"  into  u form"  in  the  second  sentence,  and  another  in 
adding  at  the  close,  the  following  words,  of  which  there  was 
not  a  vestige  in  the  original:  ''It  suffices  that  we  arrest  the 
progress  of  that  system  of  ingratitude  and  injustice  towards 
France,  from  which  they  would  alienate  us,  to  bring  us  under 
British  influence  "  etc. 

Mr.  Jefferson  first  saw  this  publication  on  the  9th  of  May  at 
Bladensburg,  on  his  way  to  Philadelphia,  to  take  his  seat  as 
presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  at  the  late  special  session.  The 
Federal  press  at  once  opened  its  assaults  on  him.  Porcupine's 
(Gobbet's)  Gazette  declared  in  a  letter  to  Jefferson  (May  20th) 
that  it  was  "  unfortunate  for  the  ancient  Dominion  of  Virginia, 
that  the  names  of  the  late  secretary  Randolph,  Giles,  Madison, 
Monroe  and  himself  was  found  in  its  rolls  of  citizens ;  but  whilst 

-  He  died  (of  a  rheumatic  affection  of  long  standing)  in  the  summer  of  1825,  aged 
fifty-three. 

a  See  ante,  p.  295. 


362  MADISON    CONSULTED.  [CHAP.  VII. 

she  possessed  the  beloved  Washington,  and  the  memory  of  his 
great  achievements  and  illustrious  character  was  cherished  by 
Americans,  those  names,  like  specks  upon  the  sun's  disk,  would 
be  hut  transiently  observed,  and  detract  but  inconsiderably  from 
her  lustre."  Gobbet  had  no  laudations  for  Washington  except 
when  they  were  to  be  made  vehicles  of  attacks  upon  others. — 
We  will  not  say  that  this  comported  with  the  ultra-Federal 
programme  of  political  action  in  the  first  particular.  But  it 
undeniably  did  in  the  last.  Men  who  differed  cardinally  from 
the  first  President  in  their  political  ideas  and  aims,  and  who  as 
Monroe  declared,  worked  "  underhanded  "  in  regard  to  him,  had 
learned  to  make  it  their  grand  stroke  of  policy  "  to  use  his  name 
and  standing,"  "  to  serve  their  purposes."  :  It  was  difficult  for 
any  Eepublican  to  utter  earnest  words  for  his  principles  or  his 
side,  without,  according  to  the  showing  of  these  ingenious 
appropriators,  reflecting  upon,  or  directly  traducing  General 
Washington.  It  was  soon  found  by  them,  of  course,  that  Jeffer 
son's  Mazzei  letter  had  been  written  for  that  special  object ! — 
The  publication  placed  Mr.  Jefferson  in  an  embarrassing  posi 
tion.  But  he  remained  silent  on  the  subject,  in  his  correspon 
dence,  until  after  the  adjournment.  He  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison, 
August  3d : 

u  The  variety  of  topics,  the  day  I- was  with  you,  kept  out  of  sight  the  letter  to  Maz 
zei,  imputed  to  me  in  the  papers,  the  general  substance  of  which  is  mine,  though 
the  diction  has  been  considerably  altered  and  varied  in  the  course  of  its  translations 
from  English  into  Italian,  from  Italian  into  French,  and  from  French  into  English. 
I  first  met  it  at  Bladensburg,  and  for  a  moment  conceived  I  must  take  the  field  of  the 
public  papers.  I  could  not  disavow  it  wholly,  because  the  greatest  part  was  mine, 
in  substance,  though  not  in  form.  I  could  not  avow  it  as  it  stood,  because  the 
form  was  not  mine,  and,  in  one  place,  the  substance  [was]  very  materially  falsified. 
This  then  would  render  explanations  necessary ;  nay,  it  would  render  proofs  of  the 
whole  necessary,  and  draw  me  at  letigth  into  a  publication  of  all  (even  the  secret) 
transactions  of  the  Administration  while  I  was  in  it ;  and  embroil  me  personally 
with  every  member  of  the  executive,  with  the  judiciary,  and  with  others  still.  I  soon 
decided  in  my  own  mind  to  be  entirely  silent.  I  consulted  with  several  friends  at  Phil 
adelphia,  who,  every  one  of  them,  were  clearly  against  my  avowing  or  disavowing, 
and  some  of  them  conjured  me  most  earnestly  to  let  nothing  provoke  me  to  it.  I 
corrected,  in  conversation  with  them,  a  substantial  misrepresentation  in  the  copy 
published.  The  original  has  a  sentiment  like  this  (for  I  have  it  not  before  me,: 
"  they  are  endeavoring  to  submit  us  to  the  substance,  as  they  have  already  to  the 
forms,  of  the  British  government ;"  meaning  by  forms,  the  birthdays,  levees,  pro 
cessions  to  Parliament,  inauguration  pomposities,  etc.  But  the  copy  published  Bays, 

1  See  vol.  i.  pp.  590-591. 


CHAP,  vii.]  WASHINGTON'S  FEELINGS.  363 

"  as  they  have  already  submitted  us  to  the  form  of  the  British,"  etc.,  making  me 
express  hostility  to  the  form  of  our  government,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  Constitution 
itself.  For  this  is  really  the  difference  of  the  word  form,  used  in  the  singular  or 
plural,  in  that  phrase,  in  the  English  language.  Now  it  would  be  impossible  for  me 
to  explain  this  publicly,  without  bringing  on  a  personal  difference  between  General 
Washington  and  myself,  which  nothing  before  the  publication  of  this  letter  has 
ever  done.  It  would  embroil  me  also  with  all  those  with  whom  his  character  is  still 
popular,  that  is  to  say,  nine  tenths  of  the  people  of  the  United  States;  and  what 
good  could  be  obtained  by  avowing  the  letter  with  the  necessary  explanations? 
Very  little  indeed,  in  my  opinion,  to  counterbalance  a  good  deal  of  harm.  From 
my  silence  in  this  instance,  it  cannot  be  inferred  that  I  am  afraid  to  own  the  gene 
ral  sentiments  of  the  letter.  If  I  am  subject  to  either  imputation,  it  is  to  that  of 
avowing  such  sentiments  too  frankly  both  in  private  and  public,  often  when  there  is 
no  necessity  for  it,  merely  because  I  disdain  everything  like  duplicity.  Still,  how 
ever,  I  am  open  to  conviction.  Think  for  me  on  the  occasion,  and  advise  me  what 
to  do,  and  confer  with  Colonel  Monroe  on  the  subject." 

He  ultimately  persevered  in  his  determination  to  remain 
silent. 

Some  absurd  declarations  of  Pickering,  presently  to  be 
noticed,  render  General  Washington's  impressions  and  feelings 
on  the  publication  of  the  Mazzei  letter  a  subject  of  interest. 
Jefferson  always  asserted  that  he  understood  its  allusions  too 
well  to  apply  any  of  them  to  himself,1  and  that  he  neither 
sought,  needed,  nor  received  any  explanations  on  the  subject. 
A  letter  from  "Washington  to  John  Nicholas  ("  Clerk  John  ") 
written  towards  a  year  after  the  publication  of  the  Mazzei  letter 
(March  8th,  1798)  contains  the  following  passage : 

"  Nothing  short  of  the  evidence  you  have  adduced,  corroborative  of  intimations 
which  I  had  received  long  before  through  another  channel,  could  have  shaken  my 
belief  in  the  sincerity  of  a  friendship,  which  I  had  conceived  was  possessed  for  me 
by  the  person  to  whom  you  allude." 

The  person  in  whose  friendship  General  Washington  here 
declares  his  confidence  first  effectually  shaken,  was,  says  Mr. 
Sparks  (who  wrote,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  with  Mr.  Nicholas's  letter 
before  him)  Mr.  Jefferson.2  The  "  intimations,"  received  "  long 
before,"  were  doubtless  the  communications  of  General  Lee — 
for  it  would  be  preposterous  to  suppose  that  General  Washing 
ton  would  thus  designate  the  published  communication  to 

1  And  among  the  dilemmas  presented  in  Jefferson's  letter  to  Madison  of  August  3d, 
1797,  growing  out  of  the  publication  of  the  Mazzei  letter,  it  will  be  remarked  that  mi 
apprehension  is  expressed  that  General  Washington  will  resent  anything  in  the  letter 
itself,  if  no  explanations  are  attempted. 

-  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  xi.  p.  228 — note. 


MARSHALL'S  STATEMENTS,  ETC.  [CHAP.  vn. 

Mazzei — or  that  he  would  mention  simply  as  "intimations," 
demanding  corroborating  facts  to  show  their  unfriendliness, 
the  severe  imputations  of  the  Mazzei  letter,  providing  he  applied 
them  to  himself.  He  either,  therefore,  did  not  apply  them  to 
himself,  or  he  did  not  consider  them  proofs  of  unfriendliness.1 
Adopting  either  supposition,  the  inference  is  unavoidable  that  the 
Mazzei  letter  produced  no  rupture  or  even  alienation  between 
him  and  its  writer. 

The  Federalists  incessantly  harped  on  this  letter  up  to  and 
during  the  Presidential  election  of  1800 — with  what  effect,  the 
result  of  that  election  affords  sufficient  evidence. 

Judge  Marshall's  allusion  to  it  in  his  Life  of  "Washington  has 
been  already  noticed.  This  drew  out  a  very  severe  expression  in 
Mr.  Jefferson's  Ana,  his  chief  complaint  being  that  Marshall 
had  no  right,  in  a  historical  production,  to  assume  the  authen 
ticity  of  the  letter.  To  this  the  latter  made  a  very  angry  reply  in 
a  note  to  the  second  edition  of  his  work.  He  attempted  to  show 
that  if  the  "  interpolated  "  (closing)  sentence  had  been  spurious, 
as  alleged  by  Jefferson  (and  as  the  press  copy  of  the  letter  shows) 
he  certainly  would  have  denied  it  at  the  time.  He  then  takes 
up  the  "  avowed"  copy  and  labors  to  prove  that  it,  in  reality, 
went  quite  as  far  as  the  other ! 

When  Judge  Marshall  asserted  that  he  had  a  right  to  assume 
the  genuineness  of  the  letter,  because  it  "  was  never  questioned 
by  Mr.  Jefferson  or  by  any  of  his  numerous  friends,"  he  asserted 
more  in  the  latter  particular  than  he  could  possibly  know,  and 
what  chanced  to  be  wholly  inaccurate.  If  he  meant  a  published 
disclaimer,  he  probably  had  forgotten  that  he  had  recorded  in 
the  same  work  where  these  assertions  appeared,  that  General 
Washington  allowed  published  spurious  letters,  attributed  to 
himself,  to  remain  years  without  a  published  contradiction  ;  and 
it  would  hardly  do  to  say  that  he  considered  them  too  manifest 
forgeries  or  too  unimportant  to  be  entitled  to  that  notice,  as  he 


1  If  any  one  has  a  remote  suspicion  that  Gen.  Washington  would  have  viewed  any 
thing  he  considered  as  amounting  to  a  direct  or  indirect  assertion  or  insinuation  coming 
from  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  he  belonged  to  "  an  Anglican  monarchical  aristocratical  party  " — 
that  he  had,  like  Samson,  had  his  "  hair"  (to  use  the  Language  of  the  version  published 
in  1797)  "cut  off  by  the  whore  of  England,"  otherwise  than  with  lively  anger  and  indig 
nation,  they  will  do  well  to  consult  the  last  paragraph  of  Washington's  letter  to  Jefior- 
son,  of  July  6th,  1796.  (See  Washington's  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  139.) 

And  additional  light  might  be  thrown  on  parts  of  the  subject  by  reading  General 
Washington's  Correspondence  at  a  later  period  with  (Clerk)  John  Nicholas  and  Busiirod 
Washington  in  respect  to  a  spurious  leiter  signed  ''John  Langhorne." 


CHAP.  VH.J  PKOOFS    AXD    PROBABILITIES.  365 

did  after  retiring  from  the  Presidency  make  a  very  formal  disa 
vowal  of  them,  and  request  it  to  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  State.  This  gave  it  far  more  importance  than  a 
simple  publication,  and  he  of  course  knew  that  publication  in 
the  newspapers  would  at  once  follow.  Yet  Judge  Marshall 
clearly,  wre  think,  conveys  the  idea  that  the  lateness  of  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  disclaimer,  ought  to  impeach  its  veracity  ! 

We  cite  these  facts,  not  to  show  that  Marshall  was  more 
inflamed  by  prejudice  and  resentment  than  other  able  and  estim 
able  men  of  that  day — than  Jefferson  himself — but  further  to 
exhibit  the  unsoundness  of  that  well-preached  theory,  that 
the  violence  of  our  early  political  contests  was  all  confined  to 
one  man  or  one  side.  Besides,  to  admit  that  the  want  of  a 
denial  proves  a  charge,  would  he  a  fatal  one  to  the  subject  of  this 
biography  ! — We  have  already  seen  him  charged  by  quite  as 
conspicuous  an  enemy  as  Marshall,  of  suborning  a  printer  to 
commit  perjury.  We  do  not  find  in  his  contemporaneously  or 
posthumously  published  writings,  any  trace  of  a  denial  of  that 
specific  charge.  Others  nearly  as  odious  literally  rained  on 
him  for  upwards  of  a  quarter  of  a  century — some  of  them  osten 
sibly  substantiated  by  an  array  of  particular  and  even  minute 
circumstances.  Of  not  one  of  them  do  we  ever  find  him  making 
any  public  denial,  or  asking  anybody  to  do  it  for  him.  The 
most  we  find  is  his  supplying  materials,  in  a  very  limited  num 
ber  of  instances,  to  disprove  charges  involving  important  official 
or  historical  transactions.  We  scarcely  remember  an  example 
of  his  contradicting,  even  privately,  an  infamous  mere  personal 
accusation.  Those  who  knew  him  best,  never  heard  him  so 
much  as  mention  indecent  calumnies  which  rung  through  the 
press  through  the  lives  of  a  generation. 

We  rather  think  that  the  world  has  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  a  man  steeped  in  habitual  crime  and  infamy  is  never  struck 
dumb  by  his  conscience  when  he  is  called  upon  to  whitewash 
himself  by  a  falsehood.  And  if  an  attempt  at  self-exculpation 
proves  nothing,  the  omission  of  it  should  prove  nothing. 

The  unlucky  Mazzei  letter  was  not  to  pass  off  the  stage  with 
out  another  contemporaneous  notice  which  has  become  historic, 
and  we  may  as  wrell  complete 'the  story  of  this  tragi  co-farcical 
affair  here. 

In  1824,  Timothy  Pickering,  in  a  pamphlet  containing  a  furi 


306  PICKERING'S  ESTNUENDOS.  [CHAP.  vir. 

ous  attack  on  John  Adams,  Mr.  Jefferson  and  other  eminent 
statesmen,  published  some  new  pretended  disclosures  on  this  sub 
ject.  He  quoted  a  Doctor  Stuart  as  having  informed  him,  twenty 
years  before,  that  when  General  Washington  "  becsmie  a  private 
citizen,"  he  called  Mr.  Jefferson  to  account  for  expressions  in 
the  letter,  etc. ;  and  Mr.  Pickering  (speaking  for  himself  and  not 
for  his  informant,  Dr.  Stuart)  added : 

"In  what  manner  the  latter  [Jefferson]  humbled  himself,  and  appeased  the  just 
resentment  of  Washington,  will  never  be  known,  as,  some  time  after  his  death,  the 
correspondence  was  not  to  be  found,  and  a  diary  for  an  important  period  of  his 
Presidency  was  also  missing." 

The  innuendo  contained  in  the  two  last  statements,  is  not  to 
be  mistaken  ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  that  harsh,  angular  tempered, 
bitter,  and  when  stirred  by  private  resentment  or  the  conspicu- 
ousness  of  his  opponent,  malevolent  partisan,  who  never,  against 
such  an  opponent,  found  a  calumny  so  wild  or  atrocious,  or  a 
suspicion  so  dirty  and  improbable,  as  not  readily  to  appropriate 
it  to  his  own  use  and  give  it  all  the  sanction  it  could  derive 
from  his  affected  belief  and  industrious  circulation.  The  cabinet 
officer  whom  we  are  to  find  stealthily  and  systematically  betraying 
the  personal  and  official  confidence  of  his  own  principal,  through 
a  course  of  years,  was  not  only  the  proper  personage  to  believe 
or  affect  to  believe  a  kindred  charge  against  a  predecessor,  but  to 
boldly  throw  out,  on  the  strength  of  a  naked  hypothesis,  a  broad 
intimation  that  proofs  of  a  confession  of  the  charge  had  been  sup 
pressed  by  what  morally,  if  not  legally,  would  amount  to  a  theft. 
If  no  letters  on  the  subject  between  Washington  and 
Jefferson  were  found  among  the  papers  of  the  former,  after  his 
death,  the  natural  and  obvious  inference  would  be  that  none 
had  been  written.  No  single  fact  is  offered  affirmatively  to 
show  the  contrary.  The  non-appearance,  primu  facie  proves 
the  non-existence  ;  but  there  is  an  effort  to  color  it  into  the 
ground  of  an  opposite  suspicion,  by  calling  attention  to  what  is 
assumed  to  have  been  a  corresponding  chasm  in  General 
Washington's  diary.  A  fact  admitting  of  so  many  other  solutions 
is  brought  forward  as  involving  a  coincidence  sufficiently  remark 
able  to  form  a  foundation  for  a  charge,  or  broad  insinuation  of 
a  crime.  But,  unfortunately  for  Pickering,  the  eagerness  of  his 
malice  outran  his  circumspection.  The  chasm  in  the  diary  is 
placed  during  the  period  of  Washington's  presidency ;  and  that 


CHAP.  VII.]         THE  IMPUTATIONS  ON  LEAR.  367 

had  terminated  months  before  any  knowledge  of  the  Mazzei  let 
ter  had  reached  the  United  States  !  So  the  imaginary  coinci 
dence  falls  to  the  ground,  and  all  we  have  left  is,  that  no  letters  to 
prove  any  correspondence  between  Washington  and  Jefferson 
in  regard  to  the  Mazzei  letter,  were  found.  If  this  is  proof  of 
the  charge,  a  new  rule  of  evidence  should  be  introduced  into  the 
codes  of  ethics  and  jurisprudence  ;  namely,  that  accusations  of 
crime  are  riot  to  be  substantiated  by  facts,  but  by  t>he  want  of 
them — the  want  proving  that  another  crime  has  been  committed 
to  conceal  the  evidences  of  the  first  one. 

Such  a  hypothesis,  not  sufficient  to  bewilder  the  natural  sense 
of  right  possessed  by  a  young  child,  or  an  uneducated  savage, 
was  eagerly  caught  at ;  and  still  another  hypothesis,  imputing 
crime  to  another  man,  was  wheeled  forward   in  its  support  by 
Mr.  Pickering  or  his  sympathizers — shades  bracing  up  shadows  ! 
A  young  man,  a  recent  graduate  of  Harvard  University,  had 
entered   General  Washington's  family  as  his  private  secretary 
and  the  tutor  of  his  wife's  children,  "recommended,"  says  the 
the  editor  of  General  Washington's  Works  (Mr.   Sparks),  "  in 
strong  terms  by  General  Lincoln,  President  Willard,  and  other 
gentlemen  of  distinction,  who  were  acquainted  with  his  charac 
ter"      Between  General  Washington  and  him,  says  the  same 
writer,   "an   intimacy   commenced,   which    continued  through 
the  life  of  the  former."      He   acted   as  Washington's  private 
secretary  during  his  Presidency  ;  he,  after  an  "  intimacy  "  of 
twelve  years,  was  selected  as  the  military  secretary  of  the  latter 
when  he   accepted  the    command  of  the   provisional  army  in 
1798  ;    he  was  constantly  charged  with  the  most  confidential 
business  by  his  patron,  treated  by  him  as  a  friend,  made  a  fami 
liar  member  of  his  family,  and  attended  Mrs.  Washington  in  her 
journeys ;  he  stood  by  Washington's  dying  bed,  and,  by  the 
instructions  of  Mrs.  Washington,  made  the  communication  of 
his  death  to  the  President.     President  Adams  embodied  his  let 
ter  entire  in  his  message  to  Congress  on  the  occasion,  as  if  it 
came  from  a  person  whose  importance  personally,  officially,  and 
as  a  member  of  Washington's  family,  entitled  it  to  that  respect. 
If  Washington,  from   feng  and  intimate  intercourse,  found   so 
much  to  respect  and  trust  in  Lear's  character  and  capacity,  we 
are  not  aware  that  any  fact  has  ever  been  proven,  which  shows 
*:hat  he  erred  in  his  judgment. 


368  GROUNDS    OF   SUSPECTING   LEAK.  [CHAP.  VII. 

Colonel  Lear  was  a  decided  Hepublican  in  his  opinions  and 
sympathies.  Jefferson — who,  when  President,  left  a  large  pro 
portion  of  the  Fe.deral  appointees  ot  his  predecessors  in  their 
places — could  certainly  consistently  confer  an  office  on  a  politi 
cal  friend  of  the  qualifications  of  Colonel  Lear,  and  at  the  same 
time,  pay  a  not  ungraceful  token  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
Washington.  He  first  appointed  him,  we  believe,  Consul  Gen 
eral  at  St.  Domingo — afterwards  to  the  same  rank  at  Tripoli — 
and  joint  Commissioner  with  Commodore  Barren  to  negotiate 
peace  with  the  latter  power.  He  continued  to  hold  honorable 
public  offices  under  Mr.  Jefferson's  successor,  until  his  death 
in  1816. 

Jefferson's  appointment  of  Colonel  Lear  supplied  the  basis 
of  another  hypothesis  for  Pickering  and  his  associates,  or  rather 
a  missing  link  in  their  former  one.  It  became  necessary  to  show 
how  Jefferson  could  have  obtained  the  means  of  abstracting  the 
conjectured  correspondence  between  himself  and  Washington 
from  the  letter-books  of  the  latter.  All  of  Washington's  papers 
were  accessible  to  Lear.  Jefferson  appointed  Lear  to  office. 
Therefore  (for  there  is  no  other  proof)  Lear  mutilated  the  letter- 
books  of  his  dead  oenefactor  and  friend  to  accommodate  Jeffer 
son  !  How  the  criminal  and  his  instigator  could  have  known 
that  Mrs.  Washington  and  all  other  relatives  and  friends  of  the 
General  would  be  in  safe  ignorance  of  the  existence  of  such  a 
correspondence,  does  not  appear. 

Most  people  would  be  inclined  to  ask  whether  a  recently 
defeated  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  the  certain  next  can 
didate  of  his  party  in  prospect,  would  be  likely  to  write  very 
"humiliating"  letters  to  a  supporter  of  John  Adams's  Adminis 
tration,  who  he  had  every  reason  to  know,  from  a  full  acquaint 
ance  with  his  habits,  would  preserve  his  letters1  to  at  least  take  all 
the  chances  of  other  letters  of  disclosure  after  Washington's  death. 
Few  scoundrels  indulge  compunction  in  so  dangerous  away! 
Or  did  this  arch  wizard  (where  an  insulting  theory  is  to  be  sus 
tained — on  all  other  occasions,  blundering,  maladroit  "philoso 
pher  ")  know  when  he-confessed  on  paper  something  disgraceful 
to  himself,  that  the  recipient  of  his  coniBfeion  would  die  in  about 

1  Pickering's  theory  also  is  not  that  General  Washington  received  stifch  letters  antf 
himself  destroyed  them,  but  that  he  preserved  them  to  the  close  of  his  life,  and  left  then* 
among  his  other  letters. 


CHAP,  vii.]  ME.  JEFFERSON'S  DENIAL.  369 

two  years — would  leave  his  manuscripts  within  the  reach  of  a 
person  who  could  be  seduced  by  an  office  to  mutilate  and  steal 
them1 — and  that  ho  (Jefferson)  would  be  in  an  official  position 
to  pay  in  this  cheap  coin  the  wages  of  villainy  ? 

Some  other  rumors  that  somebody  else  had  heard  expressions 
from  Washington  similar  to  those  attributed  by  Pickering  to 
Dr.  Stuart,  did  not  fail  to  get  into  the  newspapers.  On  being 
traced  out  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  they  were  found  to 
amount  to  nothing;  and  they  are  not  worth  mention  here. 

Mr.  Yan  Buren,  of  New  York,  called  Mr.  Jefferson's  atten 
tion    to   the   charges  of  Pickering   in  1824,   and   received  an 
answer,  dated  July  29th  of  that  year,  which  contained  the  fo" 
lowing  passages  : 

"  I  do  affirm  that  there  never  passed  a  word;  written  or  verbal,  directly  or 
indirectly,  between  General  Washington  and  myself  on  the  subject  of  that  [the 
Hazzei]  letter.  He  would  never  have  degraded  himself,  so  far  as  to  take  to  himself  the 
imputation  in  that  letter  on  the  '  Samsons  in  combat.'  The  whole  story  is  a  fabrica 
tion,  and  I  defy  the  framers  of  it,  and  all  mankind,  to  produce  a  scrip  of  a  pen 
between  GeneraJ  Washington  and  myself  on  the  subject,  or  any  other  evidence 
more  worthy  of  credit  than  the  suspicions,  suppositions,  and  presumptions  of  the 
two  persous  here  quoting  and  quoted  for  it.  With  Dr.  Stuart  I  had  not  much 
acquaintance.  I  supposed  him  to  be  an  honest  man,  knew  him  to  be  a  very  weak 
one,  and,  like  Mr.  Pickering,  very  prone  to  antipathies,  boiling  with  party  passions, 
and  under  the  dominion  of  these  readily  welcoming  fancies  for  facts.  But  come  the 
story  from  whomsoever  it  might,  it  is  an  unqualified  falsehood." 

This  letter  is  contained  in  both  editions  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
Works,  but  as  it  hunts  down  other  wholly  unfounded  assertions 
of  Pickering,  and  incidentally  raises  an  extraneous  question  of 
some  interest,  we  have  concluded  to  present  it  in  the  Appendix." 
Further  notice  of  its  contents  will  be  reserved  for  the  same 
place. 

Here  we  had  proposed  to  drop  this  topic.  Our  attention, 
however,  was  called  to  the  following  editorial  note,  appended  to 
Washington's  letter  to  Jefferson  of  July  6th,  1796,  in  Mr. 
Sparks's  edition  of  Washington's  Works  (vol.  xi.,  p.  139): 

"No  correspondence  after  this  date  between  Washington  and  Jefferson  appears 
in  the  letter-books,  except  a  brief  note  the  month  following  upon  an  unimportant 
matter.  It  has  been  reported,  and  believed,  that  letters  or  papers,  supposed  to 

1  And  gratuitously  steal  some  of  the  wrong  date ! 
a  See  APPENDIX,  No.  16. 

VOL.  II. 1>4 


370  LETTER   FROM    SPARKS    ON    THE    SUBJECT.         [cilAP.  VII. 

have  passed  between  them,  or  to  relate  to  their  intercourse  with  each  other  at  sub 
sequent  dates,  were  secretly  withdrawn  from  the  archives  of  Mount  Vernon  after 
the  death  of  the  former.  Concerning  this  fact,  no  positive  testimony  remains,  either 
for  or  against  it,  among  Washington's  papers  as  they  came  into  my  hands." 

We  had  not  understood  this  as  more  or  less  than  a  cautious 
ly  worded  statement  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  appearance 
or  contents  of  the  letter-books  to  throw  any  light  on  Pickering's 
charge.  This,  so  far  as  it  went,  disproved  that  charge  ;  and 
those  who  know  how  regular  letter-books  are  kept,  and  have 
reflected  on  the  numerous  minute  circumstances  which  might, 
in  spite  of  every  precaution,  expose  a  mutilation,  could  not  but 
understand  that  Mr.  Sparks's  negative  testimony  acquired  no 
small  degree  of  the  force  of  important  affirmative  testimony. 

We  learned,  however,  that  others  viewed  the  purport  or 
effect  of  the  note  differently.  We  had  been  specially  enjoined 
by  Mr.  Jefferson's  representatives  never  to  hesitate  in  drawing 
out  testimony  in  respect  to  any  accusation  against  him,  from 
friends  or  foes,  where  their  veracity  could  be  relied  on.  The 
fact  that  Mr.  Sparks  had  been  in  possession  of  General  Wash 
ington's  letter-books  and  papers  while  editing  his  works  ;  that 
he  was  an  expert  in  manuscripts  ;  that  he  was  one  of  those  dili 
gent  collaters  and  investigators  whom  nothing  would  escape ; 
that  he  was  a  discriminating,  candid,  and  singularly  fair  man, 
gave  importance  to  his  supposed  suspicion  that  Pickering's  con 
jectures  might  be  true.  Accordingly  we  addressed  him  on  the 
subject,  and  received  the  following  reply  : 

CAMBRIDGE,  May  3d,  1856. 
DEAR  SIR: 

In  regard  to  the  report  or  suspicion  which  for  some  time  existed,  that  a  por 
tion  of  the  correspondence  between  Washington  and  Jefferson  was  abstracted  from 
Washington's  papers  by  Mr  Lear,  I  was  surprised  to  learn,  from  your  letter,  that  a 
note  in  "Washington's  Writings"  had  led  some  persons  to  suppose  that  I  was 
inclined  to  credit  the  suspicion,  more  especially  as  I  there  state  that  I  had  found  no 
evidence  in  support  of  it  among  the  papers  as  they  came  into  my  hands. 

I  once  spoke  to  Judge  Washington  on  this  subject.  He  said  to  me  that  no  such 
charge  had  ever  been  made  by  him;  that  the  papers  did  not  come  into  his  posses 
sion  till  eight  months  after  General  Washington's  death,  but  he  had  discovered 
nothing  in  the  condition  of  the  papers,  which  induced  him  to  believe  that  any  of 
them  had  been  withdrawn.  This  testimony,  added  to  the  fact  that  no  positive 
proof  has  ever  been  adduced,  would  seem  to  leave  the  charge  entirely  destitute  oi 
foundation.  I  am,  <?.ear  sir, 

Very  respectfully  yours, 
HENRY  S.  RANDALL,  Esq.  JARED  SPARER. 


CHAP.  VII.]  THE    LANGHORNE    LETTER.  371 

The  year  1797  witnessed  another  effort  to  disturb  the  friendly 
personal  relations  between  Washington  and  Jefferson.  The  for 
mer  received  a  letter  dated  "  Warren,  Albemarle  county,  25  Sep 
tember,"  filled  with  rhetorical  laudation,  and  expressions  of  sym 
pathy  for  him,  as  the  subject  of  "  unmerited  calumny."  l  The 
General  replied,  October  15th,  briefly  but  very  generally,* 
and  here  the  correspondence  dropped.  Mr.  Sparks  appends  to 
Washington's  reply  the  following  note : 

"  The  name  placed  at  the  head  of  this  letter  was  fictitious.  A  person  signing 
himself  'John  Langhorne  '  had  written  to  General  Washington,  with  the  insidious 
design  of  drawing  from  him  remarks  and  opinions  on  political  subjects,  which 
might  be  turned  to  his  injury,  and  promote  the  aims  of  a  party.  The  fraud  was 
detected  by  Mr.  John  Nicholas,  who  ascertained  accidentally  that  a  letter  from 
General  Washington  was  in  the  post-office  at  Charlottesville,  in  Albemarle  county, 
directed  to  John  Langhorne  (a  name  unknown  in  that  neighborhood)  and  that  it 
was  sent  for  by  a  person  whose  political  connections  and  sentiments  were  in 
harmony  with  the  party  which  had  opposed  the  measures  of  Washington.  The 
facts  were  communicated  to  him  by  Mr.  Nicholas,  and  thus  the  plot  was  defeated." 

"  Clerk  John  "  Nicholas  was  a  weak-headed,  absurd,  busy 
body,  with  that  restless  itching  for  notoriety  which  renders  a 
man  destitute  of  ability,  sense,  or  delicacy,  almost  indifferent  as  to 
the  subject,  and  banishes  all  feeble  scruples  as  to  the  means. 
He  could  cringe,  swagger,  collect  and  retail  private  conversations, 
play  the  part  of  a  spy,  and  fawn  on  those  he  had  injured.  His 
passion  was  to  get  into  the  newspapers  and  correspond  with 
eminent  men.  He  had  "  seen  service  "  (he  commanded  the 
three  hundred  militia  who  retired  before  Arnold  as  he  marched 
from  Westover  to  Richmond),  and  therefore  affected  the  army  and 
particularly  took  care  of  the  reputation  of  General  Washington. 
A  chance  to  recount  some  exploit  where  he  and  his  "  dear  Gene 
ral,"  "  his  beloved  General,"  were  "  in  Flanders  "  together — and 
where  he  was  coactor  or  at  least  eye-witness — was  as  eagerly  seized 
upon  as  Captain  Dalgetty  seized  upon  an  occasion  modestly  to 
hint  at  the  time  when  he  was  in  "  Mareschal  College,"  or  under 
"  the  immortal  Gustavus."  Next  to  being  the  patron  of  General 
Washington's  fame  in  that  part  of  Virginia,  the  best  chance  of 
being  talked  about  lay  in  being  "  the  enemy  "  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 
Consequently  u  Clerk  John,"  was  the  mint  of  most  of  those  false 

i  For  the  letter  see  Washington's  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  501.  *  Ib.  p.  218. 


372  THE    LANGHORNE    LETTER.  [CHAP.  VII. 

and  contemptible  personal  calumnies  which  got  into  the  public 
prints  in  regard  to  the  latter.  He  labored  most  assiduously  to 
produce  a  personal  difficulty  between  him  and  Washington.1 

He  did  not  fail  to  attribute  the  Langhorne  letter  to  Jefferson  ! 
General  Washington  was  naturally  indignant  at  the  forgery — he 
was  irritated  by  constant  tales  of  secret  attacks  on  him  by  Jef 
ferson,  and  his  feelings  were  highly  wrought  up  by  the  exciting 
political  events  of  the  period.2  He  did  not  understand  the 
character  of  his  witness,  and  probably  was  misled  by  his 
name.3  Accordingly,  he  appears  to  have  attached  some  credit 
to  the  absurd  story.4  But  Nicholas  had  not  achieved  his  ulti 
mate  object.  He  had  not  got  his  rescue  of  General  Washing 
ton  from  this  fearful  conspiracy  into  the  newspapers!  He  wrote 
Bushrod  Washington6  to  obtain  permission  to  do  so.  The 
request  led  to  a  conference  between  the  latter,  General  Washing 
ton,  and  John  Marshall ;  and  this  was  the  last,  we  believe,  that 
was  heard  of  "  John  Langhorne,"  until  he  stalked  posthumously 
on  the  boards  in  the  published  correspondence. 

Possibly  Marshall  or  Bushrod  Washington  knew  more  of  the 
informer.  At  least,  their  lawyer-like  eyes  at  once  saw  the  absur 
dity  of  attempting  to  prove  a  very  dangerous  plot  out  of  a  silly 
letter,  which  did  not  even  ask  a  question,  and  which  General 
Washington  himself  thought  "  the  production  of  a  pedagogue 
who  was  resirous  of  exhibiting  a  few  of  his  flowers,"  and  which 
he  u  never  thought  more  of,"  u  until  the  history  of  the  business 
was  developed  by  Mr.  Nicholas."  And  admitting  that  some 
human  compound  of  knavery  and  idiotcy  had  expected  thus  to 
entrap  General  Washington,  men  accustomed  to  sift  testimony  and 
weigh  probabilities  against  the  hypotheses  of  such  "  developers" 
probably  found  it  difficult  to  attribute  so  puerile  and  senseless  a 

»  He  was  the  "  malignant  neighbor  "  whom  Mr.  Jefferson  speaks  of  in  the  introduction 
of  the  Ana,  as  "copiously  nourishing"  General  Washington  "with  falsehoods"  for  that 
purpose 

2  Washington's  letter  to  Nicholas,  March  8th,  1798,  contains  some  references  to 
"Monroe's  View  of  the  Conduct  of  the   Executive  of  the  United   States."     To  this 
Mr.  Sparks  attaches  a  reference  to  Appendix  X.  of  the  same  volume,  which  contains 
Washington's  remarks  on  Monroe's  View.     These  "  remarks"  will  illustrate  our  observa 
tion  in  the  text.     (See  Washington's  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  504.) 

3  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Washington  mistook  him  for  the  celebrated  John 
Nicholas — but  that  he  was  misled  by  the  high  respectability  of  a  family  name. 

*  On  reading  some  of  General  Washington's  expressions  of  momentary  feeling  on  this 
occasion — on  observing  what  he  does  say  and  what  he  does  not  say — we  think  a  new  and 
forcible  commentary  on  the  probability  of  the  existence  of  the  conjectured  shortly  pre 
ceding  "humble"  letters,  will  strike  mos^  persons. 

6  A  nephew  of  General  Washington,  appointed  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  September  29th,  1798. 


CHAP.  VII.]  REASONS    FOE   NOTICING   IT.  373 

piece  of  folly  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  or  to  discover  any  motive  he  could 
have  had  for  it.  How  was  this  treacherous  extractor  of  infor 
mation  to  avail  himself  of  it  without  self-exposure?1 

Mr.  Sparks  says,  in  his  note,  that  the  Langhorne  letter  "  was 
sent  for,"  at  the  Charlottesville  post-office,  "  by  a  person  whose 
political  connections  and  sentiments  were  in  harmony  with  the 
party,  which  had  opposed  the  measures  of  Washington."  As 
Mr.  Sparks  does  not  name  the  person,  we  have  concluded,  on  the 
whole,  not  to  do  so.  He  was  a  young  man,  and  was  guilty  of  a 
highly  improper  and  senseless  prank;  but  he  acted  without  the 
knowledge  of  any  one  (unless  perhaps  of  a  person  still  younger 
and  more  thoughtless  than  himself) — regretted  it  as  soon  as  done 
• — and  most  bitterly  regretted  it  when  he  learned  that  it  had  been 
seized  upon  to  hang  a  suspicion  on  Mr.  Jefferson.  He  never  had 
any  deep  motive  in  the  matter,  and  had  General  Washing 
ton  put  his  inmost  secrets  into  his  possession,  a  second  thought 
of  the  writer  of  the  Langhorne  letter  would  have  rendered  them 
sacredly  safe.a 

We  should  not  have  thought  this  topic  worth  the  ink  we 
have  devoted  to  it,  but  as  an  illustration  of  that  Charlottesville 
gossip,  which  belched  out,  at  recurring  intervals  on  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  personal  reputation  through  his  life,  and  which  oozed  over 
his  grave,  until  it  called  out  a  decisive  local  expression  of  feeling 
which  it  will  be  our  business  hereafter  to  record,  and  which  we 
believe  no  one  in  that  region  has  thought  it  worth  while  publicly 
to  brave.  We  should  have  consulted  the  feelings  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  family  better  by  omitting  all  mention  of  the  "  malig 
nant  neighbor"  who  afterwards  alternately  cringed  and  bullied, 
and  actually  took  to  the  newspapers  to  laud  Jefferson  8  and  to 
prove  Jefferson's  profound  admiration  for  Washington  4  (thirty 
years  after  the  Langhorne  affair !)  to  parry  the  application,  or  neu 
tralize  the  effect  of  the  contemptuous  sentence  bestowed  on  him 

1  We  are  ashamed  to  spend  time  on  these  cobweb  conspiracies.  But  the  reader  will 
bear  in  mind  that  they  have  been  the  subject  of  volumes  of  elaboration  and  corroboration 
by  subsequent  writers;  and  not  an  author  who  hates  the  founder  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  the  author  of  the  Virginia  statute  of  religious  freedom,  now  fails  to  rehash  them 
with  solemn  gravity ! 

*  For  the  entire  of  Washington's  correspondence  on  this  subject  (so  far  as  we  have 
observed),  see  his  Works,  vol.  xi.  pp.  218,  220,  227,  289.  292,  501. 

3  See  Richmond  Enquirer,  November  12th,  1830,  for  an  article  signed  "  A  Friend  to 
Mr.  Jefferson's  merits."     This  communication  Mr.  Nicholas  gave  to  a  gentleman  (who  he 
knew  would  communicate  the  facts  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  family)  as  his  own,  and  he  thus 
referred  to  it  in  a  letter,  the  original  of  which  is  in  our  possession. 

4  See  Richmond  Enquirer  of  October  23d,  1835,  for  an  article  headed  "  Washingtoi 
and  Jefferson,"  and  signed  "John  Nicholas." 


374        JEFFERSON'S  FEELINGS  TOWARDS  WASHINGTON.    [CHAP.  vn. 

in  the  Ana.  But  we  hold  it  necessary  to  make  occasional  ex 
amples.  And  we  were  peculiarly  well  situated  to  do  so  in  this 
instance,  holding  in  our  hands  abundant  evidences  of  "  Clerk 
John's"  character  in  his  own  handwriting  and  over  his  own  pro 
per  signature. 

No  better  occasion  will  present  itself  for  declaring  what  were 
the  real  personal  feelings  of  Jefferson  towards  Washington  dur 
ing  the  political  hurricanes  of  the  two  years  and  a  half  that  pre 
ceded  the  descent  of  the  latter  to  the  tomb.  They  came  to 
differ  very  widely  in  politics.  General  Washington  concurred 
in  all  the  main  measures  of  John  Adams's  Administration  which 
were  most  fiercely  opposed  by  the  Republicans.  Surrounded 
by  false  witnesses  and  designing  informers,  he  wrote,  and  pro 
bably  said,  severe  things  of  the  Republican  party  and  its 
leaders.  His  correspondence  of  the  period  abounds  with  these 
expressions.  He  objected,  for  example,  in  1798,  to  giving  com 
missions  to  Republicans  in  the  provisional  army,  then  forming, 
on  the  ground  that  whatever  were  their  protestations  of  willing 
ness  to  fight  for  their  country,  they  could  not  be  trusted. l 

Jefferson  was  the  (Mef  of  this  distrusted  party.  The  decisive 
struggle  of  1800  was  approaching,  and  he  believed  the  Consti 
tution  hung  in  the  scale's.  His  blood  was  as  red  and  warm  as 
other  men's ;  he  was  as  ready  as  other  men  to  stand  by  his  cause 
and  face  its  foes.  He  in  a  very  few  instances,  principally  to  his 
own  arid  Washington's  late  confidential  friend,  Madison,  blames 
General  Washington  politically.  In  an  instance  or  two  his  lan 
guage  is  warm,  but.  it  is  never  outrageous.  And  the  eye  of 
friendship  or  enmity  \vill  look  in  vain  through  his  most  confiden 
tial  writings,  for  a  shadow  of  an  imputation  on  Washington's 
integrity,  or  perfect  purity  of  motives.  Whatever  he  blamed 
in  him  he  attributed  to  the  effects  of  his  being  misled.  There 
is  we  think  no  place  where,  altogether,  he  speaks  so  freely  in 
respect  to  the  causes  of  their  differences,  as  in  the  introduction 
to  the  Ana,  and  there  he  declares  emphatically  that  Washington 
"  was  true  to  the  Republican  charge  confided  to  him."  That 
person  does  not  live,  nor  ever  lived,  who  heard  him  utter  a  word 
of  a  different  or  disrespectful  tenor.3 

1  We  will  quote  or  cite  some  of  these  expressions,  when  they  are  reached  in  the  order 
of  this  narrative. 

2  This  statement  requires   no  corroboration,  but  the  following  sentence  in  a  lei 


CHAP.  VII.]          HIS    FEELINGS    TOWARDS    WASHINGTON.  375 

Mr.  Jefferson's  family  heard  him  often  speak  of  Washington 
during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  own  life.  They  never  in  an 
instance  knew  him  to  utter,  intimate,  or  acquiesce  in  by  silence, 
a  word  that  contained  a  vapor  of  disrespect  towards  Washington. 
On  the  other  hand  they  heard  him  repeatedly — uniformly — 
speak  of  him  in  terms  of  profound  and  undivided  respect.  As 
Mr.  Jefferson  grew  old  and  his  memory  began  to  dwell  more  on 
early  than  recent  events,  his  expressions  towards  Washington 
became  more  affectionate. 

One  of  Mr  Jefferson's  family  narrated  to  us  the  following  in 
cident.  He  said  the  circumstance  made  such  a  vivid  impression 
on  his  mind  that  "he  could  now  mention  the  precise  spot  where 
it  occurred."  It  was  but  a  few  months  before  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  death.  They  had  been  riding  together.  The  night  had 
just  fallen,  and  the  stars  were  forth  in  that  glory  which  they 
assume  in  the  clear  atmosphere  of  the  Virginia  mountains.  Our 
informant  had  been  reading  an  effort  to  heroize  Washington  by 
pigmyizing  all  his  great  contemporaries — and  it  irritated  him. 
On  Washington's  name  being  mentioned,  he  vented  the  feelings 
of  the  moment,  in  an  expression  implying  that  posterity  would 
not  be  misled  by  this  really  selfish  adulation.  Mr.  Jefferson's 
eye  appeared  to  be  resting  on  a  constellation  which  hung  blazing 
on  the  rim  of  the  Blue  Eidge.  His  voice  took  a  tone  which 
informed  familiar  ears  that  his  feelings  were  deeply  moved. 
Deliberately,  and  solemnly  he  replied:  "Washington's  fame 
will  go  on  increasing  until  the  brightest  constellation  in  yonder 
heavens  is  called  by  his  name." 

The  order  of  narrative  now  carries  us  back  to  the  summer  of 
1797. 

A  letter  to  Col.  Stuart  of  August  15th,  conveying  the  Diploma 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  reminds  us  of  a  fact 
hitherto  unmentioned — namely,  that  in  the  preceding  January 
Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  elected  President  of  that  most  honorable 
and  useful  Institution. 

ter  to  us  from  Mr.  Sparks   (May  27th,  1856)  will  be  read  with  satisfaction  by  some 
persons : 

u  You  allude  to  Jefferson's  opinions  of  Washington,,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  was 
accustomed  to  speak  of  him.  I  once  passed  two  or  three  weeks  with  Lafayette  at 
La  Grange.  During  his  last  visit  to  the  United  States,  he  was  at  Monticello.  I  remem 
ber  a  conversation  with  him  on  this  subject,  in  which  he  said  that  while  he  was  there 
Mr.  Jefferson  uniformly  spoke  of  Washington  with  the  highest  respect,  and  with  strong 
exoressions  of  personal  regard." 


376  SIGNAL    OF    SEDITION    LAW.  [CHAP.  VII. 

A  circumstance  which  strongly  attracted  the  notice  and  dis 
turbed  the  feelings  of  Mr.  Jefferson  at  this  period,  was  the 
following.  A  term  of  the  United  States  District  Court  had 
opened  at  Richmond,  May  22d.  Judge  Iredell  converted  a 
portion  of  his  charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  into  a  political 
harangue,  and  they,  under  such  prompting,  returned  the  fol 
lowing  presentment : 

"  We,  of  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  United  States,  for  the  District,  of  Virginia, 
present  as  a  real  evil,  the  circular  letters  of  several  members  of  the  late  Congress, 
and  particularly  letters  with  the  signature  of  Samuel  J.  Cabell,  endeavoring,  at  a 
time  of  real  public  danger,  to  disseminate  unfounded  calumnies  against  the  happy 
government  of  the  United  States,  and  thereby  to  separate  the  people  therefrom, 
and  increase  or  produce  a  foreign  influence  ruinous  to  the  peace,  happiness,  and 
independence  of  the  United  States." 

Here  sounded  the  first  note  of  the  Sedition  Law,  and  Jefferson 
understood  the  signal.  He  had  remained  silent  on  the  topic 
during  the  extra  session,1  but  had  not  failed  to  note  the  exultation 
with  which  it  was  received  by  the  dominant  party,  and  from 
that  and  other  circumstances  he  anticipated  the  war  on  the  State 
governments  and  on  liberty  of  speech  for  which  the  Federalists 
were  fast  ripening. — He  wrote  Monroe,  September  7th,  explain 
ing  his  fears,  and  making  some  suggestions.  He  thought  the 
attempt  on  liberty  of  speech  in  Cabell's  case  ought  to  go  before 
the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  and  that  they  ought  to  send  it 
to  the  General  Court :  that  it  might  not  be  amiss  to  consider 
how  far  a  revised  and  modified  law  of  proBmunire  should  be 
revived,  against  "  all  citizens  who  attempted  to  carry  their  causes 
before  any  other  than  the  State  Courts,  in  cases  where  those 
other  courts  have  no  right  to  their  cognizance." 

Nothing  of  importance  occurred  in  the  history  of  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  home  life  and  domestic  pursuits,  during  this  season.  The 

1  We  ought  to  have  mentioned,  however,  when  quoting  his  political  letters,  written 
after  Mr.  Adams's  war  message  (as  Jefferson  considered  it)  at  the  extra  session,  that  this 
most  aggressive,  and,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  misjudged  and  improper  assault  on  his  repre 
sentative  and  personal  and  political  friend  Cabell,  and  the  manner  in  which  information 
of  that  assault  had  been  received  in  and  about  Congress,  produced  a  very  decided  and 
painful  effect  on  Jefferson's  feelings.  It  satisfied  him  that  the  dominant  party  had 
resolved  to  throw  away  the  scabbard.  Now,  such  action  in  a  federal  Court,  against  a 
member  of  Congress  for  expressing  his  opinions  in  decent  language  to  his  constituents, 
would  only  be  received  with  a  hiss  of  derision  throughout  the  Union.  Then,  it  meant 
something",  as  the  passage  of  the  Sedition  Law  not  long  afterwards,  and  the  action  which 
took  place  under  it,  very  forcibly  demonstrated. 


CHAP.  VII.]  DOMESTIC    AFFAIRS.  377 

new  portions  of  his  house  had  been  roofed  in  and  mostly  com 
pleted,  before  he  left  home  to  attend  the  extra  session.  The 
farm  book  presents  nothing  striking.  A  table  of  the  actual 
rotations  of  crops  on  each  field  of  the  whole  of  his  home  estate 
(comprising  Monticello,  Tufton,  Shad  well,  Lego,  etc.)  shows  that 
he  had  now  got  his  system,  in  that  particular,  fully  introduced. 
The  roll  of  slaves  included  one  hundred  and  twenty-two. 


CHAPTEK    VIII. 

1797—1798. 

Congress  meet — Strength  of  Parties — Lull  in  Affairs — Adams's  amusing  Commentary  on 
his  Inaugural  Speech — First  Dispatches  from  France — President  rampant — Fast-day — 
Congress  on  Fire — Spriggs's  Resolutions — Two  Letters  from  Jefferson  to  Eppes — The 
XYZ  Dispatches — The  Result  of  our  Extraordinary  Embassy  to  France — Popular 
Excitement — Republicans  suddenly  reduced  to  a  feeble  Minority — War  Measures 
rapidly  pass  Congress — Character  of  Gallatin,  the  Republican  Leader  of  the  House — 
Addresses  and  Answers — Jefferson  against  War,  but  declares  if  it  takes  place,  "wo 
must  defend  ourselves" — Hamilton  complains  of  Unfortunateness  of  English  Depra- 
dations  at  such  a  time — He  urges  on  War  Measures  against  France — Proposes  a 
Political  Tour  to  Washington  under  "pretence  of  Health" — Marshall's  Return  from 
France — President's  Message — War  Spirit  bursts  out  anew — Legislation  against 
"Interior  Foes" — Time  for  Naturalization  extended — The  first  Alien  Law — Army 
raised — French  Treaties  annulled — Other  War  Measures — Second  Alien  Law — The 
Sedition  Law— Lloyd's  Bill— Hamilton's  Views  on  these  Bills— The  Black  Cockade— 
Who  were  the  Foreigners  against  whom  the  Alien  Laws  were  directed  ? — The  number 
of  French,  English  and  Irish  Alien  Residents — The  Circumstances  which  drove  the 
latter  to  our  Country — Attempt  of  the  American  Minister  in  England  to  prevent  their 
Emigration — Society  of  "United  Irishmen"  in  Philadelphia — Rights  of  Naturalized 
Citizens  and  Alien  Residents — Political  and  Moral  Character  of  the  Irish  Refugees — Mr. 
Jefferson's  Letters  to  his  Daughters — His  Domestic  Affairs,  etc. — His  Anticipation  of  an 
Attempt  against  him  personally — His  imputed  Connection  with  Logan's  Mission  the 
pretext — His  Letter  to  Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan — Invites  him  to  Virginia,  and 
promises  him  Protection  against  the  Alien  Laws — President  Adams's  Inconsistent 
Course  in  regard  to  those  Laws — Doubts  their  Constitutionality,  yet  authorizes  their 
enforcement — Pickering  looking  up  Subjects — The  Number  of  dangerous  French  and 
Irish  Aliens  discovered — The  Sedition  Law  more  effective — Lyon,  a  Member  of  Con 
gress,  fined  and  imprisoned — Petitioners  for  his  Release  found  Guilty  of  Sedition, 
fined  and  imprisoned — Holt,  Publisher  of  New  London  Bee,  Thomas  Cooper,  and 
James  T.  Callendar,  fined  and  imprisoned— Baldwin  fined  for  "wishing" — Judge 
Peck  arrested — Number  of  the  Victims — The  Aim  of  the  Law  as  disclosed  by  the 
Decisions  under  it — The  President  appoints  Officers  of  the  New  Army — Intrigue  of 
Cabinet  to  place  Hamilton  over  Knox  and  Pinckney — Pickering  reveals  one  of  the 
President's  proposed  Nominations  to  secure  its  Rejection — Turpitude  of  the  Transac 
tion — Proceedings  of  French  Government  after  sending  away  Marshall  and  Pinckney — 
Talleyrand's  Pacific  Overtures — As  he  advances  Gerry  recedes— ^Their  Correspondence- 
Gerry's  Departure — Directory  pass  Decrees  more  favorable  to  the  United  States- 
Logan's  Reception — Assurances  sent  to  Mr.  Adams  by  him — Lafayette's  Assurances  of 
Pacific  Intentions  of  France — American  Consuls  and  Private  Residents  in  France  send 
home  similar  Assurances — Talleyrand  communicates  such  Assurances  to  American 
Minister  at  the  Hague. 

THE  time  fixed  for  the  meeting  of  Congress  was  the  13th  of 
November,  but  a  quorum  did  not  assemble  until  the  22d,  owing 


CHAP.  VIII.]  MEETING   OF   CONGRESS,    ETC.  379 

perhaps  to  the  panic  produced  by  the  prevalence  of  yellow  fever 
in  Philadelphia — though  the  disease  had  terminated  its  ravages 
with  the  first  frosts,  and  before  the  appointed  day  of  assembling. 
The  Yice-President  did  not  set  out  for  the  seat  of  Govern 
ment  until  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  December.  He  made  his 
customary  call  on  Mr.  Madison  1  on  the  6th,  and  reached  Phila 
delphia  on  the  12th.  Jacob  Reed,  of  South  Carolina,  acted  as 
President^/'o  tempore,  of  the  Senate  in  his  absence.  Andrew 
Jackson  took  his  seat,  from  Tennessee,  this  session.  Jefferson 
wrote  Madison,  January  3d,  that  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  "  the  Republican  interest  had  at  present,  on  strong  ques 
tions,  a  majority  of  about  half  a  dozen,  as  was  conjectured,  and 
there  were  as  many  of  their  firmest  men  absent ;  not  one  of  the 
anti-Republicans  was  from  his  post."  He  subsequently  informed 
the  same  correspondent  that  in  the  Senate  the  general  division 
was  twenty-two  Federalists  to  ten  Republicans.  Nothing  of 
particular  importance  occurred  in  either  House  of  Congress  for 
a  considerable  period.  He  wrote  to  his  daughter : 

To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  2W-,  '07. 

We  are  here  lounging  our  time  away,  doing  nothing  and  having  nothing  to  do. 
It  gives  me  great  regret  to  be  passing  my  time  so  uselessly,  when  it  could  have 
been  so  importantly  employed  at  home.  I  cannot  but  believe  that  we  shall  become 
ashamed  of  staying  here,  and  go  home  in  February  or  March  at  furthest.  Nor  are 
we  relieved  by  the  pleasures  of  society  here ;  for,  partly  from  bankruptcies, 
partly  from  party  dissensions,  society  is  torn  up  by  the  roots.  I  envy  those 
•who  stay  at  home  enjoying  the  society  of  their  friendly  neighbors,  blessed  with 
their  firesides  and  employed  in  doing  something  every  day  which  looks  usefully  to 
futurity. 

I  expect  you  will,  of  course,  charge  me,  before  my  departure,  with  procuring 
you  such  articles  of  convenience  here  as  you  can  best  get  here  ;  I  shall  be  sending 
home  some  things  for  myself  in  the  spring.  Tell  Mr.  Randolph  I  shall  be  glad 
from  time  to  time  to  exchange  meteorological  diaries  with  him ;  that  we  may  have 
a  comparative  view  of  the  climates  of  this  place  and  ours. 

He  records  in  the  Ana,  a  dinner-table  conversation  with  the 
President  on  the  15th  of  February,  in  which  Mr.  Adams  talked 
considerably  in  his  Davila  strain  about  the  proper  tenure  of 
senatorial  bodies,  the  overshadowing  importance  of  the  Senate 

1  He  uniformly  called  on  Mr.  Madison  going  to  and  returning  from  the  seat  of  Govern 
ment.  when  the  latter  was  at  his  residence,  Montpelier,  Orange  county. 


380  INVASION    OF   ENGLAND — A   FINE   SIMILE.      [CHAP.    VIII. 

in  our  Constitution,  etc.1  Mr.  Jefferson  thought  his  language 
served  as  a  key  to  the  tfc  politics  of  the  Senate,"  and  "  the  bold 
line  of  conduct  they  pursued."  If  so,  Mr.  Adams  was  pamper 
ing  assumptions  of  which  he  was  soon  to  become  the  bitterest 
complainer. 

The  invasion  of  England  by  Bonaparte  was  now  a  topic  of 
absorbing  interest  throughout  the  world ;  and  there  were  few 
who  did  not  more  or  less  expect  or  dread  it  might  be  successful. 
On  a  former  occasion,  Mr.  Jefferson  sportively  wrote  a  corre 
spondent  that  he  expected  to  dine  with  Pichegru  in  London 
before  long.8  When  there  was  a  supposed  probability  that  Eng 
land  might  be  crushed  or  violently  revolutionized,  we  have  him 
thus  expressing  himself  (February  23d)  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Fitz- 
hugh : 

''  The  ensuing  month  will  probably  be  the  most  eventful  ever  yet  seen  in  modern 
Europe.  It  may  probably  be  the  season  preferred  for  the  projected  invasion  of 
England.  It  is  indeed  a  game  of  chances.  The  sea  which  divides  the  combatants 
gives  to  fortune  as  well  as  to  valor  its  share  of  influence  on  the  enterprise.  But  all 
the  chances  are  not  on  one  side.  The  subjugation  of  England  would  be  a  general 
calamity.  But  happily  it  is  impossible.  Should  it  end  in  her  being  only  republi- 
canized,  I  know  not  on  what  principle  a  true'  republican  of  our  country  could 
lament  it,  whether  he  considers  it  as  extending  the  blessings  of  a  purer  government 
to  other  portions  of  mankind,  or  strengthening  the  cause  of  liberty  in  our  own 
country  by  the  influence  of  that  example.  I  do  not  indeed  wish  to  see  any  nation 
have  a  form  of  government  forced  on  them ;  but  if  it  is  to  be  done,  I  should 
rejoice  at  its  being  a  free  one/' 

In  the  same  letter  occurs  a  sentiment  and  a  prediction, 
which  it'  not  at  all  novel  coming  from  their  author,  embalm  their 
substance  in  words  worthy  of  preservation  : 

"  I  do  not  think  it  for  the  interest  of  the  General  Government  itself,  and  still 
less  of  the  Union  at  large,  that  the  State  governments  should  be  so  little  respected 
as  they  have  been.  However,  I  dare  say  that  in  time  all  these  as  well  as  their  cen 
tral  government,  like  the  planets  revolving  round  their  common  sun,  acting  and 
acted  upon  according  to  their  respective  weights  and  distances,  will  produce  that 
beautiful  equilibrium  on  which  our  Constitution  is  founded,  and  which  I  believe  it 
will  exhibit  to  the  world  in  a  degree  of  perfection,  unexampled  but  in  the  planetary 
system  itself.  The  enlightened  statesman,  therefore,  will  'endeavor  to  preserve  the 

1  This  same  conversation  will  be  found  contemporaneously  described  in  a  letter  from 
Jefferson  to  Madison,  Feb.  22d,  1798. 

2  This  letter  was  to  Giles,  and  dated  April  27,  1795.     The  passage  -about  dining  with 
Pichegru,  is  one  of  those  quoted  by  Judge  Marshall  to  sustain  the  authenticity  of  the 
Ma.zzei  letter!     (Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.,  concluding  note.)     But  to  do  Judge  M. 
justice,  he  undoubtedly  mistook  the  remark  for  a  serious  one. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  FIRST   DISPATCHES    FROM   FRANCE.  381 

weight  and  influence  of  every  part,  as  too  much  given  to  any  member  of  it  would 
destroy  the  general  equilibrium." 

In  the  lull  of  suspense  in  our  French  relations,  before  the 
result  of  the  new  missions  became  known,  the  President's  corre 
spondence  shows  that  he  supposed  France  was  anxious  for  peace 
with  us ;  and  that  he  as  decidedly  as  Washington  set  his  face 
against  an  English  alliance.1  But  he  was  not  allowed  to  get 
entirely  cool.  The  following  amusing  commentary  on  his  inau 
gural  speech,  is  contained  in  a  letter  he  wrote  to  Wolcott,  Oc 
tober  27th  (1797): 

"  What  the  session  of  Congress  will  produce  I '  know  not ;  but  a  torpor,  a 
despondency,  has  seized  all  men  in  America  as  well  as  Europe.  The  system  of  ter 
ror,  according  to  an  Indian  expression,  has  '  put  petticoats  on  them  '  The  treachery 
of  the  common  people  against  their  own  countries,  the  transports  with  which  they 
seize  the  opportunity  of  indulging  their  envy,  gratifying  their  revenge  against  all 
whom  they  have  been  in  the  habit  of  looking  up  to,  at  every  hazard  to  their  own 
countries,  and  in  the  end,  at  every  expense  of  misery  to  themselves,  has  given  a 
paralytic  .stroke  to  the  wisdom  and  courage  of  nations." 

On  the  5th  of  March,  President  Adams  sent  a  message  to 
Congress,  announcing  the  receipt  of  the  first  dispatches  from  the 
American  Envoys  in  France.  One  of  these,  dated  January  8th, 
was  transmitted  with  the  message,  giving  notice  of  a  decree  of 
the  Directory  making  all  vessels  good  prize  having  merchandise 
on  board,  the  production  of  England  or  her  colonies,  to  whoever 
it  might  then  belong.  The  other  dispatches  were  in  cipher,  and 
time  was  required  to  write  them  out.  On  the  13th,  the  Presi 
dent  consulted  his  Cabinet  on  the  propriety  of  submitting  to 
Congress  the  whole  of  the  communications  of  the  envoys,  and 
whether  he  ought  in  his  message  to  recommend  an  immediate 
declaration  of  war.3 

Jefferson  wrote  Madison  on  the  15th,  that  the  decree  of  the 
Directory  in  regard  to  vessels  had  produced  a  great  sensation 
among  the  merchants — but  that  on  the  whole  it  cooled  them 
still  more  against  allowing  merchant  ships  to  arm.  He  states, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Representatives  "  do  not  cool ;"  but 
he  still  thinks  the  Republicans  can  carry  the  question  against 
arming  by  a  majority  of  four  or  five. 

»  See  his  Works,  vol.  viii.  pp.  557,  559,  561,  562.  It  will  be  seen  a1  the  last  named 
page,  that  he  speaks  about  a  revolution  in  England  as  a  probable  event. 

2  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  568.  The  answers  of  the  Cabinet,  so  far  as  any  wera 
made,  will  be  found  appended. 


382  CONGRESS    ON   FIRE.  [CHAP.    VIII. 

On  the  19th,  the  President  sent  another  message,  not  com 
municating  the  French  dispatches,  but  alluding  to  their  tenor. 
He  said  that  they  had  been  u  examined  and  maturely  consid 
ered,"  and  that  although  our  Envoys'  exertions  for  an  adjust 
ment  of  differences  had  been  "  sincere  and  unremitted,"  he  felt 
it  "  incumbent  on  him  to  declare  that  he  perceived  no  ground 
of  expectation  that  the  objects  of  their  mission  could  be  accom 
plished  on  terms  compatible  with  the  safety,  honor,  or  the  essen 
tial  interests  of  the  nation."  He  exhorted  Congress  to  "  promp 
titude,  decision,  and  unanimity,"  in  a  proposed  series  of  defensive 
and  offensive  preparations,  which  plainly  pointed  to  war  ;  and 
he  declared  that  he  no  longer  u  conceived  himself  justifiable  "  in 
continuing  a  prohibition  on  the  arming  of  our  merchant  vessels. 

On  the  23d  of  March,  a  national  fast  was  appointed,  to  be 
held  on  the  9th  of  May  ensuing. 

Congress  caught  the  flame.  Jefferson  wrote  Madison '  on 
the  21st,  that  the  President's  "  insane  message"  had  produced 
"  exultation  on  one  side  and  a  certainty  of  victory — while  the 
other  was  petrified  with  astonishment."  He  hoped  there  might 
be  a  majority  of  one  against  the  war,  but  was  doubtful.  He 
proposed  that,  if  the  Republicans  were  found  in  the  majo 
rity,  they  should  renew  the  prohibition  on  the  arming  of  mer 
chant  vessels,  and  then,  to  gain  time,  adjourn,  avowedly  "  to  go 
home  and  consult  their  constituents  on  the  great  crisis  of  Ameri 
can  affairs  now  existing."  He  continued  : 

"  We  see  a  new  instance  of  the  inefficiency  of  constitutional  guards.  We  had 
relied  with  great  security  on  that  provision,  which  requires  two-third.s  of  the 
Legislature  to  declare  war.  But  this  is  completely  eluded  by  a  majority's  taking 
8uch  measures  as  will  be  sure  to  produce  war. 

********* 

"  To  return  to  the  subject  of  war,  it  is  quite  impossible,  when  we  consider  all 
the  existing  circumstances,  to  find  any  reason  in  its  favor  resulting  from  views 
either  of  interest  or  honor,  and  plausible  enough  to  impose  even  on  the  weakest 
mind;  and  especially,  when  it  would  be  undertaken  by  a  majority  of  one  or  two 
only.  Whatever,  then,  be  our  stock  of  charity  or  liberality,  we  must  resort  to  other 
views.  And  those  so  well  known  to  have  been  entertained  at  Annapolis,  and  after 
wards  at  the  Grand  Convention,3  by  a  particular  set  of  men,  present  themselves  as 
those  alone  which  can  account  for  so  extraordinary  a  degree  of  impetuosity.  Per 
haps,  instead  of  what  was  then  in  contemplation,  a  separation  of  the  Union,  which 

1  We  have  omitted  to  mention  that  Madison  retired  from  Congress  at  the  opening  of 
Mr.  Adams's  Administration — and  Giles  had  also  left  it,  broken  down  in  health. 

3  That  is  at  the  Annapolis  Convention  in  1786  and  the  Federal  Convention  in  1787. 


TRAP.  VIII.]  JEFFERSON   TO   EPPES.  383 

has  been  so  much  the  topic  to  the  eastward  of  late,  may  be  the   thing   aimed 
at."  1 

We  have  here,  in  the  assumption  that  it  requires  two-third? 
of  Congress  to  declare  war,  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  mis 
take  of  its  kind  to  be  found  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  writings.  We 
can  only  account  for  it  on  the  supposition  of  that  absence  of 
mind  in  which,  particularly  in  moments  of  deep  feeling,  the 
thoughts  are  upon  one  thing  while  the  hand  and  pen  are  upon 
anpther.  The  error  would  be  detected  on  a  second  look  ;  but 
letters  often  go  away  without  being  re-read  by  the  writer. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  March  29th,  he  alluded  favorably 
to  the  resolutions  offered  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Sprigg,  of  Mary 
land,  against  war  ;  for  restoring  the  prohibition  on  merchant 
vessels'  arming,  but  declaring  that  the  seaboard  ought  to  be  for 
tified.  This  dexterous  move  to  throw  on  the  Federalists  all  the 
responsibility  of  offensive  measures,  by  offering  to  go  with 
them  in  defensive  ones,  says  Jefferson,  took  that  party  by  sur 
prise  ;  they  first  tried  to  parry,  but  then  "  came  forward  and 
boldly  combated  "  the  resolution  against  war.  With  the  Ex 
ecutive,  two-thirds  of  the  Senate,  and  half  of  the  House  for  war, 
he  feared  the  other  half  of  the  latter  would  be  borne  down.  He 
said  the  "  question  of  war  or  peace  depended  on  a  toss  of  cross 
and  pile."  Here  we  have,  if  it  were  needed,  distinct  evidence 
that  his  previous  mention  of  two-thirds  being  necessary  for  a 
declaration  of  war,  was  merely  a  slip  of  the  pen — and  that  he 
had  been  unconscious  of  it,  for  he  makes  no  allusion  to  it. 

The  two  following  (hitherto  unpublished)  letters  continue  the 
narrative  of  events,  and  of  the  writer's  reflections  on  them : 

To  JOHN  W.  EPPES,  NEAR  PETERSBURG. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  lltk,  '98. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

My  last  letter  from  Maria  was  of  March  20th,  and  from  yourself  of  February 
8th.  The  dates  of  my  latest  to  Maria  were  of  April  1st,  March  7th,  and  to  your 
self  of  February  18th.  You  have  seen  in  the  papers  the  resolutions  proposed  by 
Mr.  Sprigg,  the  first  of  which  was  that  under  existing  circumstances  it  is  not  expe 
dient  to  resort  to  war  with  France.  It  is  very  uncertain  how  this  would  have  been 
decided,  but  the  communication  of  the  papers  from  our  envoys  by  the  President, 
of  which  I  inclose  you  a  copy,  has  altered  the  aspect  of  that  resolution.  You  will 
nee  that  in  these  communications  some  demands  have  been  made  of  a  large  sum  of 

1  This  alludes  to  a  series  of  articles  recently  published  in  the  Hartford  'Conn.1) 
Oourant,  advocating  a  separation  of  the  Union. 


384  JEFFERSON    TO   EPPE8.  [CHAP.    VIIL 

money  from  us  as  a  mulct  or  satisfaction  for  the  President's  speech  in  May  last.  It 
was  thought  that  were  we  now  to  resolve  it  is  not  expedient  to  resort  to  war,  it 
mignt  imply  an  acquiescence  under  their  demand  to  purchase  a  peace.  Therefore 
the  resolution  has  been  postponed.  Still,  however,  the  communications  do  not  offer 
a  single  motive  for  going  to  war.  There  are,  as  you  will  see,  some  swindling  pro 
positions  for  a  sum  of  £50,000  from  certain  inofficial  characters  which  probably 
were  meant  for  themselves  alone,  or  for  themselves  and  Talleyrand  (whose  charac 
ter  we  have  always  known  to  be  very  corrupt),  but  there  is  not  the  smallest  ground 
to  believe  the  Directory  knew  anything  of  them.  In  the  case  of  the  Portuguese 
Minister,  where  similar  propositions  were  made  and  acceded  to  by  him,  he  was 
imprisoned  by  the  Directory  as  soon  as  they  knew  it,  as  having  attempted  corrup 
tion.  It  is  evident,  on  the  whole,  that  the  President's  speech  is  the  only  obstacle 
to  an  amicable  negotiation,  that  satisfaction  being  given  them  for  this  by  disavow 
als,  acknowledgments  or  money,  they  are  willing  to  proceed  to  arrangements  of  our 
other  differences,  and  even  to  settle  and  acknowledge  themselves  debtors  for  spolia 
tions.  The  members  of  Congress  had  very  generally  fixed  their  minds  on  the  last 
of  this  month  for  adjournment.  These  papers,  however,  seem  to  unfix  their  ideas 
in  some  degree.  The  peace  party  are  of  opinion  they  should  agree  to  all  reason 
able  measures  of  internal  defence,  but  to  nothing  external.  But  I  fear  they  are  not 
strong  enough  to  hold  that  ground.  It  is  the  opinion  of  many  that  we  must  abso 
lutely  resort  to  a  land  tax  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  war  measures  which  the  war 
party  are  endeavoring  to  force  on  us.  Should  this  take  place,  we  shall  be  greatly 
delayed  here.  We  have  a  report  from  Boston  yesterday  that  the  frigate  built  there 
was  sunk  in  the  storm  of  the  3d  instant,  her  port-holes  having  been  left  open.  But 
it  is  not  yet  entirely  credited. 

I  am  anxious  to  hear  that  Maria's  harpsichord  has  arrived  safe ;  it  went  from 
here  about  the  22d  or  23d  of  March,  and  should  by  the  3d  of  April  have  been  in 
James  River  where  the  storm  would  not  endanger  it.  My  friendly  salutations  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eppes  and  family,  and  tenderest  love  to  Maria.  Adieu,  affec- 
tiona  tely, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  JOHN  W.  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  6,  '98. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  wrote  you  last  on  the  llth  of  April,  and  the  day  after  received  yours  of 
of  April  4th.  I  inclosed  you  at  the  same  time  the  communications  just  then 
received  from  our  envoys.  Others  are  lately  received,  but,  as  far  as  made  known  to 
us,  they  contain  only  a  long  memorial  given  in  by  them,  justifying  all  our  com 
plaints  and  repelling  those  of  France.  It  takes  up  the  subject  from  the  time  of 
Genet's  coming,  and  comes  down  to  the  last  orders,  offering  however  no  new  argu 
ments.  They  were  still  in  Paris,  as  the  mercantile  information  says,  the  10th  of 
March.  The  fermentation  excited  here  by  the  publication  of  the  dispatches,  caught 
all  the  great  trading  towns,  and  is  still  kept  up  there  and  here  by  anonymous  letters 
of  French  conspirators  who  are  to  burn  the  city,  by  newspaper  declarations  from 
Victor  Hughes,  etc.,  and  such  other  artifices.  War  addresses  pour  in  from  the  towns 
under  these  impressions,  and  from  the  country  of  New  Jersey,  a  State  which  has 
always  had  peculiar  politics.  But  the  country  in  general  seems  not  moved.  They 
have  abated  of  their  admiration  for  the  French,  more  or  less  in  proportion  as  they 
confine  their  suspicions  to  the  swindlers,  or  extend  them  to  the  ministers  or  even  to 


CHAP.  VIII.]  THE   XYZ     AFFAIR.  385 

the  Directory.  The  event  of  the  elections  of  New  York,  favorable  generally  to  thf 
Whigs,  shows  the  small  effect  these  communications  had  on  the  people,  who  were 
called  to  their  elections  fresh  from  reading  them  The  near  prospect  of  war,  the 
stamp  act  coming  into  operation,  the  land  tax  now  levying  will  produce  serious  and 
general  reflection.  However  actual  war  may  destroy  the  fruits  of  it.  We  now  learn 
the  effects  of  the  President's  speech  of  November  on  the  French  Legislature,  which 
they  had  just  got  by  the  way  of  England,  and  conceived  from  it  great  anger. 
Whatever  chance  we  might  have  had  for  their  not  declaring  war  lessens  daily  by 
the  messages  and  answers  to  addresses  which  bid  fair  to  carry  irritation  to  a  poiiii 
beyond  the  possibility  of  bearing.  Indeed  some  of  the  war  members  begin  to  avow 
that  they  are  ready  for  declaring  war  themselves,  and  such  is  their  majority  tha\ 
we  begin  to  fear  they  intend  it.  Should  this  not  be  attempted,  we  have  only  two 
bills  of  consequence  to  pass.  The  one  for  a  provisional  army  of  20,000  men  (the 
expense  six  to  eight  millions  of  dollars  a  year),  and  the  land  tax,  which  is  for  two 
millions,  but  must  still  be  augmented  by  whatever  sum  the  provisional  army  may 
render  necessary.  It  is  generally  believed  these  will  be  got  through  in  two  or  three 
weeks,  so  that  the  time  of  adjournment  is  pretty  generally  spoken  of  as  for  the 
last  of  this  month. 

I  do  not  yet  venture  to  write  for  my  horses.  Whenever  I  do,  I  will  at  the  same 
moment  write  to  you,  in  hopes  of  meeting  yourself  and  Maria  at  Monticello.  I 
never  was  more  home-sick  or  heart-sick.  The  life  of  this  place  is  peculiarly  hateful 
to  me,  and  nothing  but  a  sense  of  duty  and  respect  to  the  public  could  keep  me 
here  a  moment.  I  shall  be  disappointed,  by  the  delay  here,  in  my  hope  of  going 
by  the  way  of  Eppington.  Before  I  can  get  home,  by  the  straightest  road,  we  shall 
have  begun  our  harvest.  Express  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eppes  my  regrets  on  this  sub 
ject,  reserving  my  visit  for  another  occasion.  My  most  friendly  salutations  attend 
them  and  the  family.  All  my  love  to  my  dear  Maria  and  sincere  affections  to  your 
self.  Adieu. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

Letters,  still  warmer  in  tone,  and  giving  more  minute  particu 
lars,  are  contained  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  published  correspondence. 

The  debate  on  Sprigg's  resolutions  had  been  interrupted 
(April  2d)  by  a  resolution  calling  for  the  dispatches  from  our 
envoys.  The  President  communicated  them  the  next  day.  He 
however  omitted  the  names  of  the  three  individuals  (Hottingeur, 
Bellamy  and  Hauteval)  who  had  figured  in  the  official  negoti 
ations  with  our  ministers,  supplying  their  places  with  the  letters 
XYZ.  This  gave  the  name  of  "  the  XYZ  affair1'  to  the  trans 
actions,  in  the  conversation  and  correspondences  of  the  day. 

We  have  not  limits  to  enter  upon  an  account  of  the  long 
series  of  minute  circumstances  mentioned  in  the  American  Minis 
ter's  dispatches.  Those  desirous  of  investigating  these  facts 
would  do  well  to  consult  official  sources,  as  they  have  been  the 
subjects  of  frequent  and  gross  misrepresentation.  It  is  sufficient 
for  our  purposes  to  say  that  our  envoys,  on  reaching  Paris,  found 
VOL.  ii. — 25 


386  RESULT   OF   THE   FEENCH   EMBASSY.  [CHAP.    Vin, 

Talleyrand,  lately  an  exile  in  the  United  States,  and  who  there 
received  the  "  cold  shoulder  "  from  our  Government,  in  the  posi 
tion  of  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  He  sent  permits  to  the 
envoys  to  remain,  but  alleged  other  engagements  as  a  reason 
why  he  could  not  be  seen  for  the  present.  These  excuses  multi 
plied  as  they  successively  became  stale. 

The  envoys,  on  every  glimpse  of  hope  pressed  forward — the 
Bishop  of  Au tun  still  retreating,  like  a  desert  mirage  of  springs 
and  gardens  before  the  thirsty  traveller.  Meanwhile  our  Sir 
Guyons  were  beset  by  tempters  !  Hottingeur  and  Bellamy  came 
on  the  scene,  exhibiting  not  a  scrap  of  official  credentials,  but 
talking,  as  if  for  the  Minister,  of  loans  to  France,  of  stopping  the 
captures  of  American  vessels  in  that  event,  of  explanations  of 
the  President's  speech,  of  a  douceur  of  £50,000  to  somebody,  of 
peace  in  case  of  compliance,  and  of  war  in  the  other  event. 
Haute val,  who,  we  believe,  never  talked  directly  concerning  the 
douceur,  took  Gerry  to  see  Talleyrand  in  a  private  audience. 
Nothing  followed  but  new  shillings  of  the  objects  in  the  diplo 
matic  kaleidoscope.  The  envoys  said  that  they  would  not  stand 
for  a  little  money,  in  the  prospect  of  obtaining  a  peace,  but  they 
doughtily  refused  to  yield  up  a  cent  until  the  French  captures 
of  American  vessels  should  be  ordered  to  cease.  Till  then 
they  would  not  even  consult  their  Government  about  a 
"  loan." 

Talleyrand,  as  through  life,  was  slippery  and  intangible. 
Come  where  he  appeared  most  distinctly  to  be,  and,  presto,  he 
was  not  there  1  He  would  not  even  promise  for  the  Directory  if 
his  terms  were  acceded  to,  but  he  would  use  his  influence  with 
them.  X  and  Y  continued  to  expatiate  now  on  "  war,  horrid 
war,"  and  now  on  all  sorts  of  diplomatic  propositions,  until  at 
last  our  ministers,  utterly  out  of  patience  with  the  weary  and  dis 
gusting  farce,  and  satisfied  that  it  would  result  in  nothing,  after 
one  or  two  efforts  shook  themselves  clear  of  their  tormentors. 
Their  unpardonable  mistake  was  that  they  did  not  kick  them 
out  of  doors,  at  the  outset,  or  at  the  moment  they  made  a  pro 
position  involving  a  dishonor. 

How  far  the  French  Government  was  responsible  for  this 
abortive  trickery  we  are  not  called  upon  to  say.  It  is  sufficient 
to  say  it  wholly  disavowed  it.  If  governments  can  be  made 
responsible  officially  for  the  quasi-negotiations  of  wholly  unac- 


CHAP.  VIII.]  EFFECTS    OF   XYZ    DISPATCHES. 

credited    agents,  they  can  be   made   responsible   for   anything 
that  scoundrelism  chooses  to  devise.1 

We  think  our  envoys  erred,  though  honestly  erred,  and 
they  placed  themselves  at  an  unfortunate  disadvantage,  in  con 
ferring  with  these  assumed  agents.  They  gave  Talleyrand,  if  the 
agents  were  his — and,  probably,  there  is  little  doubt  of  that  fact 
— an  opportunity  to  sound  them,  and  act  on  their  answers,  with 
out  their  learning  a  purpose  of  the  French  Government,  or  ob 
taining  an  assurance  for  which  the  Government  was  in  the  least 
degree  responsible.  But  a  more  serious  error,  there  can  be  little 
question,  lay  in  their  sending  home  dispatches-  likely  to  kindle  a 
war  with  a  nation,  at  that  epoch,  twice  or  thrice  more  powerful 
than  any  other  on  earth,  in  respect  to  their  injudicious  quasi- 
negotiations  with  two  or  three  obscure,  private  and  unaccredited 
individuals.  Or,  perhaps,  it  would  be  more  just  to  impute  the 
blame  to  the  Executive,  for  making  such  communications  the 
basis  of  inflammatory  messages,  treating  the  propositions  of 
Hottingeur  and  Bellamy  as  if  the  Directory  were  responsible  for 
them,  and  throwing  them  out,  like  coals  on  stubble,  to  obtain 
a  political  victory  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

When  the  XYZ  dispatches  were  spread  before  the  American 
public,  fierce  indignation  burnt  throughout  the  land.  "  We  had 
been  not  only  insulted,"  it  was  said,  "but  infamously  degraded, 
by  being  asked  absolutely  to  purchase  a  hearing  from  the  French 
Government !"  All  considerations  of  prudence  fell  like  dry 
grass  in  the  track  of  the  rushing  prairie-fire.  "  Let  us  fight,  if 
we  are  annihilated,"  was  the  cry  that  went  up  from  the  very 
heart  of  a  gallant  people !  Party  lines  perished  in  a  moment. 
The  Republicans  were  instantly  reduced  to  a  more>  feeble  minor 
ity  throughout  the  nation  than  they  had  been  any  day  before, 
since  their  first  organization  as  a  party.  Some  of  the  Repub 
lican  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  instantly 

1  The  Emperor  Napoleon  seems  to  have  entertained  the  idea  that  Hottingenr  and 
Bellamy  were  agents  of  Talleyrand,  and  that  one  of  the  Directory  (President  Barras)  was 
also  art  and  part,  of  the  transaction.  The  remark  quoted  below  was  made  by  the  exile 
of  St.  Helena,  and  when  there  were  strong  reasons  why  he  may  have  desired  to  heap 
infamy  on  the  party  he  named.  Nor  does  he  appear  to  have  been  at  all  familiar  with  the 
details  of  the  transaction ;  for,  according  to  our  understanding  of  the  facts,  his  main 
statement  is  erroneous,  that  giving  up  the  loan  from  the  United  States  to  France,  was  to 
be  the  consideration  of  the  bribe.  His  words  were  as  follows  : 

•  Certain  intriguing  agents,  with  which  sort  of  instruments  the  office  of  Foreign 
relations  was  at  that  period  abundantly  supplied,  insinuated  that  the  demand  of  a  loan 
would  be  desisted  from,  upon  the  advance  of  twelve  hundred  thousand  francs,  to  be 
divided  between  the  Director  Barras  and  the  Minister  Talleyrand." 


388  REPUBLICANS    OVERTHROWN ALIENS    FLY.    [CHAP.    VIII. 

changed  sides.     Others  abandoned  their  posts.     Jefierson  wrote 
to  Madison,  April  26th: 

"  Giles,  Clopton,  Cabell  and  Nicholas  have  gone,  and  Clay  goes  to-morrow.  He 
received  here  news  of  the  death  of  his  wife.  Parker  has  completely  gone  over  to 
the  war  party.  In  this  state  of  things  they  will  carry  what  they  please." 

This  was  the  same  Colonel  Parker  who  had  taken  such  an 
extreme  position  against  Jay's  Treaty ;  and  hopeless  must  have 
been  the  struggle  when  John  Nicholas  turned  his  back  ! 

War  measures — bills  for  preparing  fleets,  and  armies,  and  for 
tifications — rapidly  passed  Congress.  Hints  of  alien  and  sedi 
tion  laws  became  rife.  The  most  obnoxious  French  residents, 
dreading  some  violent  action,  chartered  a  vessel  and  fled  home. 
Among  them  was  Constantine  Francis  Chasseboeuf,  Count  de 
Volney,  a  man  whose  amiability,  learning,  talents,  and  uniform 
truthfulness  to  the  maxims  of  sound,  temperate  civil  liberty, 
would  have  given  him  an  imperishable  reputation  among  the 
wise  and  good,1  had  he  not  stained  his  fame  by  productions 
of  the  rankest  atheism,  and  allowed  his  prejudices  in  that  direc 
tion  to  involve  him  in  not  only  such  absurd,  but  unscholarly, 
positions,  as  a  denial  that  Jesus  Christ  ever  existed.2 

Intimations  were  not  wanting,  among  the  inflamed  and  trium 
phant  Federalists,  that  even  the  Republican  leader  of  the 
House,  Gallatin,  a  naturalized  citizen,  should  be  reached  by 
some  law  and  driven  out  of  the  country.  When  others  suc 
cumbed  to  the  torrent  of  excitement,  he  neither  yielded  nor  fled 
his  post.  With  as  clear  a  logic  as  Madison's,  he  possessed 
nerves  of  a  far  more  steel-like  texture.  He  was  neither  passion- 

1  When  Bonaparte  was  raised  to  the  Consulship,  he  was  made  a  Senator  ;  and  it  was 
thought  would  have  been  appointed  second  Consul  but  for  the  liberality  of  his  political 
principles.    These  he  maintained  resolutely  and  consistently  in  the  Senate.     In  1SU,  he 
was  made  one  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers — but  remained  incorruptibly  steadfast  in  his 
views. 

Lockhart  gives  a  specimen  of  DeVolney's  bold  outspokenness.  When  the  famous 
concordat  between  Napoleon  and  the  Pope  (September  18th,  1802)  was  under  considera 
tion,  he  says : 

"  The  question  was  argued  one  evening  at  great  length  on  the  terrace  of  the  gardca 
of  Bonaparte's  favorite  villa  of  Malmaison.  The  Chief  Consul  avowed  himself  to  be  no 
believer  in  Christianity,  but  said,  in  'reestablishing  the  church,  he  consulted  the  wishes 
of  a  great  majority  of  his  people.'  Volney,  the  celebrated  traveller,  was  present.  '  You 
speak  of  the  majority  of  the  people,'  said  he  ;  k  if  that  is  to  be  your  rule,  recall  the  Bour 
bons  to-morrow.'  Napoleon  never  conversed  with  this  bold  inndel  afterwards.'  " — Lock- 
hart's  Napoleon,  Harper's  edition,  vol.  i.  p.  206. 

2  He  attempted  to  prove  Christ  a  myth,  ingeniously  tracing  the  name  from  a  sort  of 
symbolic  word  in  several  earlier  and  oriental  languages.     He  who  would  like  to  see  this 
myth  annihilated  by  a  far  abler  and  more  learned  linguist  than  De  Volney,  can  find  it 
done  secundum  artcm  by  Priestley. 


CHAP.  YIII.]  GALLATIN ADDRESSES TERRORISM.  389 

ate  nor  aggressive  ;  no  excitement  reached  him,  no  abuse  for  an 
instant  disturbed  his  serene,  cold,  intellectual  equanimity.  If  he 
had  no  more  enthusiasm  than  a  machine,  he  had  no  more  fear, 
nor  wavering,  nor  tiringness  than  a  machine.  In  victory  or 
defeat,  in  a  fair  field  or  borne  down  by  desperate  odds,  the 
bright,  trenchant,  swift  blade  of  this  undaunted  and  consum 
mate  debater  always  taught  foes  to  beware,  and  always  made 
their  victory  dearly  bought.  For  the  precise  position  in  which 
he  was  now  placed — to  cover  the  broken  rout — to  head  the  des 
perate  charge  of  a  handful  of  brave  men — to  despise  the  threats, 
and  pass  without  notice  the  personal  insults  of  an  arrogant  and 
insolent,  majority — and  to  make  as  fresh  a  stand  on  every  new 
question  as  if  he  came  to  flesh  a  maiden  sword — it  is  probable 
that  not  another  man  existed  in  the  nation  who  could  have  filled 
the  place  of  Albert  Gallatin. 

Addresses  rained  upon  the  President  from  military,  civic,  and 
unorganized  popular  bodies,  tendering  their  support  to  his 
measures ;  and  he,  not  unfrequently,  returned  the  most  inflam 
matory  answers.  But  the  masses  were  still,  it  would  appear, 
divided,  at  least  in  some  places.  We  have  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
scenes  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  evening  of  the  Fast  Day,  from 
Mr.  Adams's  own  hand.  We  doubt  not  there  is  high  exagge 
ration  in  the  picture,  but  that  of  the  physical  spectacle  can, 
perhaps,  be  relied  on.  Writing  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  1813,  on  the 
text  of  "  Terrorism  "  in  the  United  States,  he  said  : 

"  I  have  no  doubt  you  were  fast  asleep  in  philosophical  tranquillity  when  teu 
thousand  people,  and  perhaps  many  more,  were  parading  the  streets  of  Philadelphia 
on  the  evening  of  my  Fast  Day.  When  even  Governor  Mifflin  himself  thought  it 
his  duty  to  order  a  patrol  of  horse  and  foot  to  preserve  the  peace;  when  Market 
street  was  as  full  as  men  could  stand  by  one  another,  and  even  before  my  door; 
when  some  of  my  domestics,  in  frenzy,  determined  to  sacrifice  their  lives  in  my 
defence ;  when  all  were  ready  to  make  a  desperate  sally  among  the  multitude,  and 
others  were  with  difficulty  and  danger  dragged  back  by  the  others ;  when  I  myself 
judged  it  prudent  and  necessary  to  order  chests  of  arms  from  the  war  office,  to  be 
brought  through  by  lanes  and  back  doors;  determined  to  defend  my  house  at  the 
expense  of  my  life,  and  the  lives  of  the  few,  very  few,  domestics  and  friends  within 
it.  What  think  you  of  terrorism,  Mr.  Jefferson?"  1 

Jefferson  wrote  James  Lewis,  Jr.,  May  9th,  and  the  last  three 
sentences  are  entitled  to  special  notice  : 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  279 ;  and  Jefferson's  Works,  Congress  edition,  vol.  vj. 
p.  155. 


390  CONDUCT  OF  ENGLAND   AT   THIS   PERIOD.          [CHAP.    VIII. 

"  Party  passions  are  indeed  high.  Nobody  has  more  reason  to  know  it  than 
myself.  I  receive  daily  bitter  proofs  of  it  from  people  who  never  saw  me,  nor  know 
anything  of  me  but  through  Porcupine  and  Fenno.  At  this  moment  all  the  passions 
are  boiling  over,  and  one  who  keeps  himself  cool  and  clear  of  the  contagion,  is  so 
far  below  the  point  of  ordinary  conversation,  that  he  finds  himself  insulated  in 
every  society.  However,  the  fever  will  not  last.  War,  land  tax  and  stamp  tax,  are 
sedatives  which  must  cool  its  ardor.  They  will  bring  on  reflection,  and  that,  with 
information,  is  all  which  our  countrymen  need,  to  bring  themselves  and  their  affairs 
to  rights.  They  are  essentially  republicans.  They  retain  unadulterated  the  princi 
ples  of  '76,  and  those  who  are  conscious  of  no  change  in  themselves  have  nothing 
to  fear  in  the  long  run.  It  is  our  duty  still  to  endeavor  to  avoid  war ;  but  if  it 
shall  actually  take  place,  no  matter  by  whom  brought  on,  we  must  defend  ourselves. 
If  our  house  be  on  fire,  without  inquiring  whether  it  was  fired  from  within  or  with 
out,  we  must  try  to  extinguish  it.  In  that,  I  have  no  doubt,  we  shall  act  as  one 
man." 

As  the  relations  between  France  and  the  United  States  daily 
grew  more  threatening,  it  becomes  interesting  to  know  what 
attitude  was  assumed  towards  the  latter  by  England.  Hamilton 
wrote  King,  our  Minister  at  London,  a  little  after  the  middle  of 
May,1  that  "in  Congress  a  good  spirit  was  gaining  ground,  and 
that,  though  measures  marched  slowly,  there  was  reason  to 
expect  that  almost  everything  which  the  exigency  required 
would  be  done,"  and  he  added : 

"  In  the  community,  indignation  against  the  French  Government,  and  a  firm 
resolution  to  support  our  own,  discover  themselves  daily  by  unequivocal  symptoms. 
The  appearances  are  thus  far  highly  consoling. 

4i  But  in  this  posture  of  things,  how  unfortunate  it  is  that  the  new  instructions 
offered  by  Great  Britain,  which  appear,  according  to  the  reports  of  the  day,  to  be 
giving  rise  to  many  abusive  captures  of  our  vessels,  are  likely  to  produce  a  counter- 
current,  and  to  distract  the  public  dissatisfaction  between  two  powers,  who,  it  will 
be  said,  are  equally  disposed  to  plunder  and  oppress.  In  vain  it  will  be  urged  that 
the  British  Government  cannot  be  so  absurd  as  at  such  a  juncture  to  intend  us 
injury.  The  effects  will  alone  be  considered,  and  they  will  make  the  worst  possible 
impression.  By  what  fatality  has  the  British  Cabinet  been  led  to  spring  any  new 
mine,  by  new  regulations,  at  such  a  crisis  of  affairs.  What  can  be  gained  to  coun 
teract  the  mischievous  tendency  of  abuses  ?  Why  are  weapons  to  be  furnished  to 
our  Jacobins? 

"  It  seems  the  captured  vessels  are  carried  to  the  Mole,  where  there  is  a  virtuous 
judge  of  the  name  of  Cambauld,  disposed  to  give  sanction  to  plunder  in  every 
shape  !  Events  are  not  yet  sufficiently  unfolded  to  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  extent 
of  the  mischief,  but  nothing  can  be  more  unlucky  than  that  the  door  has  been 
opened.  The  recency  of  the  thing  may  prevent  your  hearing  anything  about  it 
from  the  Government  by  this  opportunity." 

1  The  day  of  the  month  is  not  given  in  the  letter,  but  it  is  arranged  between  letter* 
iated  May  17th  and  19th,  in  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  287. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  ALARM   OF   FRENCH   INVASION.  391 

He  wrote  to  the  same,  June  6,  1798 : 

"  How  vexatious  that  at  such  a  juncture  there  should  be  officers  of  Great 
Britain,  who,  actuated  by  a  spirit  of  plunder,  are  doing  the  most  violent  thing*, 
calculated  to  check  the  proper  amount  of  popular  feeling  and  to  furnish  weapons  to 
the  enemies  of  government.  Cambauld  at  the  Mole  is  acting  a  part  quite  as  bad  as 
the  Directory  and  their  instruments.  I  have  seen  several  of  his  condemnations. 
They  are  wanton  beyond  measure.  *  *  * 

"  It  is  unlucky,  too,  that  Cochrane  of  the  Thetis  appears  to  be  doing  some  ill 
things.  The  Southern  papers  announce  a  number  of  captures  lately  made  by  him, 
and  in  some  instances,  if  they  say  true,  on  very  frivolous  pretexts.  *  *  * 

"  There  seems  a  fatality  in  all  this.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  British 
Cabinet  must  at  this  time  desire  to  conciliate  this  country.  It  is  to  be  hoped  they 
will  not  want  vigor  to  do  it  with  effect,  by  punishing  those  who  contravene  the 
object."  l 

The  war  spirit  in  Congress,  and  in  the  nation,  had  received  its 
greatest  impetus  from  an  industriously  circulated  and  apparently 
widely  credited  report  that  France  was  meditating,  if  not  actu 
ally  preparing  for,  an  invasion  of  the  United  States.  This  report 
was  really  an  absurd  one  on  its  face,  and  it  would  seem  impos 
sible  that  it  could  have  been  credited  by  any  man  capable  of 
weighing  the  most  obvious  considerations  likel}7  to  control  the 
decision  of  such  a  question.  Washington  did  not  believe  it,  and 
John  Adams,  before  our  war  preparations  were  completed, 
treated  it  with  ridicule.8 

A  few  months  earlier  we  have  seen  Hamilton  the  earnest 
advocate  of  peace — the  strenuous  supporter  of  sending  for  that 
object  a  mission  to  France,  which  should  contain  the  name  of 
Jefferson  or  Madison.  Now,  on  the  contrary,  he  was  the  stren 
uous  advocate  of  the  most  extensive  war  preparations — of  far 
more  extensive  preparations,  indeed,  than  even  this  inflammable 
Congress  could  be  induced  to  sanction.  His  wishes,  clothed  in 
language  which  sounded  much  like  that  of  command,  will  be 
found  formally  and  methodically  stated  under  numbered  heads 
in  letters  to  the  Secretary  of  State  and  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury  (March  17th  and  June  5th).3  Though  his  wishes  were 
fallen  far  short  of,  in  increasing  the  army  and  navy,  and  in  rais 
ing  a  provisional  army,  a  comparison  of  his  letters  with  what 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  298. 

3  Washington  to  Hamilton,  May  27th  (in  answer  to  the  already  quoted  letter  of  19th). 
Bee  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  291.  We  shall  quote  John  Adams's  declarations  on  th* 
subject  by  and  by. 

3  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  269,  294. 


392  WASHINGTON'S  VIEWS — MARSHALL'S  RETURN.   [CHAP,  vm, 

was  done  will  show  that  the  former  furnished  the  programme  of 
the  Federalists  in  Congress.  His  contemporaneous  correspond 
ence  also  discloses  the  fact  that  his  adherents  in  the  Cabinet 
consulted  him  on  every  important  question. 

He  wrote  to  General  Washington,  May  19th,  suggesting  that 
"  under  some  pretence  of  health,  etc.,"  he  "  make  a  circuit 
through  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,"  to  "  call  forth  addresses, 
public  dinners,  etc.,  which  would  give  an  opportunity  of  expres 
sing  sentiments  in  answers,  toasts,  etc.,  which  would  throw  the 
weight  of  his  character  into  the  scale  of  the  Government,  and 
revive  an  enthusiasm  for  his  person,  that  might  be  turned  into 
the  right  channel."  This  was  very  modestly  and  cautiously 
proposed,  but  it  did  not  draw  out  any  gleam  of  willingness  on 
Washington's  part  to  put  his  popularity  to  such  uses.  It  was  in 
this  reply  that  he  said  "  that  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  yet 
for  the  expectation  of  open  war,  or  in  other  words,  for  a  formid 
able  invasion  by  France.  He  could  not  believe,  although  he 
thought  them  capable  of  anything  bad,  that  they  would  attempt 
to  do  more  than  they  had  done"  and  when  they  discovered  they 
had  falsely  calculated  upon  the  support  of  a  large  part  of  the 
American  people,  "  theywoidd  desist  even  from  those  practices ." a 

Marshall  returned  from  France  in  June.  Himself  and  Pinck- 
ney  had  been  ordered  out  of  that  country,  but  Gerry  required 
to  remain  on  the  (inofficial)  threat  of  Tally  rand,  that  his  depar 
ture  would  be  followed  by  a  declaration  of  war.  Gerry  had 
written  home  requesting  his  recall.  Marshall  landed  at.  New 
York,  where  Jefferson  wrote  Madison  he  no  doubt  would  re 
ceive  "  more  than  hints  from  Hamilton  as  to  the  tone  required  to 
be  assumed."  He  said  that  (Edward)  Livingston  came  on  with 
Marshall  from  New  York,  and  that  "  Marshall  told  him  they 
had  no  idea  in  France  of  a  war  with  us."  He  added  : 


"  Marshall  was  received  here  with  the  utmost  eclat.  The  Secretary  ot  State 
and  many  carriages,  with  all  the  city  cavalry,  went  to  Frankfort  to  meet  him,  and 
on  his  arrival  here  in  the  evening,  the  bells  rung  till  late  in  the  night,  and  immense 
crowds  were  collected  to  see  and  make  part  of  the  show,  which  was  circuitously 
paraded  through  the  streets  before  he  was  set  down  at  the  City  Tavern.  All  this 
was  to  secure  him  to  their  views,  that  he  might  say  nothing  which  would  oppose 
the  game  they  have  been  playing.  Since  his  arrival  I  can  hear  of  nothing  dire«*tb 

»  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  289. 

*  Ib.  p.  291.    Washington's  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  235. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  WAR   SPIRIT   IN  CONGRESS.  393 

from  him,  while   they  are  disseminating  through  the  town  things,  as  from  him, 

diametrically  opposite  to  what  he  said  to  Livingston. 

****** 

"  Doctor  Logan,  about  a  fortnight  ago,  sailed  for  Hamburg.  Though  for  a 
twelvemonth  past  he  had  been  intending  to  go  to  Europe  as  soon  as  he  could  get 
money  enough  to  carry  him  there,  yet  when  he  had  accomplished  this,  and  fixed  a 
time  for  going,  he  very  unwisely  made  a  mystery  of  it ;  so  that  his  disappearance 
without  notice  excited  conversation.  This  was  seized  by  the  war  hawks,  and  given 
out  as  a  secret  mission  from  the  Jacobins  here  to  solicit  an  army  from  France, 
instruct  them  as  to  their  landing,  etc.  This  extravagance  produced  a  real  panic 
among  the  citizens  ;  and  happening  just  when  Bache  published  Talleyrand's  letter, 
Harper,  on  the  18th,  gravely  announced  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  that  there 
existed  a  traitorous  correspondence  between  the  Jacobins  here  and  the  French 
Directory  ;  that  he  had  got  hold  of  some  threads  arid  clues  of  it,  and  would  soon  be 
able  to  develop  the  whole.  This  increased  the  alarm;  their  libelists  immediately 
set  to  work,  directly  and  indirectly,  to  implicate  whom  they  pleased.  Porcupine 
gave  me  a  principal  share  in  it,  as  I  am  told,  for  I  never  read  his  papers." 

Mr.  Adams  sent  a  message  to  Congress  June  21st,  closing 
thus: 

"  I  presume  that  before  this  time  he  [Gerry]  has  received  fresh  instructions,  a 
copy  of  which  [a  peremptory  letter  of  recall,  etc.]  accompanies  this  message,  to 
consent  to  no  loans ;  and  therefore  the  negotiation  may  be  considered  as  closed. 
I  will  never  send  another  minister  to  France  without  assurances  that  he  will  be 
received,  respected,  and  honored,  as  the  representative  of  a  great,  free,  powerful, 
and  independent  nation." 

The  war  spirit  burst  out  anew  in  Congress.  The  President 
had  been  already  authorized  to  increase  the  navy  considerably  ; ' 
to  expend  $250,000  for  harbor  fortifications  ;  to  purchase 
$800,000  worth  of  arms  and  ammunition;  to  enlist  a  provisional 
army  of  ten  thousand  troops  for  three  years,  in  the  event  of  a  de 
claration  of  war  or  imminent  danger  (in  the  President's  opinion) 
of  an  invasion ;  to  order  our  navy  to  seize  and  bring  into  port 
any  armed  vessel  which  had  attacked  American  vessels,  "  or 
which  should  be  found  hovering  on  the  coast  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  purpose  of  committing  depredations  on  the  vessels 
belonging  to  citizens  thereof;"  and  to  suspend  commercial  inter 
course  between  the  United  States  and  France  and  its  depen 
dencies. 

The  next  day  after  receiving  the  President's  message  (June 
22d),  Congress  authorized  him  to  officer  and  arm  the  provisional 

1  The  new  Executive  department,  entitled  "the  Department  of  the  Navy,"  was 
established  April  30th. 


394  WAR   BILLS — NATURALIZATION   LAW,    ETC.       [CHAP.  VIII. 

army.  On  the  25th,  it  authorized  our  merchant  vessels  forcibly 
to  resist  "any  search,  restraint,  or  seizure,"  from  any  vessel 
sailing  under  French  colors,  to  capture  the  latter,  and  make  re 
captures.  On  the  28th,  the  President  was  authorized  to  treat 
persons  taken  on  board  captured  vessels  as  prisoners.  On  the 
6th  of  July,  it  was  enacted  that  thirty  thousand  stands  of 
arms  be  obtained  and  sold  to  the  State  governments.  On  the 
7th,  the  treaties  between  the  United  States  and  France  were 
declared  annulled.1  On  the  9th,  the  President  was  authorized 
to  direct  our  navy  to  capture  any  armed  vessels  of  France,  and 
to  grant  commissions  to  privateers  to  do  the  same.  On  the 
llth,  he  was  authorized  to  raise  a  marine  corps.  On  the  14th  a 
direct  tax  of  two  millions  was  imposed  to  meet  expenses.  On 
the  16th,  the  President  was  empowered  to  raise  twelve  regi 
ments  of  infantry  and  six  troops  of  light  dragoons,  and  officer 
them  ;  to  borrow  five  millions  of  dollars  for  the  public  service  ; 
and  to  borrow  two  millions  more  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  credit  of  the  direct  tax 

Legislation  against  "  interior  foes  "  was  made  to  keep  pace 
with  the  preceding.  On  the  18th  of  June  the  term  of  residence 
requisite  to  naturalization  was  extended  to  fourteen  years  and 
five  years  previous  declaration  of  intention  and  residence  in  the 
State  made  necessary.  All  aliens  wTere  required  to  report  them 
selves  and  be  registered  by  the  clerks  of  the  district  courts, 
under  a  specific  penalty  in  money  and  under  penalty  of  being 
compelled  to  give  surety  of  the  peace  and  good  behavior  at 
the  discretion  of  a  magistrate  ;  and  registry  was  made  the  only 
proof  of  residence  (for  emigrants  coming  into  the  country  after 
the  passage  of  the  act)  for  the  purposes  of  naturalization.  Na 
tives  or  subjects  of  countries  with  which  the  United  States  were 
at  war  could  not  be  naturalized. 

On  the  25th  of  June  it  was  made  lawful  for  the  President  to 
order  "all  such  aliens  as  he  should  judge  dangerous  to  the 
peace  and  safety  of  the  United  States,"  to  depart  therefrom 
"  within  such  time  as  should  be  expressed  in  such  order  ;"  and 
if  the  person  ordered  to  depart  was  afterwards  found  in  the 
country,  he  could  be  imprisoned  three  years.  The  President 

1  This  measure  was  hailed  with  enthusiastic  delight  by  the  Federalists  in  many  quar 
ters.  Those  of  Boston  afterwards,  for  some  years,  observed  the  day  of  the  repeal  as  an 
anniversary  of  what  was  termed  among  them  '•  the  Second  Declaration  of  Independence." 


CHAP.  VIII.]  ALIEN    AND    SEDITION    LAWS.  395 

might  order  any  alien  to  be  forcibly  removed  out  of  the  coun 
try,  and  on  a  voluntary  return  to  be  imprisoned  at  his  (the  Pre 
sident's)  discretion.  Masters  of  vessels,  bringing  any  aliens  into 
the  country  and  failing  to  report  the  fact  immediately  to  the 
collector  of  the  port  in  writing,  specifying  names,  ages,  places 
of  nativity,  occupations,  and  "  a  description  of  their  persons," 
were  to  forfeit  three  hundred  dollars.  The  collector  was 
required  forthwith  to  transmit  these  returns  to  the  State  depart 
ment. 

On  the  6th  of  July  an  act  was  passed  that  in  case  of  war,  or 
an  invasion,  or  k<  predatory  incursion  "  made  or  "  threatened,1' 
all  natives  or  subjects  of  the  hostile  power  in  the  United  States 
"  not  actually  naturalized,"  should  be  liable  to  be  secured, 
removed,  or  required  to  give  security  for  good  behavior  at  the 
discretion  of  the  President  and  on  his  proclamation,  except  that 
those  not  "  chargeable  with  actual  hostility  or  other  crime 
against  the  public  safety,"  should  be  allowed  the  time  to  dis 
pose  of  their  goods  stipulated  by  treaty  ! '  The  several  courts 
of  the  United  States  were  authorized,  on  complaint,  to  appre 
hend  aliens  who  continued  in  the  country  "  contrary  to  the  tenor 
or  intent "  of  the  President's  proclamation,  u  or  other  regula 
tions  "  which  the  President  established  "  in  the  premises,"  and 
cause  them  to  be  removed  from  the  country,  to  give  sureties, 
or  be  otherwise  "  restrained,"  etc. 

These  were  the  famous  "  AH  on  Laws  "  of  John  Adams's  ad 
ministration.  But  it  required  the  "Sedition  Law"  to  reach 
native  born  Republicans. 

On  the  14th  of  July  it  was  enacted  that  if  any  persons  un 
lawfully  conspired  to  oppose  "  any  measure  "  of  the  United 
States,  to  prevent  any  public  officer  from  executing  his  trust,  or 
advised  or  attempted  "  to  procure  any  insurrection,  riot,  unlaw 
ful  assembly,  or  combination,  whether  such  conspiracy,  threat 
ening,  counsel,  advice,  or  attempt  should  have  the  proposed 
effect  or  not,"  they  should  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  high  misde 
meanor,  and  on  conviction  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding 
$5,000,  and  by  imprisonment  during  a  term  not  less  than  six 
months  nor  exceeding  five  years  ;  and  further,  at  the  discretion 
•of  the  court,  might  be  holden  to  find  sureties  for  good  behavior 

1  The  war  in  prospect  was  against  France.    Our  "treaties"  with  her  were  the  nest 
'lay  annulled ! 


396  SEDITION    LAW — LLOYD'S   BILL.  [CHAP.    VIH 

in  such  sum,  and  for  such  time  as  the  court  might  direct.  Tho 
second  section  of  the  act  we  will  present  entire  as  a  legal  curi 
osity  : 

u  Sec.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall  write,  print,  uttei 
or  publish,  or  shall  cause  or  procure  to  be  written,  printed,  uttered  or  published,  or 
shall  knowingly  and  willingly  assist  or  aid  in  writing,  printing,  uttering  or  publishing 
any  false,  scandalous,  and  malicious  writing  or  writings  against  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  or  either  House  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  or  the  Pre 
sident  of  the  United  States,  with  intent  to  defame  the  said  Government,  or  either 
House  of  the  said  Congress,  or  the  said  President,  or  to  bring  them,  or  either  of 
them,  into  contempt  or  disrepute  ;  or  to  excite  against  them,  or  either  or  any  of 
them,  the  hatred  of  the  good  people  of  the  United  States,  or  to  stir  up  sedition 
within  the  United  States,  or  to  excite  any  unlawful  combinations  therein,  for  oppos 
ing  or  resisting  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or  any  act  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  done  in  pursuance  of  any  such  law,  or  of  the  powers  in  him  vested 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  to  resist,  oppose,  or  defeat  any  such 
law  or  act,  or  to  aid,  encourage  or  abet  any  hostile  designs  of  any  foreign  nation 
against  the  United  States,  their  people  or  Government,  then  such  person,  being 
thereof  convicted  before  any  court  of  the  United  States  having  jurisdiction  thereof, 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  two  thousand  dollars,  and  by  imprison 
ment  not  exceeding  two  years." 

The  penalties  of  this  act  could  be  readily  adjudged  to  extend 
to  any  pithily  written  or  spoken  animadversion  on  the  political 
measures  of  Government ;  and  we  soon  shall  see  whether  any 
of  the  powers  with  which  it  armed  the  latter  were  left  dormant 
in  practice. 

Some  of  the  dominant  party  in  Congress  appear  to  have  been 
inflamed  to  the  verge  of  insanity,  at  this  period,  by  wild  tales 
trumpeted  through  the  newspapers,  of  threatened  French  inva 
sions,  of  "  the  Cannibal's  Progress,"  1  of  "  united  Irishmen,"  and 
of  conspiracies  between  the  Republicans  and  French  to  over 
throw  our  Government,  which  Quaker  Logan  had  gone  to  France 
to  mature  and  set  in  operation. 

On  the  26th  of  June,  Lloyd  of  Maryland  had  obtained  leave 
to  bring  into  the  Senate  "  a  bill  to  define  more  particularly  the 
crime  of  treason  and  punish  the  crime  of  sedition."  It  imme 
diately  passed  to  a  second  reading  by  a  vote  of  fourteen  to 
eight.2  This  bill  (subsequently  amended)  declared  the  people 

1  "  The  Cannibal's  Progress,  or  the  dreadful  Horrors  of  French  Invasion,  as  displayed 
by  the  Republican  Officers  and  Soldiers,  in  their  Perfidy,  Rapacity,  Ferociousness,  and 
Brutality,  exercised  towards  the  innocent  Inhabitants  of  Germany,  Abridged  from  the 
translation  of  Anthony  Aufrere,  Esq.,"  appeared  in  Porcupine's  (Cobbet's)  Gazetto 
June.  1798. 

9  The  ayes  weie  Chipman,  of  Vt.;  Foster,  of  R.  I.;  Goodhue,  of  Mass.;  Hillhouso, 


.-JHAP.  VIII. J  HAMILTON THE   BLACK   COCKADE.  397 

of  France  to  be  enemies  of  the  United  States  and  adherence  to 
them  or  giving  them  aid  and  comfort,  punishable  with  death.  It 
provided  for  punishing  by  tine  and  imprisonment  all  who  by 
writing  or  speaking  should  attempt  to  justify  the  hostile  con 
duct  of  the  French,  or  should  utter  anything  tending  to  induce 
a  belief  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  or  any  of  its 
officers  were  influenced  by  motives  hostile  to  the  Constitution,  or 
to  the  liberties  or  happiness  of  the  people. 

It  was  on  seeing  this  bill,  that  Hamilton  wrote  Wolcott 
(June  29th),  "  Let  us  not  establish  a  tyranny."  He  signified  in 
the  same  letter  that  there  were  provisions  in  the  bill  which 
"  might  endanger  civil  war ;"  and  he  said,  "  if  we  make  no 
false  step,  we  shall  be  essentially  united — but  if  we  push  things 
to  an  extreme,  we  shall  then  give  to  faction  body  and  solidity."1 

The  first  expression  has  been  much  quoted,  and  taken  by 
itself  has  led  to  the  inference  that  Hamilton  disapproved  of 
even  of  those  excesses  of  his  party  at  this  period  which  passed 
into  the  form  of  laws.  So  far  from  this,  Mr.  Adams  in>puted  to 
him  the  origination  of  the  Alien  Laws.  We  shall  find  Hamil 
ton  distinctly  approving  of  both  them  and  the  Sedition  Law, 
and  bitterly  complaining  that  they  were  not  more  rigorously 
executed.  Out  of  the  seething  vortex  of  the  capital,  he  was  not 
insane  enough  to  push  on  measures  which  would  lead  to  a  "  civil 
war,"  for  which  no  preparations  were  made. 

We  have  omitted  to  mention  a  circumstance  which  furnished 
a  famous  party  sobriquet.  On  the  8th  of  May,  a  great  proces 
sion  of  the  Young  Men  of  Philadelphia  had  waited  on  the  Pre 
sident  to  present  one  of  the  party  addresses  of  the  times.  Some 
French  Minister — Adet,  we  think — had  directed  Frenchmen  in 
the  United  States  who  continued  to  claim  to  be  subjects  and 
under  the  protection  of  their  native  country,  to  distinguish 
themselves  by  wearing  green  cockades.  The  Federal  young 
men,  tauntingly  to  proclaim  that  they  were  not  Frenchmen,  on 
the  occasion  referred  to,  mounted  black  cockades.  This  was  the 


of  Conn. ;  Howard,  ofMd.;  Latimer,  of  Del. ;  Lawrence,  of  N.  Y. :  Lloyd,  ofMd.;  North, 
of  N.  Y.;  Paine,  of  Vt.;  Read,  of  8.  C.;  Sedgwick,  of  Mass.;  Stockton,  of  N.  J.;  and 
Tracy,  of  Conn. 

The  nays  were  Anderson,  of  Tenn. ;  Bingham,  of  Pa. :  Brown,  of  Ky. ;  Langdon,  of 
N.  H. ;  Liverraore,  of  N.  H. ;  Martin,  of  N.  C. ;  Mason,  of  Va. ;  and  Tazewell,  of  Va. 

Bingham's  vote  on  this  occasion  was  exceptional.  He  voted,  we  think,  for  all  th« 
other  strong  measures  of  his  party. 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  307. 


398  THE    ALIENS    IN   THE  'UNITED    STATES.          [CHAP. 

color  of  the  Revolution  ;  but  unfortunately  for  the  wearers,  it 
was  also  that  of  England  !  This  gave  their  opponents  an  ad 
mirable  opportunity  for  turning  the  tables  on  them,  by  saying 
that  they  had  imitated  the  French  residents  in  proclaiming  their 
transatlantic  partialities  ;  and  a  "  black  cockade  Federalist  " 
thenceforth  became  an  epithet  of  especial  derision  and  reproach 
among  the  Republicans  for  half  a  century. 

It  is  a  matter  both  of  curiosity  and  justice,  now,  to  ask  who 
and  what  were  those  aliens  whom  the  President  was  authorized 
to  banish,  imprison,  or  require  sureties  of  at  his  pleasure. 

The  French  aliens  in  our  country  were  but  a  handful,  and 
most  of  those  who  had  ever  attracted  any  notice  politically,  had 
fled  from  apprehended  severities,  before  the  passage  of  the  Alien 
Laws. 

The  English  were  more  numerous,  but  they  were  generally 
adherents  of  the  Administration,  and,  indeed,  most  of  them,  like 
Gobbet,  were  the  warmest  supporters  of  all  its  excesses  and  its 
strides  towards  monarchical  power. 

The  Irish  unnaturalized  emigrants  exceeded  all  the  others 
taken  together.  The  reasons  for  this,  and  their  political  cha 
racter,  must  be  understood  to  catch  the  true  tone  and  meaning 
of  our  domestic  factions  at  this  remarkable  epoch. 

Two  parties  in  Ireland  had  been  in  opposition  to  the  English 
Government ;  one  seeking  an  equality  with  their  Protestant 
fellow  citizens  in  religious  matters,1  the  other,  an  independent 
nationality.  A  family  intrigue  had  recalled  from  that  devoted 
country  a  liberal  and  popular  Viceroy  (Earl  Fitzwilliam)  and 
filled  his  place  with  a  harsh  and  unrelenting  tyrant  (Lord  Cam- 
den).  The  long  brimming  cup  of  national  wrongs  and  national 
endurance  then  overflowed.'  Then,  in  the  language  of  the  elo 
quent  and  Protestant  Grattan,  "  two  desperate  parties  were 
in  arms  against  the  Constitution.  On  one  side  there  was  the 
camp  of  the  rebel ;  and  on  the  other  the  camp  of  the  Minister, 
a  greater  traitor  than  that  rebel  ;  and  the  treason  of  the  Minis 
ter  against  the  people  was  infinitely  worse  than  the  rebellion  of 
the  people  against  the  Minister !"  The  brutalities  of  the  "  Peep- 
of-day-Boys  "  provoked  the  counter  ones  of  the  "  Defenders," 

1  The  "Irish  Act"  of  1793  was  considered  a  miracle  of  liberality.  It  only  excluded 
the  Catholics  from  about  thirty  of  the  most  important  public  places,  and  wholly  fronc 
seats  in  Parliament ! 


CHAP.  VIII.]  CAUSES    OF   THE    IRISH    EMIGRATION.  399 

and  civil  war  soon  raged  throughout  the  land.  The  friends  of 
emancipation  sent  Fitzgerald  and  O'Connor  to  ask  aid  from 
France,  in  imitation  of  the  American  colonies  in  1776. 1  No 
thing  but  the  winds  and  waves  prevented  Hoche  from  debark 
ing  with  an  army  of  15,000  men  to  aid  them  ;  and  if  we  may 
believe  as  warm  a  sympathizer  as  the  British  Government  had 
on  the  occasion,  Mr.  King,  the  American  Minister,  there  can  be 
but  little  question  that  the  debarkation  would  have  certainly 
resulted  in  the  severance  of  the  British  Monarchy.2 

When  this  crisis  of  danger  passed,  the  Government,  instead 
of  resorting  to  soothing  measures,  as  recommended  by  the  gal 
lant  Ponsonby,  passed  the  Insurrection  Act.  The  suspension  of 
the  habeas  corpus,  and  the  proclamation  of  martial  law  followed. 
It  was  the  deliberate  policy  of  the  Government  now,  when  all 
things  were  prepared,  to  force  the  malcontents  into  a  general 
insurrection,  for  the  purpose  of  ending,  by  extermination,  all 
future  chance  for  dangerous  opposition.  The  result  is  well 
known.  The  rage  of  Attila,  and  of  other  barbarous  chiefs,  in 
the  hoof-marks  of  whose  war  horses  it  was  fabled  the  green  grass 
never  sprouted  again,  was  "  mercy  to  that  new  conquest." 
Humanity  shudders  and  turns  away  sick  with  loathing  at  the 
details  of  the  atrocities  inflicted  by  licentious  and  wholly  brutal 
ized  wretches  who  were  stimulated  to  do  their  worst  on  the 
miserable  inhabitants.8  In  the  mere  lighter  evil  of  death,  the 
mere  statistics  of  physical  carnage,  the  result  of  this  insurrec 
tion  was,  says  Taylor,  the  fall  of  about  twenty  thousand  Royal 
ists  and  about  fifty  thousand  insurgents. 

When  the  last  vestiges  of  the  insurrection  were  eradicated 

1  Nothing  can  be  more  gratuitously  and  basely  false  than  the  pretence  that  Ire 
land  offered  in  the  least  degree  to  sacrifice  her  independence  to  France.  Theobald  Wolfe 
Tone's  assertion  that  the  Irish  envoys  only  stipulated  for  the  aid  of  15,000  French,  can 
not  be  disproved. 

a  In  1798,  when  the  sword,  and  gallows,  and  starvation,  and  torture  had  done  their 
work,  King  wrote  Hamilton : 

u  In  almost  every  instance,  the  insurgents  have  been  dispersed  and  killed,  and  the 
quarter  round  Dublin  is  now  nearly  restored  to  the  King's  peace.  Still,  however,  if  a 
moderate  French  force,  with  a  supply  of  arms,  could  now  be  thrown  into  Ireland,  the 
issue  would  be  dubious,  so  deep  and  general  is  the  desertion." — Hamilton's  Works,  vol. 
vi.  p.  297. 

*  Specimens  of  these  atrocities  will  be  found  by  those  who  have  stomach  to  peruse 
them  in  Taylor's  History  of  Ireland.  Speaking  in  general  of  the  result,  that  writer  says  : 

"  The  utter  demoralization  of  a  great  proportion  of  the  triumphant  party,  was  the 
worst  consequence  of  this  lamentable  struggle.  Men  learned  to  take  an  infernal  delight 
in  the  tortures  and  sufferings  of  their  fellow-creatures.  Revenge,  bigotry,  and  all  the 
dark  passions  that  combine  with  both,  were  permitted  to  have  full  sway.  Perjury,  and 
subornation  of  perjury,  were  united  to  evidence,  obtained  by  torture.  Robbery,  mur 
der,  and  licentious  crime,  committed  with  impunity,  destro'yed  every  virtue  us  tie,  ant) 
every  moral  obligation." — History  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.  chap.  xxii. 


iOO  THE    UNITED    xilISHMEN.  [cJUAP.    VIIL 

— when  the  Government  had  become  gorged  and  satiated  in 
its  vengeance — a  negotiation  was  opened  between  certain  of  the 
Irish  state  prisoners  and  the  Irish  ministers  for  an  amnesty. 
The  former,  hopeless  of  any  farther  effort  for  their  country, 
offered  to  go  into  exile.  "  The  offer,"  said  Thomas  Addis 
Emmet  afterwards,  "  was  accepted,  the  blood  system  was  stop 
ped  for  a  time,  and  was  not  renewed  until  after"  the  inter 
ference  of  the  American  minister,  Mr.  King.1  The  exiles  had 
made  choice  of  America  as  their  place  of  refuge.  The  Ameri 
can  Minister  remonstrated  against  this  arrangement,  and  it  was 
broken  up.2  To  do  Mr.  King  justice,  we  are  not  aware  that  his 
feelings  and  views  on  this  point  were  at  all  peculiar,  or  different 
from  those  entertained  by  the  other  leaders  of  his  party. 

It  was  discovered  in  1798  that  the  Irish  fugitives  in  Philadel 
phia  had  formed  an  association  of  "  United  Irishmen."  It  com 
prised  scarcely  a  sprinkling  of  the  population  of  that  city.  It 
neither  publicly  nor  privately  avowed  any  disaffection  to  our 
Government.3  The  very  idea  of  this  little  handful  of  foreigners 

1  This  interference  is  avowed,  and  as  it  seems  to  ua  somewhat  boastfully,  in  a  letter 
from  King  to  Hamilton,  Nov.  9,  1798.     (See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  375.) 

2  In  1807,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  then  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  New  York,  charged 
Mr.  King,  directly  and  openly,  with  this  action.     Among  other  things,  he  said  : 

"  Your  interference  was  then,  sir,  made  tihe  pretext  of  detaining  us  for  four  years  in 
custody  [in  Port  George,  in  Scotland],  by  which  very  extensive  and  useful  plans  of 
settlement  within  these  States  were  broken  up.  The  misfortunes  which  you  brought, 
upon  the  objects  of  your  persecution  were  incalculable.  Almost  all  of  us  wasted  four  of 
the  best  years  of  our  lives  in  piison.  As  to  me,  I  should  have  brought  along  with  me  my 
father  and  his  family,  including  a  brother  [Robert  Emmet],  whose  name,  perhaps,  will 
you  even  not  read  without  emodons  of  sympathy  and  respect.  Others  nearly  connected 
with  me  would  have  come  partners  in  my  emigration.  But  all  of  them  have  been  torn 
from  me.  I  have  been  prevented  from  saving  a  brother,  from  receiving  the  dying  bless 
ings  of  a  father,  mother  and  sister,  and  from  soothing  their  last  agonies  by  my  cares ; 
and  this,  sir,  by  your  unwarrantable  and  unfeeling  interference." 

Mr.  King's  ground  of  objection  to  the  emigration  to  America  of  such  men  as  Thomas 
Addis  Emmet,  Dr.  McNeven,  Mr.  O'Connor,  and  a  number  of  other  gentlemen  equally 
respectable,  even  if  not  equally  conspicuous,  was  purejy  political — was  that  "a  large 
proportion  of  the  emigrants  from  Ireland,  and  especially  in  the  middle  States,  had.  on 
this" occasion  [written  in  1799],  arrayed  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  malcontents"  (the 
Republican  party!) — was  that  the  Irish  emigrants  in  the  United  States  were  capable  of 
being  brought  generally  to  enlist  in  "mischievous  combinations  against  our  Government." 
(See  letter  from  Rufus  King  to  Mr.  Henry  Jackson,  one  of  the  Irish  State  prisoners, 
dated  Brighton,  England,  Aug.  23,  1799  ;  and  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  to  Rufus  King,  dated 
New  York,  April  9,  1807.) 

Hints  from  King  to  Hamilton  against  admitting  the  fugitives  of  the  Irish  insurrection 
into  the  United  States,  are  several  times  repeated.  He  wrote  the  latter,  July  31,  1798  : 

"  In  Ireland  the  rebellion  is  suppressed,  and  our  Government  will,  I  hope,  have  the 
power  and  the  inclination  to  exclude  those  disaffected  characters,  who  will  be  suffered  to 
seek  an  asylum  amongst  us." — Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  315. 

Three  or  four  months  afterwards  (November  9th),  King  wrote  Hamilton  : 

"  You  will  see  that  I  have  prevented  the  sending  to  you  of  about  fifty  Irish  State 
prisoners,  who  were  at  the  head  of  the  rebellion  in  Ireland,  and  closely  connected  with 
the  Directory  at  Paris." — lb.  vol.  vi.  p.  375. 

8  Gobbet,  proclaiming  himself  a  Royalist  (vide  Porcupine's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  3R8), 
and  constantly  and  furiously  stigmatizing  the  Irish  refugees  as  traitors  to  the  United 
States,  published  in  May,  1798,  under  the  caption  of  tk  Detection  of  a  Conspiracy  formed 


CHAP     VHI.]          EIGHTS    OF    FOREIGN    BOEN    CITIZENS.  401 

entering  into  plots  against  our  institutions  has,  now  that  the 
wild  passions  and  prejudices  of  that  day  have  passed  away,  but 
to  be  named  to  have  its  pure  absurdity  strike  every  sensible 
person. 

Our  laws  admitted  these  men  to  our  country,  and,  on  certain 
terms,  to  citizenship.  If  they  complied  with  the  terms,  they 
became  as  much  citizens  as  those  born  on  the  soil.  Neither 
Witherspoon,  Montgomery,  Gates,  Steuben,  Hamilton,  Gallatin, 
nor  some  other  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
generals  and  statesmen,  who  were  emigrants  to  onr  country,  held 
their  right  to  think,  or  speak,  or  act  politically,  at  all  abridged 
by  the  circumstance  that  they  were  foreigners  by  birth.  And 
the  alien  with  his  naturalization  not  yet  completed,  was  equally 
entitled  to  all  the  privileges  which  our  laws  and  the  nature  of 
our  free  institutions  conferred  on  him.  If  he  committed  a  crime 
he  was  punishable.  If  he  committed  any  indecorum  by  the  heat 
of  his  partisanship  he  thus  but  disgusted  men  with  himself  and 
his  side  instead  of  obtaining  any  improper  influence  for  either. 
And  whatever  he  did  politically,  a  body  of  men  who  in  1798 
were  not  probably  a  quarter  as  numerous  as  the  native-born 
Revolutionary  "  Tories,"  who  were  voters  in  our  country  l — nay, 
probably  were  not  more  numerous  than  the  returned  Tory  refu 
gees — were  not  formidable  enough  to  be  made  the  subjects  of 
that  miserable  and  odious  penal  legislation  which  subjects  men 
to  punishment  without  trial.  Nor  were  they  numerous  or  formi 
dable  enough  to  give  any  color  of  excuse  for  that  panic  which 
was  the  parent  or  the  cover  of  this  tyrannical  legislation. 

But  in  reality  the  Irish  exiles  committed  no  political  excesses 
in  our  country.  Their  association  as  United  Irishmen  had  no 
thing  to  do  with  American  parties.  Nor  had  they,  as  a  body, 


by  the  United  Irishmen,  with  the  evident  intention  of  aiding  the  Tyrants  of  France  in 
subverting  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  what  purported  to  be  the 
"Declaration  and  Constitution  of  the  American  Society  of  United  Irishmen,"  formed  in 
Philadelphia  in  1797.  It  is  probably  an  authentic  document.  If  a  fabrication  to  create  a 
prejudice  against  the  society,  it  certainly  would  not  understate  anything  publicly 
believed  against  it.  Gobbet  thought  that  even  printing  the  instrument  for  the  society 
amounted  to  treason!  It  will  now  be  found  in  Porcupine's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  202, 
et  seq.,  garnished  with  paragraphs  of  italics  and  capitals,  and  interpolated  with  fierce  and 
foul  commentaries  in  brackets.  The  society  was  a  secret  one,  but  otherwise  a  perusal 
of  its  Constitution  will  show  that  it  did  not  differ  in  its  aims,  or  means  of  accomplishing 
them,  from  perhaps  fifty  later  organizations.  It  would  now  attract  no  notice  from  the 
Sovernment ;  and  that  man  would  be  thought  out  of  his  senses,  who  could  discover 
in  it  any  evidences  of  treason,  or  conspiracy,  or  anything  looking  towards  an  attempt  of 
any  kind  whatsoever  against  our  Government.  Its  length  prevents  its  insertion  here. 

1  And  who  in  a  body  voted  opposite  to  the  Irish  emigrants. 

VOL.    II. — 26 


4-02  CONDUCT   OF   THE   IRISH   EXILES.  [CHAP.    Tin. 

committed  any  prior  and  foreign  political  excesses'  which  should 
deprive  them  of  the  confidence  of  good  men  anywhere,  unless 
the  rebellion  of  the  American  colonies  against  George  III.,  a 
little  more  than  twenty  years  earlier,  was  such  an  excess.  Their 
only  sin  in  this  particular  was  that  they  professed  the  same 
political  sentiments  witli  the  Republican  party.  The  sufferers 
under  monarchical  and  aristocratic  systems  they  naturally 
leaned  to  democracy — as  naturally  as  did  the  Tory  and  returned 
refugee  to  an  opposite  system.  Nor  were  they  men  whom 
society  was  called  upon  to  guard  against  as  moral  malefactors. 
ISTot  one  of  that  band  of  exiles  stood  charged  with  having  com 
mitted  any  crime  but  rebelling  against  oppression,  and  seeking 
the  aid  of  a  foreign  country  to  establish  their  independence 
against  England.  Herein,  in  respect  both  to  the  power  rebelled 
against  and  that  applied  to  for  aid,  they  but  followed  the  exam 
ple  of  the  nation  whose  government  was  now  attempting  to 
drive  them  back  to  their  former  thralldorn,  or,  practically,  out 
of  the  protection  of  nations.  The  pretence  that  they  had  sought 
to  sell  themselves  to  France,  was  the  same  made  against  our 
fathers  by  the  British  commissioners  in  1778  (Carlisle,  Eden 
and  Johnstone),  when  they  converted  a  war,  hitherto  one  of  bar 
barity,  into  one  of  unrestrained  ferocity — avowing  that  if  our 
country  was  "  to  become  an  accession  to  France  "  the  laws  of 
self  preservation  would  "direct"  England  "to  render  that 
accession  of  as  little  avail  to  her  as  possible."  l  The  reasoning 
in  both  cases  was  the  same,  the  proof  the  same. 

So  far  from  the  Irish  Exiles  who  fled  to  our  country  at  that 
period  being  moral  malefactors  ;  so  far  from  their  being  debased, 
ignorant,  or  violent  men,  no  country  ever  sent  to  another  an 
emigration  which,  in  proportion  to  its  numbers,  comprised  more 
virtue,  more  intelligence,  or  more  talent.  The  names  of  Emmet," 
O'Connor,  Macnevin,  Samson,  and  several  others  but  a  little  less 
conspicuous,  who  lived  and  died  amongst  us,  yet  survive  in  our 

i  See  vol.  i.  p.  241. 

a  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  became  Attorney-General  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  his 
conspicuous  monument  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  in  the  metropolis  of  that  State,  cover 
the  remains  of  an  American  naturalized  citizen,  who  was  as  much  admired  for  his  talents 
and  loved  for  his  virtues,  as  any  native  citizen.  Montgomery  sleeps  in  the  same  enclosure. 
Two  other  foreign-born  citizens,  Hamilton  and  Gallatin,  lie  hard-by  under  walls  of  Trinity. 

We  have  heard  from  the  lips  of  several  eminent  men,  most  vivid  descriptions  of 
Emmet's  splendid  powers  and  imposing  bearing.  The  impressions  he  created  are  well 
described  by  Theodore  S.  Fay,  in  his  Dreams  and  Reveries  of  a  Quiet  Man  (vol.  i.  p.  90}, 
and  in  some  lines  by  the  unfortunate  poet  Clason,  given  in  the  Messrs.  Duyckinck  s 
Cyclopaedia  of  American  Literature  (vol.  ii.  p.  264). 


CHAP.  V1I1.J  .  CHARACTER   OF   THE   IRISH    EXILES.  403 

annals  to  disprove  the  miserable  calumny  that  the  Irish  rebels 
of  1798  who  fled  to  this  country  were,  in  any  sense  of  the 
word,  miscreants,  or  men  dangerous  to  our  order  or  institutions. 
Others  returned  from  this  country  to  Europe,  as  honorably  dis 
tinguished  as  those  we  have  named.  The  commonest  men  in 
that  emigration  generally  proved  themselves  virtuous  and  order- 
loving  citizens — and  the  only  regret  which  should  now  rest  on 
the  minds  of  liberal  Americans,  in  regard  to  this  whole  affair,  is 
that  our  country  did  not  prove  an  asylum  to  more  of  these  mar 
tyrs  in  the  cause  of  Freedom — that  Robert  Emmet,  Fitzgerald, 
and  others,  had  not  also  escaped  the  scaffold  and  reached  0111 
shores.1 

1  The  spirit  of  the  times  among  the  Federalists,  in  regard  to  the  Irish  exiles,  was  well 
reflected  (in  1798)  by  one  of  the  most  pungent  of  their  partisan  poetasters,  Dr.  Hopkins, 
of  Connecticut : 

"Like  Hessian  flies,  imported  o'er, 

Clubs  self-create  infest  our  shore. 

And  see  yonder  Western  rebel  band, 

A  medley  mix'd  from  every  land  ; 

Scotch,  Irish,  renegadoes  rude, 

From  faction's  dregs  fermenting  brewed ; 

Misguided  tools  of  anti-Feds, 

With  clubs  anarchical  for  your  heads,"  etc.  etc. 

The  Republicans  appear  to  have  been  under  the  impression  that  there  were  other 
aliens  in  our  midst  (having  nothing  to  fear  from  our  Alien  laws!),  who  would  constitute 
a  less  desirable  body  of  citizens  than  the  Irish  exiles.  And  Freneau's  rattling  fire  was 
seldom  silent.  Hear  him  on  Cobbet : 

"  Philadelphians,  we're  sorry  you  suffer  by  fevers, 
Or  suffer  such  scullions  to  be  your  deceivers  ; 

Will  Pitt's  noisy  whelp, 

With  his  red  foxy  scalp, 
Whom  the  kennels  of  London  spewed  out  in  a  fright, 

Has  skulked  over  here, 

To  snuffle  and  sneer, 
Like  a  puppy  to  snap  or  a  bull-dog  to  bite. 

"  If  cut  from  the  gallows,  or  kicked  from  the  post, 
Such  fellows  as  these  are  of  England  the  boast, 

But  Columbia's  disgrace ! 

Begone  from  that  place, 
That  w&s  dignified  once  by  a  Franklin  and  Penn, 

But  infested  by  you 

And  your  damnable  crew, 
Will  soon  be  deserted  by  all  honest  men." 

We  cull  these  specimens  of  partisan  poetastering  from  Duyckinck's  Cyclopaedia  of 
American  Literature,  which  Las  reached  our  hands  only  as  these  sheets  are  well  advanced 
through  the  press  (September,  1857).  This  Cyclopgedia,  by  the  by,  does  manful  justice 
<o  Philip  Freneau.  It  records,  on  the  authority  of  the  late  Henry  "Brevort,  Esq.,  of  New 
fork,  who  visited  Sir  "Walter  Scott,  that  the  latter  spoke  with  warm  admiration  of  Freneau's 
verses  on  the  batt'.e  of  Eutaw,  and  had  committed  them  to  memory  from  a  magazine. 
The  introduction  of  the  third  Canto  of  Marmion.  almost  literally  transfers  a  striking  line, 
from  that  poem.  Campbell  borrows  a  fine  line  from  Freneau's  "Indian  Burying  Ground," 
in  his  "O'Connor's  Child." 

The  Messrs.  Duyckinck  do  justice  as  manfully  to  Freneau's  personal  character,  his 
habits,  iris  social  a,s?jociations,  etc.,  as  to  his  talents.  It  is  gratifying  to  observe  that  a 
new  era  appears  to  be  dawning  in  our  literature — that  the  bitter  obloquy  which  was 
falsely  heaped  oa  the  leputation  of  this  man  and  that,  to  supply  material  for  some  partisan 
bugbear,  r.ow  rolls  away  from  the  doors  of  their  sepulchres — that  it  is  beginning  to  be 
understood  that  good  men  could  differ  without  crime — that  it  is  beginning  to  be  under 
stood  that  £ocd  men  on  both  sides  could  be  prejudiced,  excited  and  misled  as  to  things 
and  men.  Aud  ft  is  refreshing  to  walk  out  of  the  Pantheon  of  fabulous  demigods  (good 
and  bad)  info  nacure  and  humanity — to  swap  cold,  ha/y  myths  fyr  red-blooded  realities 


4:04  JEFFERSON   TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.    VIIL 

We  will  now  bring  down  Mr.  Jefferson's  domestic  corre 
spondence  through  the  late  session  of  Congress  . 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPKS. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Jan.  7,  '91 

I  acknowledged,  my  dear  Maria,  the  receipt  of  yours  in  a  letter  I  wrote  to  Mr. 
Eppes.  It  gave  me  the  welcome  news  that  your  sprain  was  well.  But  you  are  not 
to  suppose  it  entirely  so.  The  joint  will  remain  weak  for  a  considerable  time,  and 
give  you  occasional  pains  much  longer.  The  state  of  things  at  *  *  *  *  is 
truly  distressing.  Mr.  *  *  *  's  habitual  intoxication  will  destroy  himself,  his 
fortune,  and  family.  Of  all  calamities,  this  is  the  greatest.  I  wish  my  sister  could 
bear  his  misconduct  with  more  patience.  It  would  lesson  his  attachment  to  the 
bottle,  and  at  any  rate  would  make  her  own  time  more  tolerable.  When  we  see 
ourselves  in  a  situation  which  must  be  endured  and  gone  through,  it  is  best  to  make 
up  our  minds  to  it,  meet  it  with  firmness,  and  accommodate  everything  to  it  in  the 
best  way  practicable.  This  lessens  the  evil,  while  fretting  and  fuming  only  serves 
to  increase  our  own  torments.  The  errors  and  misfortunes  of  others  should  be  a 
school  for  our  own  instruction.  Harmony  in  the  married  state  is  the  very  first  ob 
ject  to  be  aimed  at.  Nothing  can  preserve  affections  uninterrupted  but  a  firm  reso 
lution  never  to  differ  in  will,  and  a  determination  in  each  to  consider  the  love  of  the 
other  as  of  more  value  than  any  object  whatever  on  which  a  wish  had  been  fixed. 
How  light,  in  fact,  is  the  sacrifice  of  any  other  wish,  when  weighed  against  the  af 
fections  of  one  with  whom  we  are  to  pass  our  whole  life.  And  though  opposition, 
in  a  single  instance,  will  hardly  of  itself  produce  alienation,  yet  every  one  has  their 
pouch  into  which  all  these  little  oppositions  are  put :  while  that  is  filling,  the  alien 
ation  is  insensibly  going  on,  and  when  filled  it  is  complete.  It  would  puzzle  either 
to  say  why  ;  because  no  one  difference  of  opinion  has  been  marked  enough  to  pro 
duce  a  serious  effect  by  itself.-  But  he  finds  his  affections  wearied  out  by  a  constant 
stream  of  little  checks  and  obstacles.  Other  sources  of  discontent,  very  common 
indeed,  are  the  little  cross  purposes  of  husband  and  wife,  in  common  conversation, 
a  disposition  in  either  to  criticise  and  question  whatever  the  other  says,  a  desire 
always  to  demonstrate  and  make  him  feel  himself  in  the  wrong,  and  especially  iq 
company.  Nothing  is  so  goading.  Much  better,  therefore,  if  our  companion  views 
u  thing  in  a  light  different  from  what  we  do,  to  leave  him  in  quiet  possession  of  his 
view.  What  is  the  use  of  rectifying  him,  if  the  thing  be  unimportant;  and  if  im 
portant,  let  it  pass  for  the  present,  and  wait  a  softer  moment  and  more  conciliatory 
occasion  of  revising  the  subject  together.  It  is  wonderful  how  many  persons  are 
rendered  unhappy  by  inattention  to  these  little  rules  of  prudence.  I  have  been  in 
sensibly  led,  by  the  particular  case  you  mention,  to  sermonize  you  on  the  subject 
generally  ;  however,  if  it  be  the  means  of  saving  you  from  a  single  heartache,  it 
will  have  contributed  a  great  deal  to  my  happiness — but  before  I  finish  the  sermon, 
I  must  add  a  word  on  economy.  The  unprofitable  condition  of  Virginia  estates  in 
general,  leaves  it  now  next  to  impossible  for  the  holder  of  one  to  avoid  ruin.  And 
this  condition  will  continue  until  some  change  takes  place  in  the  mode  of  working 
them.  In  the  meantime,  nothing  can  save  us  and  our  children  from  beggary,  but  a 
determination  to  get  a  year  beforehand,  and  restrain  ourselves  vigorously  this  year 
to  the  clear  profits  of  the  last.  If  a  debt  is  once  contracted  by  a  farmer,  it  is  neve* 
paid  but  by  a  sale.  The  article  of  dress  is  perhaps  that  in  which  economy  is  the 
least  to  be  recommended.  It  is  so  important  to  each  to  continue  to  please  the 


(TdAP.  VIII.]  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  405 

other,  that  the  happiness  of  both  requires  the  most  pointed  attention  to  whatever 
may  contribute  to  it — and  the  more  as  time  makes  greater  inroads  on  our  person 
Yet,  generally,  we  become  slovenly  in  proportion  as  personal  decay  requires  the 
contrary.  I  have  great  comfort  in  believing  that  your  understanding  and  disposi 
tions  will  engage  your  attention  to  these  considerations :  and  that  you  are  connected 
with  a  person  and  family  who,  of  all  within  the  circle  of  my  acquaintance,  are  most 
ii,  the  dispositions  which  will  make  you  happy.  Cultivate  their  affections,  my  dear, 
wilh  assiduity.  Think  every  sacrifice  a  gain,  which  shall  tend  to  attach  them  to  you. 
My  only  object  in  life  is  to  see  yourself  and  your  sister,  and  those  deservedly  dear 
to  you,  not  only  happy,  but  in  no  danger  of  becoming  unhappy.  I  have  lately  re 
ceived  a  letter  from  your  friend  Kitty  Church.  I  inclose  it  to  you,  and  think  the 
affectionate  expressions  relative  to  yourself,  and  the  advance  she  has  made,  will  re 
quire  a  letter  from  you  to  her.  It  will  be  impossible  to  get  a  crystal  here  to  fit 
your  watch  without  the  watch  itself.  If  you  should  know  of  any  one  coming  to 
Philadelphia,  send  it  to  me,  and  I  will  get  you  a  stock  of  crystals.  The  river  being 
frozen  up,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  send  you  things  till  it  opens,  which  will  probably 
be  some  time  in  February.  I  inclose  to  Mr.  Eppes  some  pamphlets.  Present  me 
affectionately  to  all  the  family,  and  be  assured  of  my  tenderest  love  to  yourself. 
Adieu. 

TH.  JEFIERSON. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  Feb.  8th,  '98. 

I  ought  oftener,  my  dear  Martha,  to  receive  your  letters,  for  the  very  great  plea 
sure  they  give  me,  and  especially  when  they  express  your  affections  for  me;  for,  though 
I  cannot  doubt,  yet  they  are  among  those  truths  which  tho'  not  doubted,  we  love  to 
hear  repeated.  Here,  too.  they  serve  like  gleams  of  light,  to  cheer  a  dreary  scene ; 
where  envy,  hatred,  malice,  revenge,  and  all  the  worst  passions  of  men,  are  mar 
shalled,  to  make  one  another  as  miserable  as  possible.  I  turn  from  this  with  plea 
sure,  to  contrast  it  with  your  fireside,  where  the  single  evening  I  passed  at  it  was 
worth  more  than  ages  here.  Indeed,  I  find  myself  detaching  very  fast,  perhaps  too 
fast,  from  everything  but  yourself,  your  sister,  and  those  who  are  identified  with 
you.  These  form  the  last  hold  the  world  will  have  on  me,  the  cords  which  will  be 
cut  only  when  I  am  loosened  from  this  state  of  being.  I  am  looking  forward  to  the 
spring  with  all  the  fondness  of  desire  to  meet  you  all  once  more ;  and  with  the 
change  of  season,  to  enjoy  also  a  change  of  scene  and  society.  Yet  the  time  of  our 
leaving  this  is  not  yet  talked  of. 

I  am  much  concerned  to  hear  the  state  of  health  of  Mr.  Randolph  and  the  family, 
mentioned  in  your  letters  of  Jan.  22d  and  28th.  Surely,  my  dear,  it  would  be  bet 
ter  for  you  to  remove  to  Monticello.  The  south  pavilion,  the  parlor,  and  stndy,1 
will  accommodate  your  family ;  and  I  should  think  Mr.  Randolph  would  find  lesa 
inconvenience  in  the  riding  it  would  occasion  him,  than  in  the  loss  of  his  own  and 
his  family's  health.  Let  me  beseech  you,  then,  to  go  there,  and  to  use  everything 
and  everybody  as  if  I  were  there.  *  *  *  *  *  * 

*  *  *  *  All  your  commissions  shall  be  executed,  not  forget 

1  The  main  body  of  the  house  was  at  the  time  dismantled,  to  renew  the  roof. 


-106  LETTERS    TO   HIS    DATTGHTEKS.  [CHAP. 

ting  the  Game  of  the  Goose,  if  we  can  find  out  what  it  is ;  for  there  is  some  diffi 
culty  in  that.  Kiss  all  the  little  ones  for  me,  present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Ran 
dolph,  and  my  warmest  love  to  yourself.  Adieu. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Mar.  1th,  '98. 

I  have  received  yours,  my  dear  Maria,  of  Feb.  1st,  and  with  that  extreme  grati 
fication  with  which  I  receive  all  the  marks  of  your  affection.  My  impatience  to 
get  from  hence  is  urged  by  the  double  motives  of  escaping  from  irksome  scenes 
here,  and  meeting  yourself  and  others  dear  to  us  both.  No  time  is  yet  spoken  of 
for  our  adjournment ;  yet  as  there  is  likely  to  arise  nothing  which  can  keep  Con 
gress  together,  I  cannot  but  hope  we  shall  separate  early  in  the  next  month.  I 
still  count  on  joining  you  at  Eppington  on  my  return.  I  receive  from  home  very 
discouraging  accounts  of  Davenport's  doing  nothing  towards  covering  the  house. 
I  have  written  to  him  strongly  on  the  subject,  expressing  my  expectations  to  find 
the  roof  finished  at  my  return — but  I  fear  it  will  not  produce  the  effect  desired. 
We  are  sure,  however,  of  the  out  chamber  for  you,  and  the  study  for  myself,  and 
will  not  be  long  in  getting  a  cover  over  some  room  for  your  sister.  My  last  letter 
from  Belmont  was  of  Feb.  l'2th,  when  they  were  all  well.  They  have  found  the 
house  there  unhealthy,  and  their  situation  in  general  not  pleasant.  I  pressed  them 
to  go  to  Monticello,  where  they  would  be  relieved  from  the  inconvenience,  at  least, 
of  a  cellar  full  of  water  under  them.  I  have  not  heard  from  them  since.  Mr.  Trist 
is  gone  on  to  purchase  Mr.  Lewis's  place.  They  will  not  remove  there  till  the  fall. 
He  is  to  be  married  to  a  Miss  Brown  of  this  place,  an  amiable  girl,  and  who  I  hope 
will  be  of  value  to  you  as  a  neighbor.  Having  no  news  for  Mr.  Eppes  but  what  he 
will  find  in  a  paper  inclosed  herewith,  I  do  not  write  to  him.  My  salutations  to 
him,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eppes,  and  the  family  at  Eppington.  To  yourself,  my  ten- 
derest  love. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  l«f,  »98. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

Yours  of  Mar.  20  came  to  hand  yesterday.  You  are  not  aware  of  the  conse 
quences  of  writing  me  a  letter  in  so  fair  a  hand,  and  one  so  easily  read.  It  puts 
you  in  great  danger  of  the  office  of  private  secretary  at  Monticello,  which  would 
sometimes  be  a  laborious  one.  Your  letter  was  11  days  coming  here,  and  Mr.  Eppes's 
of  Feb.  8,  was  19  days  on  its  way.  This  shows  there  is  something  wrong  in  the 
time  they  take  to  get  into  the  mail ;  for  from  Richmond  here  is  but  about  5  or  6 
days.  I  have  feared  some  of  my  letters  may  have  miscarried.  I  hope  Mr.  Eppes 
received  that  of  Feb.  18th,  covering  an  order  to  Quarrier  to  deliver  my  chariot  to 
him,  and  asking  his  and  your  acceptance  of  it.  Should  that  have  miscarried,  this 
serves  to  make  the  same  tender.  I  have  still  hopes  of  being  able  to  come  by 
Eppington;  but  these  become  less  firm  in  proportion  as  Congiess  lengthen  their  ses 
sion  ;  for  that  route  would  add  a  fortnight  to  the  length  of  my  journey.  If  I  do  not  get 


CHAP.  VIH.j  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  407 

home  within  a  certain  time,  I  shall  not  finish  the  hall  of  the  house  this  year,  and  if 
I  do  not  finish  that  this  year,  then  I  cannot  build  my  mill  the  next.     But  what 
ever  route  I  am  obliged  to  adopt,  I  will  give  you  timely  notice.     They  talk  of  not 
rising  here  till  the  last  of  this  month.     Should  I  not  be  able  to  come  by  the  way  of 
Eppington,  still  tell  Mr.  Eppes  I  will  make  a  visit  from  Monticello,  rather  than  lose 
the  colonnade  and  octagon,  so  he  will  not  get  off  from  his  purposes  by  that  excuse. 
My  last  letter  from  Belmont  was  of  the  19th,  but  Mr.  Trist  came  from  there  since, 
and  reports  that  all  were  well.     He  is  about  sending  off  his  furniture.     He  has  taken 
the  house  in  (Jharlottesville  that  was  George  Nicholas's,  and  will  be  living  there, 
before  midsummer.     My  affectionate  salutations  to  Mrs.  Eppes,  the  gentlemen,  and 
young  ones,  and  kisses  and  everlasting  love  to  yourself.     Adieu. 
Mar.  16,  the  first  shad  here. 
"       28,  the  weeping-willow  begins  to  show  green  leaves. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  Apr.  6,  '98. 

The  advance  of  the  season  makes  me  long  to  get  home.  The  first  shad  we  had 
here  was  Mar.  16,  and  Mar.  28  was  the  first  day  we  could  observe  a  greenish  hue  on 
the  weeping-willow,  from  its  young  leaves.  Not  the  smallest  symptom  of  blossom 
ing  yet,  on  any  species  of  fruit  tree.  All  this  proves  that  we  have  near  two  months 
in  the  year  of  vegetable  life,  and  of  animal  happiness  so  far  as  they  are  connected, 
more  in  our  canton  than  here.  The  issue  of  a  debate  now  before  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives,  will  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  time  of  adjournment ;  but  it  will  be  some 
days  before  the  issue  is  known.  In  the  meantime,  they  talk  of  the  last  of  the 
month. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  nth,  '98. 

Having  nothing  of  business  to  write  on  to  Mr.  Randolph  this  week,  I  with  plea 
sure  take  up  my  pen  to  express  all  my  love  to  you,  and  my  wishes  once  more  to 
find  myself  in  the  only  scene  where,  for  me,  the  sweeter  affections  of  life  have  any 
exercise.  But,  when  I  shall  be  with  you  seems  still  uncertain.  We  have  been  look 
ing  forward,  from  three  weeks  to  three  weeks,  and  always  with  disappointment,  so 
that  I  know  not  what  to  expect.  I  shall  immediately  write  to  Maria  and  recommend 
to  Mr.  Eppes  and  her  to  go  up  to  Monticello.  *  * 

For  you  to  feel  all  the  happiness  of  your  quiet  situation,  you  should  know  the  ran 
corous  passions  which  tear  every  breast  here,  even  of  the  sex  which  should  be  a 
stranger  to  them.  Politics  and  party  hatreds  destroy  the  happiness  of  every  being 
here.  They  seem,  like  salamanders,  to  consider  fire  as  their  element.  The  childrer, 
T  am  afraid,  will  have  forgotten  me.  However,  my  memory  may  perhaps  be  hung 
on  the  Game  of  the  Goose  which  I  am  to  carry  them.  Kiss  them  for  me  ;  present, 
"  otc.,"  and  to  yourself,  my  tenderest  love,  and  adieu. 


£08  LETTERS   TO   HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [GHAP.    VHT. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  81^,  "98. 

Yours  of  the  12th  did  not  get  to  hand  till  the  29th ;  so  it  must  have  laid  by  a 
post  somewhere.  The  receipt  of  it,  by  kindling  up  all  my  recollections,  increases 
my  impatience  to  leave  this  place,  and  everything  which  can  be  disgusting,  for  Mon- 
ticello  and  my  dear  family,  comprising  everything  which  is  pleasurable  to  me  in  this 
•  world.  It  has  been  proposed  in  Congress  to  adjourn  on  the  14th  of  June.  I  have 
little  expectation  of  it ;  but  whatever  be  their  determination,  I  am  determined  my 
self;  and  my  letter  of  next  week  will  probable  carry  orders  for  my  horses.  Jupiter 
should  therefore  be  in  readiness  to  depart  at  a  night's  warning.  *  *  * 

*****  Some  think  Congress  will  wait  here  till  their  envoys 
return  from  France,  for  whom  a  vessel  was  sent  the  1st  of  April,  so  that  they  may 
be  here  the  second  week  of  July.  Others  think  they  will  not  adjourn  at  all.  * 
********  Mr.  Randolph  will  perceive 

that  this  certainty  of  war  must  decide  the  objects  of  our  husbandry  to  be  such  as 
will  keep  to  the  end  of  it.  I  am  sorry  to  hear  of  Jefferson's  Indisposition,  but  glad 
you  do  not  physic  him.  This  leaves  nature  free  and  unembarrassed  in  her  own  ten 
dencies  to  repair  what  is  wrong.1  I  hope  to  hear  or  find  that  he  is  recovered.  Kiss 
them  all  for  me. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  June  6,  '98. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

I  wrote  you  last  on  the  18th  of  May,  since  which  I  have  received  Mr.  Eppes's 
letter  of  May  20th  and  yours  of  May  27.  I  have  determined  to  set  out  from  this 
place  on  the  20th  instant,  and  shall,  in  my  letters  of  to-morrow,  order  my  horses  to 
meet  me  at  Fredericksburg  on  the  24th,  and  may  therefore  be  at  home  on  the  26th 
or  27th,  where  I  shall  hope  to  have  the  happiness  of  meeting  you.  I  can  supply  the 
information  you  want  as  to  your  harpsichord.  Your  sister  writes  me  it  is  arrived  in 
perfect  safety  except  the  lock  and  a  bit  of  a  moulding  broke  off.  She  played  on  it, 
and  pronounced  it  a  very  fine  one,  though  without  some  of  the  advantages  of  hers, 
as  the  Celestini  for  instance.  If  I  did  not  mistake  its  tone  it  will  be  found  sweeter 
for  a  moderate  room,  but  not  as  good  as  hers  for  a  large  one.  I  forward  for  Mr. 
Eppes  some  further  dispatches  from  our  envoys.  To  this  it  is  said  in  addition  that 
Mr.  Pinckney  has  gone  into  the  South  of  France  for  the  health  of  his  daughter,  Mr. 
Marshall  to  Amsterdam,  perhaps  to  come  home  for  orders,  and  Mr.  Gerry  remains 
at  Paris.  They  have  no  idea  of  war  between  the  two  countries,  and  much  less  that 
we  have  authorized  the  commencement  of  it.  I  will  convince  you  at  Monticello 
whether  I  jested  or  was  in  earnest  about  your  writing,  and  as,  while  it  will  relieve 
me,  it  may  habituate  you  to  a  useful  exercise,  I  shall  perhaps  be  less  scrupulous 
than  you  might  wish.  My  friendly  salutations  to  Mrs.  Eppes,  the  two  gentlemen 
and  family.  To  yourself  the  most  tender  and  constant  affection,  and  adieu, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

»  "  Doctor,  no  physicking !  We  are  a  machine  made  to  live.  We  are  organized  tor 
that  purpose  ;  such  is  our  nature.  Do  not  counteract  the  living  principle.  Let  it  alone ; 
leave  it  free  to  defend  itself.  It  will  do  better  than  your  drugs.  —Napoleon  s  words  to 
O'Meara.— Note  by  a  member  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  family. 


CHAP.  VIII.]  HOME   LIFE.  409 

During  the  summer  recess  of  Congress  nothing  of  especiax 
note  occurred  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  home-life  at  Monticello.  His 
personal  occupations,  and  certain  family  solicitudes,  will  be 
found  referred  to  in  the  following  letters  : 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

MONTICEZJLO,  July  im,  '98. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA: 

I  arrived  here  on  the  third  instant,  expecting  to  have  found  you  here,  and 
we  have  been  ever  since  imagining  that  every  sound  we  heard  was  that  of  the  car 
riage  which  was  once  more  to  bring  us  together.  It  was  not  till  yesterday  I  learnt 
by  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Eppes's  letter  of  June  30th  that  you  had  been  sick,  and  were 
only  on  the  recovery  at  that  date.  A  preceding  letter  of  his,  referred  to  in  that  of 
the  30th,  must  have  miscarried.  We  are  now  infinitely  more  anxious,  not  so  much 
for  your  arrival  here,  as  your  firm  establishment  in  health,  and  that  you  may  not  be 
thrown  back  by  your  journey.  Much,  therefore,  my  dear,  as  I  wish  to  see  you,  1 
beg  you  not  to  attempt  the  journey  till  you  are  quite  strong  enough,  and  then  only 
by  short  day's  journeys.  A  relapse  will  only  keep  us  the  longer  asunder,  and  is 
much  more  formidable  than  a  first  attack.  Your  sister  and  family  are  with  me.  I 
would  have  gone  to  you  instantly  on  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Eppes's  letter,  had  not  that 
assured  me  you  were  well  enough  to  take  the  bark.  It  would  also  have  stopped  my 
workmen  here  who  cannot  proceed  an  hour  without  me,  and  I  am  anxious  to  pro 
vide  a  cover  which  may  enable  me  to  have  my  family  and  friends  about  me.  Nurse 
yourself,  therefore,  with  all  possible  care  for  your  own  sake,  for  mine,  and  that  of 
all  those  who  love  you,  and  do  not  attempt  to  move  sooner  or  quicker  than  your 
health  admits.  Present  me  affectionally  to  Mr.  Eppes,  father  and  son,  to  Mrs.  Ep- 
pes  and  all  the  family,  and  be  assured  that  my  impatience  to  see  you  can  only  be 
moderated  by  the  stronger  desire  that  your  health  may  be  safely  and  firmly 
reestablished.  Adieu,  affectionally, 

TH.  J. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

MONTICELLO,  July  14, 1798. 

I  arrived  here,  my  dear  Maria,  on  the  3d  inst.,  and  was  in  the  daily  hope  of 
receiving  you,  when  Mr.  Eppes's  letter  of  June  30,  by  the  post  of  day  before  yester 
day,  gave  us  the  first  notice  of  your  being  sick.  Some  preceding  letter,  we  infer, 
had  explained  the  nature  of  your  indisposition,  but  it  has  never  come  to  hand;  we 
are  therefore  still  uninformed  of  it.  Your  sister  and  myself  wrote  yesterday  to  you 
by  post,  but  I  have  concluded  to-day  to  send  express  that  we  may  learn  your  situ 
ation  of  a  certainty,  and  in  a  shorter  time.  I  hope  the  bearer  will  find  you  so 
advanced  in  recovery  as  to  be  able  ere  long  to  set  out  for  this  place.  Yet  anxiously 
as  we  wish  to  see  you,  I  must  insist  on  your  not  undertaking  the  journey  till  you 
are  quite  strong  enough,  and  then  only  by  very  short  stages.  To  attempt  it  toe 
soon  will  endanger  a  relapse  which  will  keep  us  longer  apart,  and  is  always  more 
tedious  than  the  original  attack.  I  have  been  confined  so:ne  days  by  very  sore 
eyes.  This  is  the  first  day  they  seem  to  have  mended.  I  should  otherwise  probably 
have  set  out  to  see  you  immediately  on  receipt  of  Mr.  Eppes's  letter.  My  workmen, 


410  HOME  LIFE.  [CHAP,  vm 

too,  are  unable  to  proceed  one  day  without  me,  and  I  am  anxious  to  have  a  cover 
for  my  family  and  friends.  I  shall  continue  in  great  uneasiness  till  the  return  of  the 
bearer,  by  whom  I  shall  hope  to  know  the  truth  of  your  situation,  and  in  every 
event  to  learn  that  you  maintain  good  spirits  and  do  everything  necessary  to  restore 
yourself  to  health  and  to  those  who  love  you  with  the  tenderest  sensibility.  Adieu, 
my  dear,  and  ever  dear  Maria  ;  let  me  know  that  you  are  well,  or  bravely  deter 
mined  to  be  so  speedily  (for  these  things  depend  much  on  our  own  will)  and  to 
shorten  our  longing  expectations  of  seeing  you.  Again  adieu, 

Yours  affectionately, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


"Tn.  JEFFERSON  TO  HIS  DEAR  MARTHA."1 

Ellen  appeared  to  be  feverish  the  evening  you  went  away  ;  but,  visiting  her,  a 
little  before  I  went  to  bed,  I  found  her  quite  clear  of  fever,  and  was  convinced  the 
quickness  of  pulse  which  had  alarmed  me  had  proceeded  from  her  having  been  in 
uncommon  spirits  and  coastantly  running  about  the  house  through  the  day,  and 
especially  in  the  afternoon.  Since  that,  she  has  had  no  symptom  of  fever,  and  is 
otherwise  better  than  when  you  left  her.  The  girls,  indeed,  suppose  she  had  a  little 
fever  last  night ;  but  I  am  sure  she  had  not ;  as  she  was  well  at  8  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  and  very  well  in  the  morning,  and  they  say  she  slept  soundly  through  t.^e 
night.  They  judged  only  from  her  breathing,  Everybody  else  is  well ;  and  only 
wishing  to  see  you.  I  am  persecuted  with  questions  "  When  I  think  you  will 
come?"—  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  If  you  set 

out  home  after  dinner,  be  sure  to  get  off  between  four  and  five.  Adieu,  my  dear 

Wednesday,  Aug.  15th,  '98. 

The  very  high  price  of  tobacco  had  tempted  Mr.  Jefferson, 
this  season,  to  devote  his  entire  farm  force  to  its  culture  ;  and 
consequently  his  previous  system  was  suspended,  and  most  of 
his  lands  thrown  out  of  cultivation.  The  result  of  this  experi 
ment  we  do  not  find  particularly  recorded.  Mr.  Tucker,  his  sub 
sequent  biographer,  first  saw  him  at  this  period,  at  Monticello  ; 
and  he  mentions  that  "  Mr.  Jefferson  was  so  guarded  in  his 
[political]  conduct  and  expressions,  as  to  obtain  at  the  time  the 
character  of  unusual  moderation  among  his  neighbors" — that 
"  though  his  house  was  still  unfinished,  he  entertained  much 
company,  but  he  rarely  made  visits."  a 

This  personal  calmness  and  avoidance  of  heated  language 
were  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  were  particularly  made 
a  matter  of  prudence  by  the  fact  that  he  was  constantly  dogged 
by  spies,  even  at  his  own  table,  who  circulated  the  most  distorted 
statements  of  his  conversations.  But  his  apparent  coolness 

1  This  noto  is  so  headed  in  original.          J  Tucker's  Life  of  Jefferson,  vol.  H.  p.  43. 


CHAP.   VHI.]  A   PERSONAL   ATTEMPT   ANTICIPATED.  411 

augured  no  want  of  deep  feeling  and  of  inflexible  determination. 
In  a  letter  to  Samuel  Smith  of  Maryland,  August  22d,  after 
correcting  the  published  falsehoods  of  some  letter-writing  "  spies," 
he  said  : 

<l  I  only  wish  the  real  principles  of  those  who  censure  mine  were  also  known. 
But  warring  against  those  of  the  people,  the  delusion  of  the  people  is  necessary  to 
the  dominant  party.  I  see  the  extent  to  which  that  delusion  has  been  already  car 
ried,  and  I  see  there  is  no  length  to  which  it  may  not  be  pushed  by  a  party  in  pos 
session  of  the  revenues  and  the  legal  authorities  of  the  United  States,  for  a  short 
time  indeed,  but  yet  long  enough  to  admit  much  particular  mischief.  There  is  no 
event,  therefore,  however  atrocious,  which  may  not  be  expected.  I  have  contem 
plated  every  event  which  the  Maratists  of  the  day  can  perpetrate,  and  am  prepared 
to  meet  every  one  in  such  a  way,  as  shall  not  be  derogatory  either  to  the  public 
liberty  or  my  own  personal  honor." 

He  distinctly  says  in  the  same  letter,  that  France  as  well  as 
England  has  given,  and  is  daily  giving,  "sufficient  cause  of 
war,"  and  avers  that  both,  "  in  defiance  of  the  laws  of  nations," 
"are  every  day  trampling  on  the  rights  of  the  neutral  powers." 
But  "  viewing  a  peace  between  France  and  England  the  ensuing 
winter  to  be  certain,"  he  thought  it  "  better  for  us  to  continue  to 
bear  from  France  through  the  present  summer,  what  we  have 
been  bearing  both  from  her  and  from  England  these  four  years, 
and  still  continue  to  bear  from  England." 

In  the  paragraph  above  quoted,  it  would  appear  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  anticipated  some  attempt  against  him  personally  by 
the  "  Maratists,"  as  he  terms  them,  of  the  day  ;  and  his  remark 
that  he  is  "prepared  to  meet  them,"  in  a  way  derogatory 
neither  to  "  public  liberty,"  nor  "  personal  honor,"  is  in  a  new 
tone  for  a  man  who  perhaps  of  all  American  statesmen  (of  any 
thing  like  an  analogous  experience),  was  least  disposed  to  put 
controversy  on  a  personal  footing,  or  to  mention  what  he  would 
or  would  not  do,  under  any  future  circumstances  of  danger. 
But,  as  in  case  of  his  father,  the  cold,  passive,  inflexible  courage, 
which  usually  wore  rather  the  lineaments  of  fortitude — of  iron, 
but  nnaggressive  endurance — could  be  roused  both  to  speakand 
act  affirmatively. 

No  man  possessing  a  particle  of  observation,  ever  looked  at 
the  firm  tranquil  eye,  the  singularly  firm  mouth  (though  not 
pinched  to  any  expression  of  wiry  sharpness),  the  dilated  nostril, 
the  massive  chin  "set  on,"  as  Stewart  has  shown  it  in  the  pro 
file  likeness  given  in  these  volumes,  heard  the  deep  settled 


A    PERSONAL    ATTEMPT    ANTICIPATED.  [CHA.P.    VIII. 

voice,  observed  the  free,  stately,  and  almost  swinging  gait,  and 
dashing  riding,  and  the  lofty  strong-boned  form  of  Jeftersonj 
with  any  more  disposition  to  question  his  physical  courage, 
without  hearing  him  speak  of  danger,  than  he  would  to  raise 
that  question  in  gazing  on  the  silent  lineaments,  in  the  marble, 
of  some  antique  civic  hero  of  Greece  or  of  Koine. 

Could  that  observer  have  heard  Jefferson  talking  of  the 
ceaseless  and  bitter  personal  attacks  made  on  him  in  the  news 
papers,  and  the  personal  innuendoes  constantly  launched  against 
him  in  Congress — noticed  how  calmly  he  talked,  how  little  he 
said,  how  completely  unconscious  he  seemed  to  be  of  what  is 
technically  termed  u  personal  offence  or  affront," — that  while 
others  flamed  about  their  individual  grievances,  and  discussed 
between  fiery  alternatives  of  redress,  he  listened  silently  if  not 
abstractedly; — we  say,  if  that  observer  was  possessed  of  much 
experience  in  humanity,  these  indications  would  add  strongly 
to  the  impressions  already  derived  from  physical  ones.  He 
would  at  once  conclude,  this  stately  self-possessed  man  is  too 
firmly  courageous  to  be  easily  affronted — altogether  too  brave 
either  to  fight  or  boast  to  vindicate  his  courage.  We  have  already 
remarked,  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  work,  that  Jefferson  never 
received  anything  approaching  to  a  direct  personal  indignity. 
Ko  opponent  ever  had  the  moral  courage  (or  perhaps  the  desire), 
to  stand  before  him  face  to  face  and  attempt  such  an  experi 
ment. 

There  is  however  a  lurid  gleam  of  roused  personal  feeling  in 
the  letter  to  Smith.  There  is  a  tone  which  unmistakably  shows 
that  personal  outrage  is  anticipated  and  will  be  resisted.  What 
does  this  mean  ? 

We  have  seen  in  a  letter  from  Jefferson  to  Madison,  in  the 
preceding  part  of  this  chapter,  that  Doctor  Logan,  of  Philadel 
phia,  sailed  for  France  early  in  the  summer  of  1798  ;  and  that  one 
of  the  Federal  leaders  in  the  House  (Harper),  announced  that  fact, 
asserting  that  he  was  the  bearer  of  a  traitorous  correspondence, 
etc.  It  was  published  and  perhaps  believed  by  not  a  lew  Feder 
alists,  that  this  gentleman,  concededly  one  of  the  most  stainless 
in  personal  character,  and  most  respectably  connected  in  Phila 
delphia,  a  Quaker  by  .profession,  a  man  eccentric  only  in  his 
excessive  benevolence,  had  gone  on  a  secret  mission  from  the 
"  American  Jacobins,"  to  their  French  congeners,  to  invite  and 


CHAP.  VIII.]  THE    PRETEXT   FOE   THAT    ATTEMPT.  .'        413 

arrange  the  details  of  the  projected  invasion  of  the  United  States 
by  the  latter !  George  Logan  belonged  to  the  party  of  Jeffer 
son — was  an  ardent  admirer  of  him — and  bore  a  letter  from  him 
(which  he  had  asked,  and  which  Jefferson  could  not  decently 
refuse)  consisting  of  a  certificate  of  •"  his  citizenship,  character, 
and  circumstances  of  life  :"  and  this  was  all.  •  This  was  the 
traitorous  correspondence,  or  the  clues  and  threads  of  treason 
with  which  Harper  (a  former  member  of  the  French  Patriotic 
Society  of  Charleston),1  horrified  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  which  he  gave  them  hopes  would  be  dragged  fully  to  day 
light, 

Mr.  Jefferson  and  some  of  his  friends  were  led  to  believe, 
by  the  information  they  received,  that  the  Logan  affair  would 
be  made  a  cause  or  an  excuse  for  attempting  to  bring  him  under 
the  pains  and  penalties  of  the  Sedition  Law  on  the  first  practi 
cable  occasion.  He  and  his  friends  believed  that  his  correspon 
dence  was  carefully  watched  and  tampered  with,  by  Federal 
postmasters,  to  obtain  some  direct  proof  of  seditious  language. 

The  special  evidence  on  which  these  suspicions  \vere  founded 
is  not  recorded,  and  we  cannot,  therefore,  judge  of  their  appa 
rent  reasonableness.  In  the  light  of  present  facts,  they  would 
stagger  credulity,  and  seem  rather  the  offspring  of  an  imagina 
tion  rendered  morbid  by  political  bigotry,  than  probable  realities. 
But  we  have  only  to  turn  to  the  newspapers,  and  other  contempo 
raneous  chronicles  of  that  period,  to  be  astonished  by  all  we  see 
and  hear.  It  is  like  stepping  suddenly  from  calm  daylight  into 
the  precincts  of  Bedlam,  where  maniacal  acts,  and  wild  and  raving 
cries  at  once  burst  on  the  senses.  The  newspapers  on  both  sides, 
which  our  fathers  (we  hope  not  our  mothers  and  aunts  !)  read, 
and,  probably,  delighted  in,  considered  such  epithets  as  "perju 
rer,"  " traitor,"  "  beast,"  and  the  like,  rather  moderate  phrases; 
and  foul  imputations  were  thickly  hurled  about,  in  language  as 
foul  as  was  ever  heard  in  a  bagnio  or  a  fish-market.8  And  we 

i  The  Ishmaelitish  "Porcupine"  republished,  in  1798,  an  advertisement  from  a  Char 
leston  paper  of  June  4th,  1793,  in  which  Harper  appears  in  a  list  of  officers  of  the  above 
society,  containing  but  one  other  English  name,  invoking  aid  for  the  "sublime  cause  of 
France,"  etc.  Gobbet  accused  Harper  of  being  seduced  by  the  good  living  of  the  Phila 
delphia  "aristocrats." 

•  Gobbet  (Porcupine)  lies  before  us.  We  open  a  volume  purely  at  random,  and  the 
first  passage  that  meets  our  eye  is:  "The  monster  [Governor  Mifflin],  who,  for  about 
twice  the  number  of  pieces  that  Judas  betrayed  our  Saviour,  could  swear  to  the  prosti 
tution  of  his  own  mother,"  etc.  etc.  On  the  opposite  page  we  have  a  scandalous  piece 
>1  gossip  about  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  in  which  his  wife  (the  daughter  r)f  Chief  Justke 


OFFER   OF   PROTECTION   TO    ROWAN.  [CHAP. 

fail  to  discover  any  very  material  difference  between  the 
frenzy  of  the  acts  and  of  the  language  of  the  period.  Judging 
from  either,  there  was  nothing  improbable  in  Jefferson's  suspi 
cions.  If  he  is  accused  of  unreasonable  jealousy  towards  his 
political  opponents  in  other  respects,  we  do  not  often  find  him 
indulging  in  aciy,  that  physical  injury,  or  insult,  is  meditated 
towards  himself.  His  jealousies  did  not  lie  on  that  side. 

These  feelings  did  not  die  away  very  soon.  We  find  Mr. 
Jefferson  repeatedly  in  letters,  for  some  months  after  that  to 
Smith,  carrying  the  idea  that  he,  and  more  particularly  his  cor 
respondence,  are  watched,  to  find  grounds  for  a  prosecution. 

•  His  defiance  took  a  new  phase  in  a  letter  to  the  celebrated 
Irish  patriot,  Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan,  dated  September  20th. 
We  judge,  from  the  answer,  that  Mr.  Rowan  had  raised  the 
question  of  his  safe  continuance  in  the  United  States  under  the 
Alien  Laws.  Jefferson  wrote  : 

"  In  this  State,  the  delusion  has  not  prevailed.  They  [the  people  of  Virginia] 
are  sufficiently  on  their  guard  to  have  justified  the  assurance,  that  should  yon 
choose  it  for  your  asylum,  the  laws  of  the  land,  administered  by  upright  judges, 
would  protect  you  from  any  exercise  of  power  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  The  Habeas  Corpus  secures  every  man  here,  alien  or  citizen, 
against  everything  which  is  not  law,  whatever  shape  it  may  assume.  Should  this, 
or  any  other  circumstance,  draw  your  footsteps  this  way,  I  shall  be  happy  to  be 
among  those  who  may  have  an  opportunity  of  testifying,  by  every  attention  in  our 
power,  the  sentiments  of  esteem  and  respect  which  the  circumstances  of  your 
history  have  inspired,  and  which  are  peculiarly  felt  by,  sir,  your  most  obedient 
and  most  humble  servant." 

It  is  impossible  to  construe  this  into  anything  but  a  distinct 
assurance  that  if  Mr.  Rowan  chose  to  come  to  Virginia,  its  State 
courts  would,  by  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  release  him  from 
arrest,  and  protect  him  against  the  enforcement  of  unconstitu 
tional  federal  laws.  It,  moreover,  implied  an  invitation  to 
come,  and  a  pledge  that  the  writer  would  personally  receive 
and  countenance  him — in  other  words,  stand  by  him.  Mr. 
Rowan  did,  not  long,  afterwards,  visit  Monticello  (we  are 
not  able  to  give  the  date),  and  was  received  as  Koscinsko, 
De  Chastellux,  De  Rochefoucauld,  and  other  distinguished  for 
eigners  had  been  received  there — in  all  honor. 

It  thus  appears  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  ready  to  make  an  issue 

McKean)  is  made  to  appear  as  one  of  the  dramatis  persona,  and   to  curse   like  a 
drunken  drab ! 


CHAP,  viir.]     PKESIDENT'S  ACTION  ON  ALIEN  LAWS.  41." 

on  the  constitutionality  of  the  Alien  Laws,  between  the  federal 
and  State  courts,  and,  as  a  necessary  inference,  to  support  the 
decisions  of  the  latter  with  the  power  of  the  State.  We  will  not 
now  examine  the  particular  means  by  which  he  proposed  to  effect 
this,  or  their  propriety,  because  we  soon  shall  have  occasion  to 
see  his  views  more  fully  matured  and  disclosed. 

President  Adams's  course  was  not  consistent  in  regard  to  the 
Alien  Law^s.  Not  long  after  their  passage,  he,  under  their  pro 
visions,  authorized  the  expulsion  from  the  country  of  the  French 
General  Collot,  and  a  German  named  Schweitzer  ;  but  Picker 
ing,  who  had  the  direction  of  the  matter,  was  led  by  the  inform 
ers  he  had  employed,  to  believe  that  "  General  Serrurier  was  in 
the  country  in  disguise,"  and  he  "  thought  it  best  not  to  give  an 
alarm  to  him  by  arresting  the  other  two."  But  after  "  months 
of  suspense,  while  inquiry  was  making,"  he  became  "satisfied 
the  information  concerning  Serrurier  was  groundless."  "  Then  so 
many  months  had  elapsed,  and  the  session  of  Congress  [having] 
commenced  when  other  business  pressed,  the  pursuit  of  these 
aliens  was  overlooked." 1  In  1799  we  shall  find  Mr.  Adams 
willing  to  "try"  this  law  in  a  specified  case,  but  "fearing" 
that  it  "will,  upon  trial,  be  found  inadequate  to  the  object 
intended,"  in  other  words,  we  suppose,  unconstitutional.' 

After  all  the  real  or  affected  consternation  in  regard  to 
alien  Frenchmen,  and  "  United  Irishmen,"  in  our  midst,  we 
find  Mr.  Adams  wielding  the  powers  vested  in  him  for  the  ban 
ishment  of  but  a  single  Frenchman,  and  not  for  the  banishment 
of  a  single  Irishman.  This  would  be  less  remarkable,  because, 
except  in  an  instance  where  he  was  disposed  thus  to  get  rid  of  a 
troublesome  editor,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  been  inclined  to 
execute  the  law  tyrannically,  or  against  persons  whom  he 
did  not  really  strongly  suspect  of  illegal  machinations.  But  it 
was  not  so  with  the  narrow-spirited  and  acrid  Pickering,  who, 
while  stealthily  betraying  the  President,  as  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  see,  was  constantly  goading  him  to  every  excess  of  partisan 
violence.  Yet,  but  in  one  instance  have  we  observed  that  even 
Pickering,  as  the  fruits  of  his  espionage,  attempted  to  level  the 
executive  bolts  against  a  French,  and  but  in  one  instance  against 
an  Irish  alien  ;  and  the  latter  claimed  to  have  been  born  in  the 
United  States,  and  confessedly  had  no  connection  with  the  Irish 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  6.  *  Tb.  p.  14 


4:16  ENFORCEMENT    OF    SEDITION    LAW.  [CHAP.    VIH. 

rebellion.  The  facts  we  have  stated  present  a  striking  commen 
tary  on  the  character  of  the  French  and  Irish  exiles.  They 
must  have  demeaned  themselves  most  peaceably  and  orderly,  to 
escape  the  complaints  of  the  American  Secretary  of  State,  whom 
we  shall  by  and  by  find  snuffing  sedition  in  the  kind  of 
feathers  composing  a  military  plume  ! 

We  have  stated  that  a  ship  load  or  two  of  Frenchmen,  dreading 
some  violence,  fled  home  before  the  passage  of  the  Alien  Laws. 
De  Volney  was  the  only  very  prominent  man  amongst  them. 
Not  one  of  them,  we  think,  has  now  the  reputation  of  having 
been  a  conspirator  against  the  United  States.  The  tales  of 
designs  they  had  on  our  western  territories  do  not  serve  to  dis 
close  a  cobweb  of  real  conspiracy.  Had  they  all  come  here  and 
remained  full  of  such  designs,  they  would  have  been  about  as 
potent  to  effect  their  object  as  would  have  been  a  hundred  or 
two  Americans,  sent  to  France  or  England,  to  effect  a  territorial 
division  of  one  of  those  nations.  The  smallest  rill  that  carries 
mud  into  the  upper  Mississippi  does  as  much  to  color  the  mighty 
stream  to  its  mouth,  as  did  or  could  ten  times  as  many  French 
men,  or  any  other  foreign  residents,  to  give  color  and  tone  to  the 
politics  of  the  American  Union.  Yet,  when  this  little  handful 
of  French  had  fled,  we  find  but  one  man  left  to  be  made  a  victim 
of  the  Alien  Laws.  These  facts  show  the  utter  frivolousness  of 
the  pretence  on  which  that  gross  attack  on  all  sound  principles 
of  civil  liberty  was  made  by  the  National  Legislature. 

The  Sedition  Law  proved  something  besides  a  scare-crow. 
We  will  bring  together  a  few  instances  of  trials  under  it  during 
Mr.  Adams's  administration.  Matthew  Lyon,  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  was  selected  as  the  first  victim,  lie  was  an  Irishman  by 
birth — a  rough,  energetic  man,  who  did  not  mince  phrases — and 
an  extreme  Republican.  He  had  attracted  the  unbounded 
ridicule  of  the  Federal  members  of  the  House  when  he  asked  to 
be  excused  from  attending  the  procession  which  went  with  the 
usual  parade  to  answer  the  "  King's  speech  "  (as  the  Republican 
presses  termed  it) ;  and  they  scornfully  excused  him.  The 
country  did  not  laugh  as  loudly  as  the  Federal  members,  and 
when  Lyon  asked  the  second  time  to  be  excused,  it  was  refused 
him.  On  the  second  repetition  of  a  purely  gratuitous  and 
impudent  insult,  he  had  while  standing  outside  the  bar  of  the 
House,  spit  in  the  face  of  Griswold,  of  Connecticut.  He  apolo- 


CHAP.  viu. J       ETON'S  AJSD  THE  PETITIONEKS'  CASES. 

gized  to  the  House,  but  an  attempt  was  made  to  expel  him, 
which  failed,  though  it  received  a  majority  vote.  Griswold 
assaulted  Lyon  with  a  cane,  in  the  House,  after  prayers,  but 
before  the  Speaker  had  taken  his  seat.  Lyon  received  the 
worst  in  a  rencontre  in  which  the  Speaker  did  not  chance  to 
interfere  until  Lyon  too  obtained  a  cane,  and  then  the  official 
hammer  fell.  The  House  refused  to  pass  any  censure  on  Gris 
wold.  Fairly  balanced,  the  conduct  of  both  appears  to  have 
been  about  on  a  par ;  and  of  both  it  was  disgraceful. 

Lyon,  therefore,  had  several  qualifications  besides  his  high 
office  to  make  him  a  selected  subject  for  an  experiment  of  the 
Sedition  Law.  The  technical  grounds  of  offence  against  him 
were  that  he  had  declared  in  a  letter  published  in  a  Vermont 
newspaper,  that  with  the  federal  Executive  "  every  considera 
tion  of  the  public  welfare  was  swallowed  up  in  a  continual 
grasp  for  power,  an  unbounded  thirst  for  ridiculous  pomp,  fool 
ish  adulation  and  selfish  avarice."  In  regard  to  the  Fast  Day,  he 
said  that  "  the  sacred  name  of  religion  "  had  been  used  as  "  a  state 
engine  to  make  mankind  hate  and  persecute  each  other."  He 
had  published  u  by  reading  and  commenting  on  "  at  a  political 
meeting,  a  private  letter  written  by  Joel  Barlow  in  France,  in 
which  Barlow  expressed  astonishment  that  the  answer  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  to  the  President's  speech  had  not 
been  an  "  order  to  send  him  to  a  madhouse."  Another  count 
was  that  he  had  also  published  Barlow's  letter  by  causing  it  to 
be  printed  in  a  pamphlet. 

He  was  tried  before  Judge  Patterson,  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
The  jury  found  him  guilty,  and  the  judge,  after  a  severe 
reprimand,  sentenced  him  to  four  months'  imprisonment,  and  a 
fine  of  $1,000 — a  mitigated  punishment  in  the  latter  particular, 
as  it  was  shown  Lyon's  affairs  verged  towards  bankruptcy. 

A  petition,  signed  by  several  thousand  persons,  was  sent  to 
the  President  asking  Lyon's  release  from  a  narrow,  uncomfort 
able  and,  it  was  alleged,  filthy  cell ;  but  the  former  declined  to 
interfere  unless  the  prisoner  would  sign  the  petition.  This  Lyon 
refused  to  do.  A  private  lottery  was  made  of  his  property  to 
raise  the  amount  of  his  fine,  but  the  officers  of  the  Government 
found  indictable  matter  in  the  paper  in  which  the  plan  of  the 
lottery  was  proposed  to  the  public,  and  the  printer  of  the  Ver 
mont  Gazette,  the  paper  in  which  it  appeared,  was  found  guilty 

VOL.  u. — 27 


CASES   OF   HOLT   AND    COOPER.  [CHAP.    V1I1, 

under  the  same  law,  and  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  two  hundred 
dollars,  and  be  imprisoned  two  months. 

A  short  period  before  Lyon's  trial,  a  congressional  election 
had  been  held  in  his  district  which  resulted  in  no  choice.  The 
second  election  was  held  after  his  imprisonment,  and  he  was 
rechosen  by  a  triumphant  majority — a  significant  hint  of  the 
popular  judgment  on  the  working  of  a  law  which  woiild  not  per 
mit  a  candidate  for  Congress,  in  canvassing  his  district,  to  speak 
freely  of  the  political  conduct  of  the  President — which  dragged 
a  representative  of  the  people  in  the  highest  legislative  tribunal 
of  the  nation  before  a  judicial  appointee  of  the  President,  to  be 
there  browbeaten,  lectured,  tried  as  a  felon,  and  condemned  as  a 
felon,  for  political  language  addressed  to  his  own  constituents. 

The  number  of  convictions  which  took  place  under  this  law 
we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining.  Nor  have  we  widely  searched 
for  them.  We  will  name  a  few  more  instances,  however,  to 
show  what  a  miscellaneous  class  of  fish  was  caught  in  the 
meshes  of  this  net ;  to  show  that  if  it  could  threaten  a  vice-pre 
sident  and  send  a  member  of  Congress  to  jail,  it  could  stoop  low 
enough  to  punish  men  in  whom  a  police  court  would  not  notice 
far  graver  offences. 

Charles  Holt,  publisher  of  the  Bee,  printed  at  New  London, 
Connecticut,  was  found  guilty  of  defaming  the  President  and 
discouraging  enlistments  in  the  army,  and  sentenced  to  three 
months'  imprisonment,  and  a  fine  of  $200. 

Thomas  Cooper,  the  friend  and  associate  of  Dr.  Priestley,  and 
afterwards  so  distinguished  in  the  United  States,  was  tried  for 
charging  the  President  with  unbecoming  and  unnecessary  vio 
lence  in  his  official  communications,  calculated,  it  was  asserted, 
justly  to  pro  vote  war  ;  for  bringing  upon  the  nation  in  a  time  of 
peace  the  expense  of  a  permanent  navy,  and  threatening  it 
with  that  of  an  army  ;  for  interfering,  in  the  case  of  Jonathan 
Robbins,  a  native  impressed  citizen  of  the  United  States,  to 
deliver  him  over  to  a  British  court  martial  for  trial,  "  an  inter 
ference,"  Cooper  alleged,  "  without  precedent,  against  law  and 
against  mercy  " — an  act  "which  the  monarch  of  Great  Britain 
would  have  shrunk  from,"  etc.  Cooper  was  found  guilty,  and 
Judge  Chase  sentenced  him  to  six  months'  imprisonment,  and  to 
pay  a  fine  of  $400.' 

1  The  biographer  and  editor  of  Mr.  Adams  thinks  this  prosecution  was  a  political  mis- 


CHAP.    VIII.J         CASES    OF   CALLENDEE    AND    BALDWIN.  419 

James  T.  Callender  was  tried  for  a  libel  on  the  President.  It 
may  with  strict  propriety  be  said  that  Judge  Chase  procured  the 
indictment.  Callender's  counsel  raised  the  question  of  the  con 
stitutionality  of  the  law.  The  judge  refused  to  hear  them  on 
it,  and  treated  them  with  the  most  arbitrary  rudeness.  They 
threw  up  their  briefs  and  left  the  court.  The  defendant  was 
sentenced  to  nine  months'  imprisonment,  and  to  pay  a  line  of 
$200. 

Here  is  a  case  which  we  prefer  to  give  in  the  language  in 
which  we  find  it  in  Hammond's  Political  History  of  New 
York : ' 

"  Mr.  Baldwin  of  New  Jersey,  was  indicted,  tried,  convicted,  and  fined,  under" 
color  of  the  Sedition  Law  for  the  following  offence.  Mr.  Adams,  on  his  return  from 
the  seat  of  Government,  passed  through  Newark  ;  some  cannon  were  discharged  in 

take.  He  says  :  "The  fact  of  his  [Copper's]  having  been  a  disappointed  applicant  for 
office,  would  have  been  a  far  more  effective  instrument  to  rely  upon,  in  order  to  neu 
tralize  his  influence.'' — Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  14 — note. 

This  is  doubtless  "true,  but  how  far  it  would  have  been  a  fair  instrument,  is  another 

question.    Mr.  Adams  was  the  friend  and  admirer  of  Priestley  up  to  the  time  of  his  own 

accession  to  the  Presidency.     It  has  been  publicly  stated,  and  not  (we  think)  disputed 

r  that  Mr.  Adams  was  a  constant  hearer  of  his  sermons  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  winter  of 

;  1796.    These  sermons  were  not  long  after  published  and  dedicated,  by  permission,  to 

j  Mr.  Adams.     A  curious  letter  from  the  latter  to  his  wife,  on  this  subject,  squinting  with 

one  eye  to  the  gratification  of  his  vanity,  and  with  the  other  to  Puritan  censures,  is  yet 

extant.     Priestley  was  engaged  in  no  partisan  opposition  to  Mr.  Adams  in  the  election 

of  179(5.    There  was  no  humiliation,  then,  in  his  presenting  the  name  of  Thomas  Cooper 

to  the  President  in  1797,  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Agent  of  American  Claims,  before 

the  American  and  British  Commission  then  sitting  in  Philadelphia.    The  letter  (by  its 

italicization  of  a  word  in  the  first  sentence)  distinctly  intimates  that  the  President  had 

invited  him  to  ask  some  favor.    It  was  unexceptionably  dignified  throughout. 

We  find  no  evidence  to  the  contrary,  and  suppose  it  to  be  an  unquestionable  fact,  that 
Cooper,  at  the  same  period,  stood  in  the  same  political  attitude  with  Priestley — that  he 
had  not  opposed  Mr.  Adams's  election,  and  felt  the  most  favorable  dispositions  towards 
his  government.  With  Priestley's  application  to  the  President,  Cooper  sent  a  brief, 
dignified  note,  signifying  his  candidacy  in  terms  which  showed  that  he  had  no  importu 
nate  desire  for  the  office — anticipated  objections — and  was  prepared  to  receive  a  refusal 
without  surprise  or  offence.  The  rancorous  Cobbet  found  no  grounds  for  attack  in  this 
application.  He  said  (in  Rush-Light.  No.  5),  "it  must  be  confessed  that  there  is  nothing 
crawling  in  either  of  these  [Priestley's  or  Cooper's]  letters ;  they  breathe  as  independent 
a  spirit  as  letters,  on  such  a  subject  possibly  can."  In  alluding  to  an  account  published 
in  a  Reading  paper  (October  2Gth,  1799)  of  Priestley's  and  Cooper's  application  to  the 
President  for  the  office — of  the  huge  disdain  of  the  latter  on  the  occasion — and  that  it  was 
in  revenge  for  this  refusal  that  Cooper  afterwards  assailed  him,  Cobbet  said:  "The 
reader  who  compares  this  anecdote  with  the  letters  of  Dr.  Priestley  and  Cooper,  and  who, 
like  me,  is  willing  to  give  the  devil  his  due,  will  allow  that  a  narrative  more  destitute  of 
candor  and  of  truth  never  disgraced  even  an  American  newspaper."  He  declared  that 
Cooper  "was  possessed  of  talents,  intrepidity  and  perseverance  that  would  do  honor  to 
a  better  cause. 

If  Cobbet  hated  Mr.  Adams,  he  abhorred  Priestley  and  Cooper.  His  judgment  and  his 
fairness  were  not  worth  a  pin,  where  he  had  any  choice  between  parties:  but  when,  as  in 
the  present  case,  the  struggle  was  between  his  hated  enemies,  his  English  blood,  and  his 
English  yeoman  and  army  education,  made  him  no  bad  umpire  of  what  constituted  a  fair 
fight. 

Neither  Priestley  nor  Cooper  attacked  Mr.  Adams  until  he  gave  his  assent  to  what  they 
considered  violent  propositions  and  unrepublican  measures.  We  suppose  most  men  will 
be  prepared  to  concede  that  then  they  had  as  good  a  right  in  honor  and  conscience  to 
attack  him,  as  if  neither  of  them  had  ever  been  "  a  disappointed  applicant  for  office  " 
to  him. 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  131. 


4:20  CASE    OF    JUDGE    PECK.  CHAP.    VIII.] 

compliment  to  him,  while  passing  through  that  village ;  Mr.  Baldwin,  who,  it  would 
appear,  was  rather  a  low-bred  man,  said  he  wished  the  wadding  discharged  from  the 
cannon  had  been  lodged  in  the  President's  backsides.  For  this  he  was  fined  one 
hundred  dollars." 

Judge  Haminond  gives  another  example.  Judge  Jared  Peck, 
a  senator  in  the  Legislature  of  New  York — a  man  of  the  most 
exemplary  personal  character,  and  one  of  the  first  movers  of 
the  great  legislative  provisions  for  the  common  schools  of  his 
State — had  the  audacity  to  offer  to  his  neighbors  for  their  signa 
ture  a  petition  to  Congress,  for  the  repeal  of  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  Laws,  in  which  the  odious  features  of  those  laws  were 
severely  handled.  The  form  of  the  petition  had  been  prepared 
by  the  caustic  pen  of  General  John  Armstrong,  and  was  circu 
lated  (Judge  Hammond  thinks)  rather  for  political  effect  than 
for  the  actual  objects  of  a  petition.  Be  this  as  it  may,  com 
plaint  was  immediately  made  to  Harrison,  United  States  Dis 
trict  Attorney  at  New  York  ;  a  grand  jury  was  empannelled 
who  found  a  bill  of  indictment ;  a  bench  warrant  was  issued  ; 
Peck  was  arrested  in  the  midst  of  his  family  by  an  officer,  and 
taken  to  New  York.  The  fearless  victim,  we  doubt  not,  at 
every  stopping-place,  after  his  usual  wont,  mingled  prayers  and 
pious  exhortations,  with  vehement  political  appeals,1  before  the 
assembled  multitudes.  The  political  historian  of  New  York 
says : 

"  A  hundred  missionaries  in  the  cause  of  democracy,  stationed  between  New 
York  and  Cooperstown,  could  not  have  done  so  much  for  the  Republican  cause  as 
the  journey  of  Judge  Peck,  as  a  prisoner,  from  Otsego  to  the  capital  of  the  State. 
It  was  nothing  less  than  the  public  exhibition  of  a  suffering  martyr  for  the  freedom 
of  speech  and  the  press,  and  the  right  of  petitioning,  to  the  view  of  the  citizens 
of  the  various  places  through  which  the  marshal  travelled  with  his  prisoner."" 

The  result  we  are  not  apprised  of.  We  believe  it  was  found 
highly  expedient  to  slur  over  this  matter  in  some  way,  and  dis 
charge  the  prisoner.  Had  it  needed  a  conspicuous  victim  to  s^  ell 
higher  the  flood-tide  of  popular  indignation  which  was  rolling 
over  the  land,  it  would  have  been  a  pity  that  Peck  was  not  the 
selected  one.  Nerves  of  firmer  texture  never  withstood  the 
thumb-screw  and  iron  boot  of  Lauderdale,  or  knelt  down,  with 
unbandaged  eye,  to  receive  the  death-shots  of  Claverhouse. 

He  was  a  devoted  Christian  (Methodist  we  think),  and  very  warm  politician;  and 


rarely  separated  the  topics  completely  ii 
8  Political  History  of  New  York,  vol. 


in  his  stirring  harangues. 
i.  p.  132. 


CHAP.  VIII.]       NUMBER   OF    VICTIMS AIM   OF  THE   LAW.  431 

It  has  been  said  that  the  victims  of  the  Sedition  Law  were  but 
few.  We  do  not  know  the  number.  They  were  assuredly  few 
compared  with  the  whole  number  of  our  population.  But  they 
were  numerous  enough  for  the  purposes  of  intimidation — numer 
ous  enough  to  show  that  a  free  criticism  of  the  acts  of  the  Govern 
ment,  in  any  class  of  persons,  was  uttered  by  the  press  or  in 
conversation  at  the  peril  of  property  and  personal  liberty. 
They  were  numerous  enough  to  give  our  Government,  practi 
cally,  all  that  power  over  the  people  in  political  affairs  which 
had  been  exercised  by  the  highest  Tory  administrations  over  the 
people  of  England  during  the  long  reign  of  George  III.,  and  when 
the  deadly  struggle  with  republican  France  had  produced  a 
reactionary  feeling  against  liberalism  that  was  ready  to  sanction 
almost  any  infringement  on  personal  liberty.  England  at  the 
present  day  would  not  tolerate  any  approach  to  those  attacks  on 
parliamentary  privilege,  and  on  the  freedom  of  the  press  and 
of  speech,  which  were  made  under  the  American  Sedition  Law. 
The  discreet,  Virtuous  and  able  Princess,  who  now  sits  on  the 
throne  of  England,  would  scorn  to  maintain  Government 
measures  or  protect  the  Administration  from  censure,  by  an 
analogous  action  on  the  part  of  the  legal  tribunals  of  her  realm. 

And  when  we  look  at  the  cases  and  decisions  under  our 
Sedition  Law  of  1798,  we  cannot  fail  to  become  at  once  con 
vinced  that  its  aim  and  intent  was  not  to  prevent  or  punish  real 
sedition — actual,  open  or  secret  machinations  against  our  insti 
tutions  and  laws.  Its  manifest  object  was  to  shield  the  federal 
Government  from  damaging  censure — to  arm  it  with  power  to 
put  down  political  opposition ;  in  a  word,  to  confer  on  it 
authority  during  its  shorter  personal  tenure,  about  equivalent  to 
that  then  possessed  and  exercised  in  political  affairs  by  the  Gov 
ernment  of  Great  Britain  over  the  British  realm. 

We  have  seen  that  the  President  was  intrusted  with 
the  nomination,  subject  to  the  confirmation  of  the  Senate, 
of  the  general  officers  of  the  army  which  Congress,  in  the 
session  of  1797-'98,  ordered  to  be  raised  to  meet  an  antici 
pated  war  with  France.  Mr.  Adams  nominated  Washington 
Lieutenant-General,  and  the  latter  accepted,  under  the 
understanding  that  he  should  control  the  selection  of  the 
inferior  general  officers.1  He  proposed  to  the  President  tho 

*  Sec  Washington  to  Pickering,  October  1.    Hamilton's  "Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  3G1,  3G2 


4:22  ARMY    APPOINTMENTS INTRIGUES.  [ciIAP.    VIII. 

appointment  of  Hamilton  for  Inspector-General,  with  rank  of 
Major-General,  and  C.  C.  Pinckney  and  Knox  for  Major-Gene 
rals,  and  they  were  appointed.  Washington's  correspondence 
clearly  shows  that  he  expected  these  officers  to  take  rank  accord 
ing  to  the  grade  and  seniority  of  their  preceding  commissions,  and 
this  would  have  placed  Hamilton  below7  the  other  two  officers 
named.1  It  would  appear  that  Hamilton  would  have  been  satis- 
tied  with  this  arrangement,  but  his  satellites  in  the  Cabinet  were 
determined  he  should  have  the  first  place,  after  Washington,'1 
and  they  found  no  reluctance  on  his  part  to  join  heart  and  soul 
with  their  efforts.8 

The  intrigues  of  Pickering,  and,  we  lament  to  add,  the  more 
honorable  McIIenry,  first  to  deceive  and  mislead  Washington, 
and  then  to  conquer  and  humiliate  the  President,  to  effect 
their  object,  presents  one  of  the  most  disagreeable  pages  in 
American  history.4  But  its  insertion  does  not  belong  here. 

The  object  was  accomplished  ;  and  the  grim,  puritanic 
features  of  Pickering  become  more  disagreeable  as  they  assume 
a  leer  of  irrepressible  triumph  over  Knox,  and  over  Washington 
himself!6 


J  In  a  letter  to  Pickering,  July  llth,  Washington  combats  the  idea  of  placing  Hamil 
ton  over  Pinckney,  because,  he  says,  "being  senior  to  Col.  Hamilton,  he  would  not,  I 
am  morally  certain,  accept  a  junior  appointment.  Disgust  would  follow,"  etc.  (see 
Washington's  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  258,  et  scq.)  Knox  was  senior  to  Pinckney  in  both  date 
and  grade.  (See  also  Pickering  to  Hamilton,  August  21st,  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi. 
p.  343,  et  seq.) 

a  For  distinct  proof  of  both  of  these  facts,  see  Pickering  to  Hamilton,  August  21st. 
Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  343. 

8  See  Hamilton  to  Washington,  July  29th.  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  331-333, 
et  passim. 

*  See  the  entire  correspondence  on  this  subject  between  these  Secretaries,  Washing 
ton  and  Hamilton,  in  Washington's  and  Hamilton's  Works— particularly  in  the  latter, 
vol.  vi.  p.  343,  et  seq. 

*  See  Pickering  to  Hamilton,  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  344,  351,  and  Pickering 
to  Jay,  Ibid.  p.  330.     In  the  last  he  hints  plainly  enough  that  Hamilton  had  sacrificed 
himself  to  build  up  Washington's  reputation  in  the  Revolution ! 

In  the  second  of  the  letters  to  Hamilton  referred  to,  Pickering  said,  in  allusion  to  the 
defeat  of  Knox.  and  obviously  to  enhance  the  merit  of  his  own  victory  :  "  I  did  not  know 
till  now,  that  General  Washington  had  so  explicitly  written  you  respecting  your  taking 
rank  of  General  Knox,  whom  he  loved,"  etc.  The  last  words  are  thus  italicized  in  original. 
We  take  this  to  be  an  allusion  to  a  well  known  phrase  in  the  New  Testament.  But 
whether  so  or  not,  it,  with  its  italicization.  must  have  a  significancy.  Is  it  not,  in  the 
mouth  of  the  chuckling  intriguer,  equivalent  to  saying:  We,  or  I  (Pickering),  have  placed 
a  man  whom  Washington  did  not  love  over  the  man  he  did  love  ?  As  a  corollary  tc 
(under  any  construction)  an  indecent  boast,  we  present  the  following  passage  from 
Mr.  TristVMemoranda : 

"  MONTPELLIKR,  Friday,  May  25th,  182T— jitst  after  breakfast. 

"Sparks's  second  letter  to  Story  on  the  subject  of  Washington's  papers,  led  to 
Mr.  Jefferson's  papers.  I  had  mentioned  some  circumstances  in  them  connected  with 
General  Washington. 

"  Mr.  Madison.  ^  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  Hamilton  did  not  like  Gin.  Washington  ; 
nor  did  Gen.  W.  like  Jam.'  '  Ah !  the  reverse  of  this  is  the  general  impression.  Mr 


CHAP.  VIII.]  CONDUCT    OF   THE    CABINET.  4:23 

Wolcott,  as  usual,  kept  among  the  shadows  of  the  back 
ground,  betrayed  only  by  the  occasional  sparkle  of  his  eye."1 

It  was  a  galling  mortification  to  the  President  to  be  required 
to  sanction  a  construction  of  his  own  appointments,  which  placed 
his  enemy,  Hamilton,  over  the  head  of  his  friend  Knox — the 
Revolutionary  aid-de-camp  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  over  the  head 
of  the  Revolutionary  Major-General,  the  lion  of  a  hundred  fields. 
He  submitted,  however.  Knox  did,  not  submit,  and  threw  up 
his  commission  in  disgust.2  A  deeper  humiliation,  a  direct  indig 
nity,  was  in  store  for  the  President  from  the  same  quarter. 
General  Washington  had,  purely  of  his  own  accord,  placed  the 
name  of  Mr.  Adams's  son-in-law,  Colonel  William  S.  Smith,  in 
the  list  of  his  general  officers.  When  Pickering  ascertained 
that  the  President  had  concluded  (in  pursuance  of  an  under 
standing  which  the  latter  found  himself  unable  to  break  in  other 
cases)  to  nominate  the  officer  thus  designated  to  the  Senate,  he 
"  did-  not,"  he  wrote  Hamilton,  "  hesitate  to  inform  a  number  of 

Sparks  told  me  that  Gen.  W.'s  papers  led  to  the  conclusion  that  he  entertained  a  very 
high  opinion  and  cordial  regard  for  HV 

"  Mr.  Madison  went  on  to  explain  this.     In  the  first  place,  H.  was  perfectly  honest  in  *-t 
his  belief  that  the  British  Government  was  the  only  one  by  which  men  could  be  governed  on  [ 
liberal  principles.    H.'s  importance  and  weight  were  very  great.     There  were  in  the  list 
of  those  devoted  to  him  :  1.  Those  who  founded  their  fortunes  on  the  funding  system.  -'1 
2.  The  mercantile  interest,  particularly  the  British  merchants.    3.  Those  who  had  been 
led  to  aristocratical  partialities,  from  various  causes ;   among  others,  disgust  for  the 
abuses  of  liberty  which  were  manifesting  themselves  in  the  eastern  States.    4.  The 
officers  of  the  army,  many  of  whom  took  to  the  funding  system.    All  this  conspired  to 
give  to  Hamilton  great  weight  and  consequence  in  the  nation.     '  Gen.  W.  might  have  bid 
defiance  to  this  power,  and  relied  on  his  own  popularity  and  weight  of  character  which 


have  been  a  very  trying  one.' 


ten  a  very  trying  one. 

Gen.  W\  sign,cd  Jay's  treaty  ;  but  he  did  not  at  all  like  it.' 


would  have  proved  sufficient  to  carry  him  through  all  difficulties  ;  but  his  situation  would   j 

I  like  it.' 

********* 

"  The  foregoing  is  written  immediately  after  the  conversation,  which  has  not  lasted 
half  an  hour.  Mr.  M.  having  stepped  out,  and  I  taking  advantage  of  this  interruption  to 
retire  to  my  room  and  commit  the  substance  to  paper.  The  very  words  I  have  retained, 
as  near  as  I  could.  In  many  instances  (where  1  have  run  a  line  over  the  words),  I  have 
done  this  exactly." 

The  words  with  a  line  run  over  them  in  Mr.  Trist's  Memoranda,  are  placed  in  italics 
above. 

8  l  "  Hiding  his  face  lest  foeman  spy 

The  sparkle  of  his  swarthy  eye." 

Wolcott  is  unmistakably  betrayed,  however,  in  a  letter  to  the  President,  Sept.  17th 
(Gibbs's  Administrations,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  93),  and  to  Hamilton  of  October  10th.  (Hamil 
ton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  366.)  The  insulting  commentary  of  this  party,  and  we  dare  say  pre 
tended  personal  friend,  on  Knox's  pecuniary  fall,  will  be  read  with  edification  by  those 
who  have  been  pained  by  an  allusion  to  the  same  circumstance  in  the  Ana  of  Knox's 
neither  party  nor  personal  friend,  Jefferson. 

2  Those  curious  in  a  peculiar  style,  which  we  have  once  or  twice  called  attention  to 
in  Hamilton's  Writings,  will  do  well  to  turn  to  a  letter  from  him  to  Knox  (March  14th, 
1799),  in  which  he  appears,  on  the  surface,  to  say  that  his  elevation  over  the  latter  was 
entirely  without  his  aid,  and  that  his  "respect  and  attachment"  for  his  correspondent 
(Knox),  and  his  "impression  of  duty"  had  led  to  a  "serious  struggle."  If  we  under 
stand  the  drift  of  the  letter,  it  is  to  convince  Knox  that  the  arrangement  was  solely  pro 
duced  by  the  wishes  of  General  Washington.  But  let  the  reader  consult  the  letter,  and 
apply  his  own  inferences.  (See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol  "i.  p.  403.) 


SMITH'S  REJECTION — FRENCH  BELATIONS.    [CHAP,  vm 

Senators  of  it,  and  to  urge  their  negative  for  the  honor,  and  even 
for  the  safety  of  the  army."  *  The  reasons  he  assigned  for  this 
breach  of  trust  as  an  official,  and  of  honor  as  a  gentleman,  were 
as  follows  : 

"  I  deprecate  the  appointment  of  Smith  which  will  injure  the  President  in  two 
ways:  1st,  because  he  is  the  President's  son-in-law,  for  this  will  be  contrasted  with 
General  Washington's  caution  to  steer  clear  of  his  relations;  2d,  because  Smith  is 
a  bankrupt ;  and,  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  with  a  ruined  reputation."  2 

If  General  Washington  asked  Mr.  Adams  to  make  the  nomi 
nation,  he  was  responsible  for  all  results.  When,  a  few  months 
later,  Pickering  gave  his  own  poverty  as  an  excuse  for  not 
resigning,  when  asked  to  do  so  by  the  President,  he  had  forgot 
ten  that  it  was  a  crime  ! 

The  Hamiltonian  majority  in  the  Senate  obeyed  ;  and  the 
President's  nomination  was  rejected.  Considering  all  the  cir 
cumstances — considering  that  the  blow  came  from  ostensible 
party  friends — considering  the  President's  recent  submission, 
where  the  interests  and  feelings  of  the  intriguers  were  so  deeply 
staked — this  indignity  betrayed  a  relentlessness  which  has  few 
parallels  ;  and  there  is  a  rank  odor  of  dishonor  resting  on  the 
whole  transaction,  which  the  stern  pen  of  Tacitus  has  hardly 
recorded  of  the  Court  of  Tiberius.  We  gladly  turn  away  from 
these  details. 

Let  us  now  inquire  what  were  the  acts  of  France,  in  respect  to 
America,  after  sending  away  two  of  our  envoys,  Marshall  and 
Pinckney,  in  alleged  retaliation  for  the  insult  of  the  President's 
Message.  What  were  those  preparations  for  war  and  invasion, 
the  intelligence  of  which,  carried  by  every  vessel  across  the 
Atlantic,  showed  that  France  had  not  yet  enemies  enough  on 
her  hands,  arid  warned  the  United  States,  trumpet-tongued,  to 
raise  fleets  and  armies  for  the  terrible  struggle  with  her? 

After  the  departure  of  Marshall  and  Pinckney  from  France, 
Talleyrand  immediately  entered  upon  a  diplomatic  correspond 
ence  with  our  third  envoy,  Mr.  Gerry,  who  had  been  almost 
constrained  to  remain  against  his  will.  Talleyrand  declared  that 
the  French  Government  had  no  desire  to  break  up  the  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  and  onlv  de 

1  See  letter  to  Jay,  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  330. 

1  See  his  letter  to  Hamilton,  July  18th.    Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  3*28. 


CHAP,  viii.]  TALLEYRAND'S  OVEKTUKES.  425 

manded  to  be  placed  on  as  favorable  terms  as  the  latter.  He 
distinctly  informed  Gerry  (May  26th,  1798)  that  the  Directory 
had  no  thoughts  of  a  war  with  the  United  States.  On  the  XYZ 
correspondence  appearing  in  the  London  papers,  the  Minister  dis 
avowed,  to  Gerry,  any  complicity  with  those  "  intriguers."  The 
American  envoy  (June  10th)  intimated  the  necessity  of  his 
speedy  departure.  Talleyrand  proposed  to  proceed  at  once  to 
negotiations  on  the  basis  of  former  treaties,  and  mutual  indem 
nities  for  breaches  of  them.  Gerry  declared  he  had  no  separate 
powers,  and,  as  the  French  Minister  advanced,  he  continued  to 
retreat;  until,  finally,  in  July,  Talleyrand  consented  to  give  him 
his  passports,  accompanied  by  a  pacific  message,  in  which  he 
recounted  his  different  and  unavailing  efforts  to  come  to  a  good 
understanding.  Receiving  notice  of  the  suspension  of  inter 
course  between  the  two  countries,  by  Congress,  Talleyrand 
added,  in  a  postscript : 

"  It  seems  that,  hurried  beyond  every  limit,  your  Government  no  longer  pre 
serves  appearances.  *  *  *  The  long  suffering  of  the  Executive  Direc 
tory  is  about  to  manifest  itself  in  the  most  unquestionable  manner.  Perfidy  will  no 
longer  be  able  to  throw  a  veil  over  the  pacific  dispositions  which  it  has  never  ceased 
to  manifest.  It  is  •  at  the  very  moment  of  this  fresh  provocation,  which  would 
appear  to  leave  no  honorable  choice  but  war,  that  it  confirms  the  assurances  I 
have  given  you  on  its  behalf.  It  is  yet  ready,  it  is  as  much  disposed  as  ever,  to 
terminate  by  a  candid  negotiation  the  differences  which  subsist  between  the  two 
countries.  Such  is  its  repugnance  to  consider  the  United  States  as  enemies,  that 
notwithstanding  their  hostile  demonstrations,  it  means  to  wait  until  it  be  irresistibly 
forced  to  it  by  real  hostilities.  Since  you  will  depart,  sir,  hasten,  at  least,  to 
transmit  to  your  Government  this  solemn  declaration." 

Gerry  replied  with  great  spirit  (July  20th),  contending  that 
the  objects  of  the  mission  had  been  frustrated  by  the  demand 
for  a  loan,  and  for  reparation  for  the  President's  speech  ;  that  if 
France  was  so  desirous  of  peace,  it  should  restrain  the  depreda 
tions  of  its  privateers  on  American  commerce,  which  were  ex 
tended  far  beyond  the  limits,  even,  of  its  own  decrees. 

Talleyrand,  thereupon,  forwarded  an  express  and  formal  dis 
avowal  of  any  claim  for  reparation  for  the  President's  speech, 
or  for  a  loan — and  assured  Gerry  that  any  envoy,  possessing  his 
own  qualifications,  who  might  be  sent  to  France,  would  be  well 
received.  Mr.  Gerry,  indeed,  believed,  arid  so  informed  his 
Government,  that  all  that  prevented  France,  at  this  point,  frrra 


FRENCH   OVEETUEES- -LOGAN'S    EECEPTION.    [CHAP.     VIII. 

sen  ling  a  Minister  to  America,  was  the  fear  that  he  would  not 
be  received. 

Gerry,  on  reaching  Havre,  was  purposely  detained,  as  he 
believed,  to  gain  time  to  forward  to  him  a  decree  of  the  Direc 
tory,  requiring  all  French  privateers  to  give  bonds  not  to  com 
mit  unauthorized  depredations  on  American  commerce,  and 
placing  restraints  on  the  issue  of  commissions  to  them,  and  on 
the  condemnation  of  captured  vessels  in  the  West  Indies: 

Immediately  after  Gerry's  departure,  the  Directory  passed  two 
decrees  (August  llth  and  16th),  releasing  those  American  citi 
zens  who  had  been  confined  under  an  embargo,  which  had  been 
imposed  on  American  shipping  in  retaliation  for  some  of  the 
war  measures  of  the  United  States;  and  terminating  the  em 
bargo.  The  Minister  of  Marine,  by  an  official  circular  of  the 
same  date,  ordered  French  cruisers  to  do  no  injury  to  the  officers 
or  crews  of  American  vessels,  if  "  in  order,"  and  in  no  case  to 
passengers  and  crews,  if  American  citizens,  having  passports  or 
protections.  The  American  Consul-General  at  Paris,  Skipwith, 
received  an  inofficial  intimation,  to  be  conveyed  to  his 
Government,  that  the  Directory  intended  to  press  upon  the 
Legislative  body  a  revision  of  the  maritime  laws  of  France, 
which  would  secure  the  rights  of  neutrals  on  the  seas — that  the 
Court  of  Cassation,  where  appeals  were  pending  from  the  con 
demned  American  vessels,  was  inclined  to  delay  its  decisions 
until  the  passage  of  the  new  laws — and  that,  until  the  latter 
period,  the  Directory  could  not,  however  friendly  disposed, 
change  the  action  of  the  courts. 

Dr.  Logan  arrived,  on  his  self-constituted  but  benevolent  mis 
sion,  not  long  after  Gerry's  departure,  and  was  received  with 
the  greatest  distinction,  and  loaded  with  friendly  assurances  to 
the  United  States,  by  the  most  important  personages  in  the 
French  Government  and  nation.  These  included  Merlin  and 
Talleyrand  ;  and  the  latter,  who  was  well  acquainted  witii  Presi 
dent  Adams,  and  had  been  repeatedly  entertained  at  his  house, 
requested  Logan  to  visit  the  President  on  his  return,  and  person 
ally  assure  him  of  "  the  desire  of  the  Directory,  as  well  as  his 
own,  to  accommodate  all  disputes  with  America,  and  to  forget 
all  that  was  past." 

Lafayette  wrote  imploring  appeals  to  General  Washington, 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  be.  p.  244. 


CHAP.  Till.]  LETTERS    OF    AMERICANS    IN   FRANCE.  4:27 

to  "  exert  all  his  endeavors  to  avert  the  calamitous  effects  of  a 
rupture  between  their  countries,"  assuring  him  that  the  Execu 
tive  Directory  were  disposed  to  an  accommodation  of  all  differ 
ences."  l  And  he  addressed  a  communication  on  the  same  sub 
ject  to  Hamilton.2 

Mr.  Barlow,3  Mr.  Codman,  Consul  Cutting,  and  various  other 
Americans  in  France,  individuals  eminent  for  talents,  for  know 
ledge  of  the  world,  and  as  business  men,  wrote  home — some  to 
public  characters  and  some  to  their  private  correspondents — 
and  all  expressed  similar  views  with  Lafayette's.  Mr.  Adams 
himself  afterwards  said :  "  Perhaps  at  no  period  of  our  connection 
with  France  has  there  ever  been  such  a  flood  of  private  letters 
between  that  country  and  this,  as  in  the  winter  of  1798  and  1799. 
The  contents  of  many  of  them  were,  directly  or  indirectly,  com 
municated  to  me.  They  were  all  in  a  similar  strain  * 
that  the  French  Government  had  changed  their  ground,  and 
were  sincerely  disposed  to  negotiation  and  accommodation."4 

After  Gerry's  departure,  the  French  Government  took  another 
step  which  betrayed. its  extraordinary  solicitude  for  peace.  It 
made  essentially  the  same  overtures  which  it  had  made  to  Gerry 
(except  that  it  went  to  the  further  extent  of  giving  assurances  that 
it  would  receive  any  Minister  the  President  might  send)  to 
Murray,  the  American  Minister  at  the  Hague,  he  being  the  most 

1  His  letters  were  dated  August  20th  and  September  5th.  General  Washington's 
reply  will  be  found  in  his  Works  by  Sparks,  vol.  xi.  p.  376. 

3  Hamilton's  answer,  dated  January  6th,  will  be  found  in  his  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  38P. 
It  would  appear  from  General  Washington's  letter  to  Lafayette  (just  named.),  and 

from  Hamilton's,  that  Lafayette  had  informed  both,  that  he  purposed  visiting  the  United 
States,  to  attempt  to  produce  a  reconciliation  between  the  two  countries.  Both  advised 
him  not  to  come,  on  the  ground  that  he  would  lose  the  confidence  of  "  one  party  or  the 
other,  if  not  of  both."  Washington  doubtless  believed  that  no  beneficial  results  would 
flow  from  his  efforts. 

Lafayette  afterwards  (February  10th,  1800)  wrote  Hamilton  that  it  was  principally 
owing  to  the  advice  of  General  Washington  and  the  latter,  that  he  did  not  visit  the  United 
States  at  this  time.  We  cannot  forbear  to  quote  a  sentence  or  two  from  the  letter  of  the 
pure  and  wholly  unselfish  Lafayette  : 

"  Oh,  my  dear  friend,  preserve  your  liberties ;  do  not  let  party  spirit,  and  personal 
hatreds  be  carried  further  than  the  proper  balance  in  a  wise,  virtuous  commonwealth,  that 
you  may  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  diseases,  nor  even  with  the  medicines.  My  whole 
heart  is  in  the  wishes  I  form  for  the  continuance  of  your  political,  social,  personal  free 
dom,  dignity  and  happiness." — Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  426. 

»  Barlow's  very  able  letter  to  General  Washington  (published  in  Sparks's  Washington, 
vol.  xi.  p.  560),  characterizing  the  dispute  between  the  two  countries  as  "literally  a 
misunderstanding,"  and  declaring  on  what  General  Washington  believed  the  authority 
of  the  Directory,  that  the  French  Government  contemplated  just  indemnity  for  spolia 
tions  on  American  commerce — a  change  in  legislation  that  would  put  all  neutrals  on  the 
footing  of  the  law  of  nations — and  would  have  sent  a  public  agent  to  Philadelphia  after 
Mr.  Gerry's  departure,  had  they  been  sure  he  would  be  well  received,  etc.:  and  the 
effect  of  this  letter  on  Gen.  Washington's  mind  will  hereafter  be  more  particularly 
alluded  to. 

4  Adams'a  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  243. 


428  FRENCH    DIPLOMATIC    OVERTURE.  [CHAP.  VIH. 

direct  official  avenue  of  communication  with  the  United  States 
besides  Mr.  King,  to  whom  they  could  not  be  properly  sent,  as 
war  then  existed  between  England  and  France.  They  were  com 
municated  through  M.  Pichon,  a  highly  respectable  gentleman, 
well  known  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  had  resided  some  years,  as 
an  attache  of  the  French  embassy  in  the  United  States.  He  was 
Secretary  of  Legation  at  the  Hague,  and,  in  the  then  absence  of 
the  principal  minister,  was.  of  course,  Charge  cFAffaires,  in 
which  capacity  his  acts,  in  this  connection,  were  as  official,  for 
mal  and  binding  on  his  Government,  as  would  have  been  those 
of  an  ambassador.  In  addition  to  showing  Murray  several  man 
uscript  letters  of  Talleyrand  on  the  subject,  he  gave  him,  not 
only  friendly,  but  apologetic  assurances,  which,  between  indi 
viduals,  would  have  been  considered  as  carrying  the  amende 
honorable  beyond  the. point  where  it  can  be  properly  required, 
and  closely  to  the  verge  of  humiliation.1  On  reading  Murray's 
correspondence  with  his  Government,  we  cannot  wonder  at  the 
exclamation  of  Liston,  the  English  Ambassador  in  the  United 
States,  to  the  President :  "  To  what  humiliation  will  not  these 
Frenchmen  stoop  to  appease  you  ?"  ' 

1  This  correspondence  is  to  be  found  in  various  publications.    The  copy  now  lying 
before  us  is  in  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.    Appendix,  pp.  677-691,  vol.  ix.  pp.  260,  262. 
•  See  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  267. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

1798—1799. 

Impolicy  of  the  French  Measures — Views  of  the  American  Parties — The  President 
receives  the  French  Overtures  to  Pacification— His  Opinions  of  them— Questions  to  his 
Cabinet — Their  Action  thereon — The  President's  Conviction  that  France  did  not 
meditate  War — Hamilton  apprised  of  all  the  Facts — He  urges  on  War  Preparations 
however — Why  this  Change  in  his  Views  since  1797? — Don  Francisco  de  Miranda — 
His  Proposals  to  England  and  the  United  States  to  revolutionize  Mexico  and  South 
America— British  Cabinet  accede  to  his  Plans — Hamilton  consulted  through  King — 
Miranda's  Letter  to  Hamilton  of  April  6th,  1798 — Hamilton  engages  in  the  Scheme, 
and  asks  the  Command  of  the  Land  Forces — His  Letters  to  King  and  Miranda — He 
engaged  in  this  before  hearing  Result  of  the  new  French  Mission  he  had  urged — He 
knew  the  Miranda.  Scheme  involved  a  War  with  France — British  Cabinet  accede  to 
Hamilton's  Proposals — King's  Letters  to  Pickering — The  British  part  of  the  Expedition 
ready — Miranda's  Letter  to  the  President — Offensive  War  against  France  meditated — 
Necessary  as  an  Excuse  to  attack  Spain — Views  of  the  Republicans  in  the  Summer  of 
1798 — Their  Apprehensions  in  regard  to  the  Army — Their  Suspicions  of  Hamilton — Jef 
ferson  to  Taylor,  of  Caroline,  on  dissolving  the  Union — His  Letter  to  Mason — The  Nicho 
lases  at  Monticello — The  Kentucky  Resolutions  as  drafted  by  Jefferson — Mr.  Madison's 
View  of  their  Import — Modified,  and  passed  by  Kentucky  Legislature — Reasons  for 
supposing  Jefferson  assented  to  or  made  the  Modifications — Letter  to  Taylor,  of 
Caroline— Passage  of  the  Virginia  Resolutions — Third  Session  of  Fifth  Congress — The 
President's  Speech — An  Error  of  Jefferson — The  Senate  "hint  Logan"  to  Mr.  Adams — 
His  unfortunate  Reply — Hamilton's  Programme  for  Congress — It  contemplated  a  sub 
version  of  the  existing  Government — Hamilton  hints  the  Miranda  Scheme  to  his  Instru 
ments  in  Congress — Proposes  Preparations  to  carry  out  that  Scheme — Letters  to  Gunn 
and  Otis  on  the  Subject — Origin  of  the  "Logan  Law" — Harper's  Misstatements  and 
Logan's  Corrections — Passage  and  Character  of  this  Law — Jefferson  to  Gerry — Objects 
of  the  Letter— Jefferson  to  Pendleton — Pendloton's  Patriarchal  Address — The  Union 
of  the  Patriotic  Extremes  of  the  Revolution— What  it  proved  and  what  it  foreshadowed 
— Great  War  Preparations  in  Congress — Debts  to  be  incurred  in  proportion — Jefferson 
urges  the  Republicans  to  avoid  every  Act  and  Threat  against  the  Peace  of  the  Union — 
Bills  to  continue  Non  Intercourse  with  France,  and  to  augment  the  Navy,  passed — Jef 
ferson  raises  Money  to  print  Political  Documents — Letters  to  Monroe  and  Stewart — 
Capture  of  the  Retaliation — British  impress  Seamen  from  the  United  Stages  Sloop  of 
War  Baltimore — Jefferson  complains  of  the  President's  withholding  the  French  Over 
tures — President  nominates  Murray  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  France — The  Federal 
leaders  "  Gravelled  "— Sedgwick  and  Pickering  to  Hamilton  on  the  Subject— Senate 
drive  President  to  substitute  a  Commission — Ellsworth,  Henry  and  Murray  nominated 
and  approved — Jefferson  to  Kosciusko — To  Madison — A  scandalous  Scene  in  the  House 
of  Representatives— Means  sought  to  be  employed  by  the  Federal  and  Republican 
Chiefs  to  prepare  for  the  decisive  Contest — Jefferson's  Letters  to  his  Daughters. 

FRANCE  had  made  a  new,  or  continued  an  old,  absurd  error  in 
her  treatment  of  the  American  Envoys.     It  is  always  absurd  fo? 

429 


430  PARTY    VIEWS    OF    FRENCH    OVERTURES.          [CHAP.    IX. 

nations  or  individuals  to  resort  to  menaces  where  inclination  or 
interest  stands  in  the  way  of  their  execution,  if  they  call  out 
defiance  instead  of  submission.  And  threatening  is  never  the 
best  method  of  calling  back  a  friend  to  a  real  or  supposed  duty. 
Her  "  humiliations,"  as  Mr.  Liston  characterized  them,  were 
therefore  a  meed  due  to  her  folly. 

The  A-merican  parties  took  different  views  of  the  subject. 
The  Kepublicans  thought  insults  from  France  thus  apologized 
for,  were  not  better  causes  of  war,  than  insults  from  other  quar 
ters  unapologized  for ;  and  had  all  the  pacific  efforts  and  assur 
ances  from  France,  recorded  in  the  last,  chapter,  been  allowed 
to  come  directly  before  the  American  people,  it  is  probably  safe 
to  say  that  nine-tenths  of  them,  out  of  high  political  and  army 
circles,  would  have  concurred  with  the  Republicans. 

The  Federal  leaders  on  the  other  hand,  discovered  that  these 
concessions  sprung  only  from  abject  fear,  and  that  therefore 
they  afforded  no  reason  for  our  withholding  our  chastising  arm.1 
Yet  we  rarely  find  this  boast  uttered  without  being  coupled  with 
the  wholly  contrary  hypothesis,  that  France  was  only  seeking 
to  gain  time,  and  put  us  off  our  guard,  preparatory  to  an  attempt 
to  conquer  a  portion  or  the  whole  of  our  country.  Intimidated 
as  France  was,  the  "  invasion"  which  we  were  raising  armies, 
and  preparing  fortificatins  to  withstand,  was  but  a  little  way 
off!  It  is  probable  that  there  were  persons  who  firmly  believed 
both  theories.  Of  the  sincerity  of  the  leaders  of  the  war  party 
we  shall  be  better  enabled  to  judge  after  we  look,  presently, 
into  their  confidential  correspondences. 

What  were  the  effects  of  the  pacific  French  news  on  the 
mind  of  an  inconsistent,  impulsive,  but  honest  and  patriotic 
President?  It  distinctly  appears  from  his  own  subsequent 

1  To  show  the  spirit  which  animated  a  portion  of  the  Federalists  at  this  period,  let 
two  or  three  facts  suffice.  So  enraged  were  they,  because  Gerry  remained  for  a  brief 
period  in  France  for  the  purpose  of  averting,  as  he  believed,  an  immediate  declaration  of 
war,  and  consented  to  confer  in  a  private  capacity  with  its  Government,  that  their 
presses  represented  his  conduct  as  on  a  par  with  that  of  Benedict  Arnold.  The  Secretary 
of  State  fiercely  wrote  the  President  that  he  "  verily  believed  "  Gerry  guilty  not  only  of 
"duplicity,"  but  of  "treachery:"  and  that  "if  he  should  not  be  impeached,  npt  hia 
innocence  but  political  expediency  alone  should  prevent  it!"  (Adams's  Works,  vol. 
viii.  p.  616.)  Austin,  in  his  Life  of  Gerry,  shows  how  the  neighbors  of  the  latter — the 
usually  peaceful  and  orderly  citizens  of  Massachusetts — demeaned  themselves  towards 
his  family  in  his  absence  : 

"  Letters,  anonymous  or  feigned,  were  sent  to  Mrs.  Gerry  [who  resided  at  Cambridge], 
imputing  his  continuance  in  France  to  causes  most  distressing  to  a  wife  and  mother. 
Yells  were  uttered  and  bonfires  were  kindled  at  night  about  his  house,  and  on  one  occa 
sion  a  guillotine  was  erected  under  the  window,  smeared  with  blood,  and  bearing  the 
effigy  of  a  headless  man." 


CHAP,  ix.]  PRESIDENT'S  OPINION  or  THEM.  4:31 

avowals,  that  they  wrought  an  nndoubting  conviction  in  his 
mind,  that  France  was  sincere  in  her  proffers  of  a  pacific  and 
fair  accommodation — that  "  if  ever  there  was  a  regular  diplomatic 
communication,"  M.  Pichon's  "to  Murray"  was  one — that  there 
were  not  "  any  words  either  in  the  French  or  English  language, 
which  could  have  expressed  in  a  more  solemn,  a  more  explicit,  or 
a  more  decided  manner,  assurances  of  all  he  [the  President]  had 
demanded  as  conditions  of  negotiation," — that  "  if,  with  all  this 
information,  he  had  refused  to  institute  a  [new]  negotiation,"  "  he 
should  have  been  degraded  in  his  own  estimation  as  a  man  of 
honor,  he  should  have  disgraced  the  nation  he  represented,  in 
their  own  opinion,  and  in  the  judgment  of  Europe." 

Mr.  Adams  received  Murray's  two  first  letters  on  the  9th  of 
October,  1798,  and  Talleyrand's  inclosed  first  one  to  Pichon 
(returned  from  the  State  Department,  where  Mr.  Adams  had 
sent  it  to  be  deciphered)  on  the  18th  of  the  same  month.2  These 
contained  the  opening  French  overtures  for  pacific  negotiation 
with  the  United  States,  which  we  have  seen  the  President  so 
energetically  characterizing.3 

A  letter  of  Gerry  at  this  period,  says  Mr.  Adams,  "  con 
firmed  these  assurances  beyond  all  doubt  in  my  mind,  and  his 
conversations  with  me  at  my  own  house  in  Quincy,  if  anything 
further  had  been  wanting,  would  have  corroborated  the  whole." 
The  letter  of  Gerry  thus  mentioned,  was  dated  at  Nantasket 
Road,  October  1st,  1798.  Mr.  Adams's  family  biographer 
asserts  that  the  "  conversations"  referred  to,  "  must  have  been 
in  the  first  week  of  October,'-  the  same  year.4 

On  the  20th  of  October,  Mr.  Adams  addressed  questions  t( 
his  Cabinet  through  Mr.  Pickering,  in  regard  to  some  "  things 
which  deserved  to  be  maturely  considered  before  the  meeting 
of  Congress."  The  first  was  whether  it  was  expedient  to  recom 
mend  a  declaration  of  war  against  France.  The  second  was, 
"  whether  any  further  proposals  of  negotiation  could  be  made 
with  safety  ;  and  whether  there  would  be  any  use  or  advantage, 
in  Europe  or  America,  by  uniting  minds  more  in  our  favor,  by 

1  These  declarations,  and  others  as  strong,  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Adams's  Works,  vol. 
ix.  pp.  245,  246.  See  also  p.  241,  and  the  twenty  or  thirty  succeeding  pages. 

8  The  dates  of  their  reception  are  particularly  mentioned  by  Mr.  Adams's  filial 
biographer  and  annotator.  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  676 — note. 

3  See  them  in  ib.  pp.  680-684. 

4  Life  of  Adams,  p.  533 — note. 


432  CABINET   ACTION  -  THE    MESSAGE,    ETC.  [CHAP.    IX. 

any  snch  measure."  "  If  any  measure  of  this  kind  should  be 
thought  admissible  who  should  be  the  man?"  He  suggested 
the  names  of  Mr.  Henry,  Judge  Patterson,  Senator  Ross,  and 
Senator  Stockton,  "  because  while  they  were  staunch  Americans, 
they  had  not  been  marked  or  obnoxious  to  the  French."  He 
also  named  several  other  individuals,  and  among  them  Mr. 
Murray.  Mr.  Adams's  biographer  states,  that  instead  of  the 
Cabinet  "  sending  any  answer,  or  entering  into  a  discussion  of 
the  questions  involved,  a  consultation  was  had,  denominated  by 
Mr.  Jefferson,  '  a  military  conclave,'  from  the  presence  of  some 
of  the  general  officers  then  assembled  in  Philadelphia,  and 
especially  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  at  wrhich  a  draft  of  a  message 
was  prepared,  obviously  designed  to  preclude  the  President's 
action  upon  the  suggestions  therein  contained,"  and  that  "  this 
draft  was  probably  made  by  Mr.  Wolcott,  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  Hamilton."  1 

The  President  adopted  the  body  of  the  draft,  but  introduced 
an  essential  modification  of  the  clauses  in  respect  to  France  (as 
will  hereafter  appear),  to  keep  open  the  door  for  adjustment. 
Hamilton  afterwards  said  of  his  conduct  on  this  occasion  : 

"  In  vain  was  this  extension  of  the  sentiment  opposed  by  all  of  his  ministers,  aa 
being  equally  incompatible  with  good  policy,  and  with  the  dignity  of  the  nation  —  he 
obstinately  persisted,  and  the  pernicious  declaration  was  introduced."  a 

Mr.  Adams's  clear  and  decisive  conviction  at  the  period  he 
thus  consulted  his  Cabinet,  that  there  was  no  danger  of  a  war 
with  France  ;  that  the  cry  of  "  invasion,"  kept  up  by  a  portion  of 
the  Federal  party,  was  destitute  of  a  color  -of  foundation  ;  and 
that  he  in  his  heart  was  thoroughly  sick  of  the  military  prepara 
tions  going  on,  appears  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  of 
October  22d. 


"  There  has  been  no  national  plan,  that  I  have  seen,  as  yet  formed  for  the 
tenance  of  the  army.     One  thing  I   know,  that  regiments  are  costly  articles  every 
where,  and  more  so  in  this  country  than  in  any  other  under  the  sun.     If  this  natio 
wees  a  great  army  to  maintain,  without  an  enemy  to  fight,  there  may  arise  an  enth 
siasm  that  seems  to  be  little  foreseen.    At  present  there  is  no  more  prospect  of  seeing 
a  French  army  here,  than  there  is  in  Heaven."  8 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  change  in  General  Hamil- 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  610—  note.         a  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  705. 
1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  613. 


CHAP,  ix.]       HAMILTON'S  SUDDEN  CHANGE  OF  VIEWS.  433 

ton's  feelings  in  respect  to  a  war  with  France  since  1797 
Daring  the  recent  excitement  on  this  subject,  he  was  foremost  in 
advocating  extensive  preparations  for  war.  He  appears  to 
have  approved  all  the  measures  in  that  direction  during  the 
Congressional  session  of  1797-98.  His  hand  now  clutched  the 
baton  of  command.  He  ranked  next  to  Washington,  and  all 
understood  the  latter  had  accepted  the  position  of  Cotnmander- 
in-Cliief  only  for  an  exigency,  and  would  be  likely  soon  to 
retire. 

General  Washington  did  not  anticipate  an  "  invasion." 
Mr.  Adams  had  no  expectation  of  a  war.  The  Cabinet  were 
apprised  of  the  French  overtures  through  our  Minister  at  the 
Hague,  and  three  of  the  secretaries  had  no  secrets  with  Hamil 
ton.  They  communicated  with  him  quite  as  freely  as  with  the 
President,  and  far  more  confidentially.  After  reading  Picker 
ing's,  Wolcott's  and  McHenry's  letters  to  him  throughout  the 
year,  it  would  be  absurd  to  conjecture  that  any  Cabinet  secrets 
or  intelligence  were  withheld  from  him  ;  and  the  "military  con 
clave  "  at  Philadelphia  had  afforded"  every  facility  for  orally 
communicating  them.  King  wrote  him  from  London,  Septem 
ber  23d,  "  You  will  have  no  war."  J 

With  all  this  information,  and  with  more  of  the  same  tenor 
constantly  accumulating,  we  have  seen  that  Hamilton  subse 
quently  bitterly  reproached  the  President  for  leaving  open  a 
loop-hole  for  accommodation  with  France  in  his  speech  to  the 
succeeding  Congress.  We  shall  find  him  urging  on  that  Con 
gress  vastly  more  extensive  warlike  preparations  than  any  yet 
made.  We  shall  find  the  ghost  of  a  French  invasion  raised  to 
serve  as  an  excuse  and  cover  for  these  preparations — but  confi 
dential  associates  apprised  of  an  utterly  different  and  most 
stupendous  design.  We  shall  find  a  determined — literally,  a 
dogged — effort  on  the  part  of  Hamilton  and  his  followers,  in  the 
Cabinet  and  in  Congress,  to  prevent  the  reopening  of  negotia 
tions  with  France.  We  shall  find  this  faction  filled  with  morti 
fication  and  rage  when  that  negotiation  was  reopened,  which, 
with  so  little  difficulty  or  delay,  led  to  an  honorable  and  advan 
tageous  pacification.  Whence  this  almost  incredible  change  in 
Hamilton's  views  from  those  entertained  in  1797  ?  The  answer 


1  For  the  letter  entire,  see  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  359. 
VOL.  IT. — 28 


434:  THE  MIKANDA  SCHEME.  [CHAP.  IX. 

to  this  question  involves  facts  which  cannot  be  passed  over  in 
the  most  cursory  explanation  of  the  political  history  of  this 
eventful  period. 

We  must  first  introduce  a  remarkable  man.  Don  Francisco 
de  Miranda  was  born  in  Caracas,  of  which  his  grandfather  was 
governor.  His  tastes  were  literary,  and  he  received  fine  educa 
tional  advantages;  but  at  seventeen  he  repaired  to  Spain,  and 
obtained  a  captain's  commission  in  its  army.  He  was  in  the 
portion  of  the  army  destined  to  act  with  the  French  who  were 
sent  to  North  America  to  aid  the  British  colonies  in  their  war 
of  independence.  Miranda,  we  believe,  had  no  part  in  that 
struggle,  but  he  imbibed  ideas  from  the  French  officers  and  from 
the  occasion  which  colored  the  whole  history  of  his  future  life. 
Thenceforth  the  object  of  his  life  was  the  emancipation  of  his 
native  land  from  the  thralldom  of  Spain. 

At  the  close  of  the  American  War  he  visited  the  United 
States,  and  went  from  thence  to  England.  He  traversed 
Central  and  Southern  Europe — a  good  deal  of  it,  it  is  said,  on  foot 
— and  then  repaired  to  Russia.  The  Empress  treated  him  with 
uncommon  distinction  and  kindness,  promised  to  aid  in  the 
execution  of  his  plans,  and  invited  him  to  draw  on  her  treasury 
for  his  personal  support.1 

He  returned  through  France  and  reached  England  in  the  be 
ginning  of  1790.  The  latter  was  then  engaged  in  the  dispute  with 
Spain  in  regard  to  the  affair  of  Nootka  Sound.  Miranda  opened 
his  designs  against  the  Spanish  power  in  South  America  to  Mr. 
Pitt,  who  received  them  cordially,  and  "  it  was  resolved  if  Spain 
did  not  prevent  hostilities  by  submission,  to  carry  the  plan  into 
immediate  execution."  a  When  the  affair  between  the  govern 
ments  was  adjusted,  the  project  was  suspended,  but  the  Minister 
assured  Miranda  that  it  would  not  be  lost  sight  of  by  himself  or 
any  of  his  successors. 

The  latter  then  went  to  France,  and  soon  became  engaged 
in  its  Revolution.  He  rose  to  the  rank  of  a  major-general,  was 
next  in  command  to  Dumouriez  in  Champagne  and  Belgium, 
and,  when  the  latter  entered  Holland,  was  directed  to  besiege 
Maestricht.  He  was  unsupported,  and  failed.  He  commanded 
the  left  wing  in  the  battle  of  Neerwinden,  and  Dumouriez,  very 

1  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xiii.  p.  287.  8  Ibid.  p.  285. 


CHAP.  IX.]  THE   MIRANDA    SCHEME.  435 

unjustly  it  is  believed,  imputed  to  him  the  loss  of  the  day.  Hie 
South  American  designs  were  known  to  and  received  the  warn: 
approbation  of  the  Girondist  leaders.1 

He  declared  against  the  Jacobins,  and  was  soon  summoned 
before  the  revolutionary  tribunal.  He  escaped  conviction,  and 
on  the  fall  of  Robespierre  escaped  confinement.  He  was  subse 
quently  offered  the  command  of  an  army,  but  replied,  u  he  had 
fought,  for  liberty,  it  was  not  his  purpose  to  fight  for  conquest." 
This  was  in  1T95.3 

Miranda,  not  long  after,  was  met  at  Paris  by  certain  repre 
sentatives  from  Mexico,  and  the  South  American  provinces,  to 
concert  on  a  plan  for  securing  their  common  independence  from 
Spain.  They  drew  up  an  instrument,  and  Miranda  was  directed 
to  present  it  to  the  British  Government.  It  was  dated  Decem 
ber  22,  1797,  and  contained  among  others  the  following  pro 
posals  :  the  aid  of  Great  Britain  was  to  be  asked,  and  South 
America  was  to  pay  thirty  millions  sterling  for  its  aid  ;  the 
fourth  article  proposed  a  permanent  defensive  alliance  between 
England,  the  United  States,  and  South  America;3  the  sixth 

1  Brissot  pays  him  the  following  high-colored  tribute  in  a  letter  to  Dumouriez,  datec 
Paris.  November  28th,  1792  : 

"  L'Espagne  se  murit  pour  la  liberte;  son  Gouvernement  reprend  ses  pre"paratifs ;  f. 
faut  done  faire  ses  preparatifs  pour  re"ussir ;  ou  plutot  pour  y  naturaliser  la  liberte.  1" 
faut  faire  cette  revolution  et  dans  1'Bspagne  Europeenne  et  dans  1'Espagne  Ame'ricaine. 
Tout  doit  coincider.  Le  sort  de  cette  derniere  revolution  depend  d'un  homme  ;  vous  le 
connaissez,  vous  1'estimez ;  c'est  Miranda.  Dernierement  les  ministres  chercherent  par 
qui  ils  remplaceraieut  Desparbes  a  St.  Domingue — un  trait  de  lumiere  m'a  frappe  ; 
j'ai  dit,  nommez  Miranda — Miranda  d'abord  aura  bientot  appaise  les  miserables  querellen 
des  colonies ;  il  aura  bientot  mis  a  la  raison  ces  blancs  si  turbulents,  et  il  deviendra 
1'idole  des  gens  de  couleur.  Mais  ensuite  avec  quelle  facilite  ne  pourra-t-il  pas  faire 
soulever,  soit  les  lies  Espagnoles,  soit  le  continent  Americain  qu'ils  possedent?  A  la 
tete  de  plus  de  12,000  hommes  de  troupes  de  ligne  qui  sont  maintenant  a  St.  Domingue. 
de  10,000  a  15,000  braves  Mulatres  que  lui  fourniront  nos  colonies,  avec  quelle  facilite"  ne 
pourra-t-il  pas  envahir  les  possessions  Espagnoles  ?  Ayaat  d'ailleurs  une  flotte  a  ses 
ordres,  et  lorsque  les  Espagnols  n'ont  rien  a  lui  opposer.  Le  nom  de  Miranda  lui 
vaudra  une  armee ;  et  ses  talens,  son  courage,  son  genie,  tout  nous  repond  du  succes. 

Les  ministres  sont  tous  d'accord  sur  ce  choix,  mais  ils  craignent  que  vous? 

ne  refusiez  de  ce\ler  Miranda,  d'autant  plus  que  vous  1'avez  choisi  pour  remplacer 
Labourdonnaye.  J'ai  promis  ce  matin  a  Monge  que  je  vous  e"crirais,  et  il  m'a  donne  sa 
parole  qu'il  nommerait  Miranda  Gouverneur-General  si  vous  consentiez  a  le  laisser  partir. 
Hatez  vous  done  d'cnvoyer  votre  consentement.  Vous  ajouterai-je  que  notre  excellent 
ami  Gensonne  est  du  meme  avis — il  vous  en  e"crira  demain,  Claviere  et  Petion  sont 
enchantes  de  cette  ide"e." 

2  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xiii.  p.  289. 

8  This  entire  article,  as  presenting  the  basis  and  objects  of  the  league,  is  too  curious 
not  to  be  presented  entire  : 

"  Une  alliance  defensive  forme'e  entre  1' Angleterre,  les  Etats  Unis  d'Ame'rique,  et 
1'Amerique  Meridionale,  est  tellement  recommandee  par  la  nature  des  choses,  par  la 
situation  ge"ographique  de  chacun  des  trois  pays,  par  les  produits,  1'industrie,  par  lea 
besoins,  les  moeurs,  et  le  caractere  de  ces  trois  nations,  qu'il  est  impossible  que  cette 
alliance  ne  soit  pas  de  longue  dur<5e ;  surtout  si  on  prend  soin  de  la  consolider  par 
1' analogic  dans  la  forme  politique  des  trois  Gouvernemeats,  c'est-a-dire  par  la  jouissance 
d'une  liberte"  civile,  sagement  entendue  ;  ou  pourrait  meme  dire  avec  confiance,  que 
c'est  le  seal  espoir  qui  reste  a  la  liberte",  audacieusement  outraged  par  les  maximes 
de'testablea  avouees  par  la  re"publique  Franchise.  C'est  le  seul  moyen  encore  de  fcrmer 


4:36  HAMILTON'S  COMPLICITY.  [CHAP.  ix. 

article  stipulated  the  opening  of  the  navigation  between  the 
Atlantic  and  Facitic  oceans,  by  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  and  by 
the  lake  of  Nicaragua,  and  the  guaranty  of  its  freedom  tc 
Great  Britain;  the  ninth  and  tenth  articles  provided  for  ceding 
to  the  United  States  all  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  for 
a  stipulation  by  the  latter  to  furnish  a  small  military  force  to 
aid  in  effecting  the  revolution  ;  the  eleventh  article  proposed  to 
resign  all  the  Spanish  islands  except  Cuba,  the  possession  of 
which  was  necessary,  as  the  Havana  commanded  the  passage 
from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.1 

Mr.  Pitt  welcomed  the  return  of  Miranda  to  England,  and 
in  January,  1798,  the  latter  had  an  interview  with  the  Minister, 
whom  he  found  ready  to  reembark  with  ardor  in  his  plans.  As 
it  was  anticipated  that  Spain  would  offer  no  effectual  resistance 
to  the  armies  of  France,  and  that  both  she  and  her  colonies 
would  consequently  henceforth  be  used  for  the  advantage  of 
France,  England  considered  it  expedient  to  anticipate  the  latter 
power  in  securing  these  advantages  by  despoiling  her  own  ally. 

Either  Miranda  opened  his  projects  directly,  or  through 
Mr.  King,  to  Alexander  Hamilton,  about  the  same  time  he  did 
to  Mr.  Pitt;  or  else  the  transmission  of  intelligence  between 
them  across  the  ocean  was  uncommonly  rapid,  for  Miranda 
wrote  to  Hamilton,  April  6th,  1798  : 

"  Celle-ci  vous  sera  remise  mon  cher  et  respectable  ami,  par  mon  compatriote 
j)on  ***  *****,  charge  des  depeches  de  la  plus  haute  importance  pour  le  President 
des  Etats  Unis ;  il  vous  dira  confidentiellernent  ce  que  vous  voudrez  apprendre  stir  ce 
sujet,  II  parait  que  le  moment  de  notre  emancipation  approche  ; — et  quo  Teta- 
blissement  de  la  liberte  sur  tout  le  continent  du  nouveau  monde  nous  est  connY-  pat 
la  Providence.  Le  seul  danger  que  je  prevois  c'est  1'introduction  des  principes 
Francais  qui  empoisonneraient  la  liberte  dans  sou  berceau,  et  finiraient  par  de- 
truire  bientot  la  votre."  2 

Hamilton  wrote  to  King,  August  22d,  1798  : 

"  I  have  received  several  letters  from  General  Miranda.  I  have  \vritten  an  answer 
to  some  of  them,  which  I  send  you  to  deliver  or  not,  according  to  your  estimate  of 
what  is  passing  in  the  scene  where  you  are.  Should  you  deem  it  expedient  to  sup- 

une  balance  de  pouvoir  capable  de  contenir  1'ambition  destructive  et  devastation  da 
systeme  Francais." 

1  For  a  synopsis  of  the  articles  (and  fourth  entire),  see  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xiii. 
p.  290.  et  seq. 

8  This  letter  is  not  published  in  the  Works  of  Hamilton.  The  extract  we  have  given 
will  be  found  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xiii.  p.  291,  published  more  than  forty  year* 
before  the  answer,  which  we  shaU  give,  appeared  in  print. 


CHAP.  IX.]  HIS    COKKESPONDENCE   WITH   MIRANDA.  437 

press  my  letter,  you  may  do  it,  and  say  as  much  as  you  think  fit  on  my  part  in  the 
nature  of  a  communication  through  you. 

With  regard  to  the  enterprise  in. question,  I  wish  it  much  to  be  undertaken,  but  I 
should  be  glad  that  the  principal  agency  was  in  the  United  States,  they  to  furnish  the 
whole  land-force  if  necessary.  The  command  in  this  case  would  very  naturally  fall 
upon  me  ;  and  I  hope  I  should  disappoint  no  favorable  anticipations.  The  indepen 
dency  of  the  separate  territory  under  a  moderate  government,  with  the  joint  guaran 
ty  of  the  cooperating  powers,  stipulating  equal  privileges  in  commerce,  would  be 
the  sum  of  the  results  to  be  accomplished 

Are  we  yet  ready  for  this  undertaking  ?  Not  quite.  But  we  ripen  fast,  and  it 
may,  I  think,  be  rapidly  brought  to  maturity,  if  an  efficient  negotiation  for  the 
purpose  is  at  once  set  on  foot  on  this  ground.  Great  Britain  cannot  alone  insure  the 
accomplishment  of  the  object.  I  have  some  time  since  advised  certain  preliminary 
steps  to  prepare  the  way  consistently  with  national  character  and  justice.  I  was  told 
they  would  be  pursued,  but  I  am  not  informed  whether  they  have  been  or  not." : 

The  inclosed  letter  to  Miranda  was  as  follows  : 

NEW  YORK,  August  22d,  1798. 
SIR: 

I  have  lately  received  by  duplicates  your  letter  of  the  sixth  of  April,  with 
the  postscript  of  the  9th  of  June.  The  gentleman  you  mention  in  it  has  not  made 
his  appearance  to  me,  nor  do  1  know  of  his  arrival  in  this  country ;  so  that  I  can 
only  divine  the  object  from  the  limits  in  your  letter. 

The  sentiments  I  entertain  with  regard  to  that  object  have  been  long  since  in 
your  knowledge,  but  I  could  personally  have  no  participation  in  it,  unless  patronized 
by  the  Government  of  this  country.  It  was  my  wish  that  matters  had  been  ripened 
for  a  cooperation  in  the  course  of  this  fall,  on  the  part  of  this  country.  But  this 
can  now  scarcely  be  the  case.  The  winter,  however,  may  mature  the  project,  and 
an  effectual  cooperation  by  the  United  States  may  take  place.  In  this  case,  I  shall 
be  happy,  in  my  official  station,  to  be  an  instrument  in  so  good  a  work. 

The  plan,  in  my  opinion,  ought  to  be — a  fleet  of  Great  Britain,  an  army  of  the 
United  States,  a  Government  for  the  liberated  territory  agreeable  to  both  the  ^ope 
rators,  about  which  there  will  be  no  difficulty.  To  arrange  the  plan,  a  competent 
authority  from  Great  Britain  to  some  person  here,  is  the  best  expedient.  Your  pre 
sence  here  will,  in  that  case,  be  extremely  essential. 

We  are  raising  an  army  of  about  twelve  thousand  men.  General  Washington 
has  resumed  his  station  at  the  head  of  our  armies.  I  am  appointed  second  in  com 
mand. 

With  esteem  and  regard, 

I  remain,  dear  sir,  etc., 

ALEXANDER  HAMILTON.* 

As  late  as  tlie  llth  of  May,  1797,  we  find  Hamilton  insisting 
on  pacific  measures  towards  France,  and  proposing,  in  order  to 
secure  the  desired  result,  not  only  to  join  Jefferson  in  a  commis 
sion  to  the  Directory,  but  to  confer  on  him  a  separate  commission 
as  "  envoy  or  ambassador  extraordinary  for  representation." 

i  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  347  a  Ibid.  p.  348.  8  Ibid.  p.  247. 


i38  HAMILTON'S  CHANGE  EXPLAINED.  [CHAP.  ix. 

And  for  some  preceding  period  this  wise  and  patriotic  purpose 
had  been  the  theme  of  his  repeated  and  pressing  letters  to  hi? 
followers  in  the  President's  Cabinet.  His  published  correspon 
dence  towards  the  close  of  1797  is  very  meagre,  and  we  find 
nothing  further  on  the  subject. 

The  first  dispatches  from  the  American  envoys  in  France, 
communicating  supposed  new  unfriendly  acts  and  purposes  of 
that  power,  reached  the  American  Government  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1798,  and  their  tenor  was  the  next  day  communicated 
to  Congress.  General  Marshall  left  Paris  on  the  12th  of  April, 
1798,  and  France  on  the  16th  of  the  same  month.  The  precise 
date  of  Pinckney's  departure  is  not  before  us,  but  his  dismissal 
was  of  the  same  period.  Thus,  before  a  knowledge  of  the  results 
of  a  mission  which  Hamilton  had  so  urgently  recommended  to 
secure  a  pacification  with  France,  was  received  in  the  United 
States,  he  was,  as  Miranda's  first-quoted  letter  to  him  shows,  in 
correspondence,  and  supposed  fully  acquiescing  correspondence, 
with  men  who  were  maturing  a  great  scheme  for  an  alliance 
in  which  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  the  principal  party  was  to 
diminish  advantages  now  possessed  by  France,  and  obtain  most, 
momentous  future  ones  over  her — and  where  General  Hamilton 
knew  that  the  participation  of  the  United  States  must  lead  to  a 
severe  war  with  France.  And  we  soon  shall  have  abundant 
evidence  that  he  desired  that  result ! 

No  one  can  suppose  that  between  the  fourth  of  March,  when 
the  unfavorable  dispatches  were  received  from  France,  and  the 
6th  of  the  following  April,  there  was  any  chance  for  those 
intercommunications  between  Miranda  and  flamilron,  to  origi 
nate  and  progress  to  a  point  where  the  former  could  have  felt  it 
proper  to  address  the  latter  as  a  confederate,  and  send  a  confi 
dential  messenger  to  him  to  make  further  arrangements.  Had 
Hamilton  been  in  Philadelphia  when  the  dispatches  arrived — 
had  he  instantly  been  made  acquainted  with  their  contents  (those 
in  cipher  arid  all) — had  he  previously  received  proposals  from 
Miranda,  and  then  first  determined  to  accept  them  1 — had  he 
immediately  expressed  that  acceptance — had  he  found  a  vessel 
ready  to  take  his  letter  as  soon  as  he  could  write  and  seal  it — 
had  the  vessel  made  the  best  dispatch  to  England — had  Miranda 
been  at  the  wharf  to  receive  it — had  he  immediately  prepared 

1  And  this  would  be  the  most  favorable  possible  construction  for  him. 


CHAP,  ix.]  HAMILTON'S  CHANGE  EXPLAINED.  433 

his  answer  and  named  his  emissary,  there  might  have  been 
a  little  more  than  time,  as  vessels  then  sailed,  to  accomplish  all 
these  objects.  But  there  is  no  reason  whatever  for  supposing 
any  such  hot  haste  was  used,  or  that  any  such  concatenation  of 
circumstances  favored  rapid  correspondence.  There  are  no 
signs  of  Hurry  in  the  extract  from  Miranda's  letter.  It  sounds 
not  as  if  written  under  any  pressure,  or  by  a  man  who  had  been 
relieved  from  any  doubts  by  a  communication  just  placed  in  his 
hands.1 

There  was  nothing,  moreover,  in  the  dispatches  received  from 
France  on  the  4th  of  March,  suddenly  and  utterly  to  change  the 
views  of  a  grave  statesman,  deeply  anxious  for  peace.  Our  two 
envoys  were  not  ordered  out  of  France  when  Miranda's  letter 
was  written.  In  a  word,  not  a  reasonable  doubt  can  exist  in 
any  man's  mind  that,  before  General  Hamilton  had  heard  a 
word  concerning  the  reception  of  our  envoys,  Miranda  had 
received  those  assurances  from  him  directly,  or  through  Mr. 
King,  which  (in  the  language  of  the  Edinburgh  Review)  led  him 
to  think  himself  "  authorized  to  write  "  such  a  letter  as  that  of 
April  6th.  And  it  will  presently  appear  from  letters  which  we 
shall  quote,  written  by  King  to  Pickering,  that  this  whole 
scheme  of  a  triple  alliance  was  on  foot,  and  had  the  lively  svm- 
pathies  of  the  former,  two  or  three  months  before  Miranda's  first 
above-quoted  letter  to  Hamilton.  Is  it  probable  that  Pickering 
was  informed  of  the  affair  earlier  than  Hamilton  ?  Is  it  proba 
ble  that  King  warmly  embarked  in  it  without  first  understand 
ing  the  feelings  of  the  man  whom  he  principally  consults  and 
places  foremost  in  everything  connected  with  it? 

Whether  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  a  connection  existed  between 
Hamilton's  radical  change  of  views  in  regard  to  a  pacification 
with  France,  under  the  circumstances  stated,  and  his  adhesion 

1  We  have  given  all  of  the  extract  as  we  find  it  in  the  Edinburgh  Review.  The 
article  in  the  Review  was  evidently  prepared  by  a  person  with  original  papers  before 
him.  He  clearly  was  an  admirer  of  Miranda,  and  wrote  in  a  friendly  spirit  to  Hamilton. 
He  intioduced  the  extract  given  as  follows:  "The  outline  of  the  proceedings  was  fully 
agreed  upon ;  and  so  far  had  the  preparations  advanced  that  General  Miranda,  in  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Hamilton,  the  much  lamented  legislator  of  the  United  States,  dated  6th  of  April, 
1798,  thought  himself  authorized  to  write  in  the  following  terms."  Here  the  writer  was 
showing  precisely  what  we  are  investigating — the  stage  or  progress  of  the  negotiations 
between  Miranda  and  Hamilton,  in  April,  1798.  If,  therefore,  any  part  of  Miranda's 
letter  had  thrown  more  light  on  this  special  fact,  by  alluding  to  a  letter  of  adhesion 
immediately  before  received  (an  intimation  we  should  expect  were  such  the  fact),  or  by 
any  other  allusion  or  expression  indicating  that  haste  was  employed,  the  writer  of  the 
Review  article  made  an  improper,  if  not  a  dishonest  suppression — at  variance  with  the 
entire  spirit  of  his  publication— a  hypothesis  that  cannot  be  reasonably  entertained. 


440  ENGLAND   ACCEPTS    HAMILTON'S    PKOPOSALS.      [CHAP.    IX 

to  the  "  Miranda  scheme,"  every  one  must  form  his  own  conclu 
sion. 

There  appears  to  be  no  question  that  Hamilton's  three  follow 
ers  in  the  President's  Cabinet  were  fully  apprised  of  that 
scheme.1  Whether  this  had  anything  to  do  with  their  anxiety 
to  place  him  second  in  command  in  the  army,  and  where  he 
would  soon,  in  all  probability,  succeed  to  the  first  place,  we  also 
leave  every  one  to  judge. 

One  thing  is  certain,  Hamilton  wrote  Miranda  that  he  should 
be  happy,  uin  his  official  station,"  to  be  an  "instrument  in  so 
good  a  work."  And  to  King  he  proposed  that  the  command  of 
the  land  forces  be  devolved  on  himself. 

On  the  20th  of  October  King  answered  Hamilton  : 

*'  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  22d  August,  with  the  inclosure  [letter  to 
Miranda]  that  has  been  delivered  as  directed.  On  that  subject  things  are  here  as 
we  could  desire.  There  will  be  precisely  such  a  cooperation  as  we  wish  the  moment 
we  are  ready.  The  Secretary  of  State  will  show  you  my  communication  on  this 
subject.  Though  I  have  not  a  word  from  him  respecting  it,  your  outline  corresponds 
with  what  had  been  suggested  by  me,  and  approved  by  this  Government." a 

Thus  it  appears  that  a  definite  understanding  was  reached 
between  the  British  Cabinet  and  the  American  Minister  that 
the  United  States  should  furnish  the  land  forces  for  a  military 
expedition  to  revolutionize  Mexico  and  South  America,  and  that 
Hamilton  should  be  the  commander  of  those  land  forces ! 

We  are  not  (much  to  our  regret)  able  to  furnish  King's  letter 
to  the  Secretary  of  State,  referred  to  in  the  letter  to  Hamilton 
just  quoted  ;  but  we  find  a  couple  of  earlier  ones.  He  wrote 
Pickering,  February  26th,  1798,  that  two  points  had  been  settled 
by  the  British  Cabinet  within  a  fortnight:  that  if  Spain  could 
prevent  the  overthrow  of  her  government  by  France,  England 
would  enter  into  no  scheme  to  deprive  her  of  her  colonies;  but 
if  it  was  otherwise,  England  "  would  immediately  commence  the 
execution  of  a  plan,  long  since  digested  and  prepared,  for  the 
complete  independence  of  South  America ;"  would  propose  to 
the  United  States  to  cooperate  in  its  execution,  and  that 

1  See  Rufus  King  to  Pickering,  Feb.  26th  and  April  6th,  1798  (Adams's  Works,  vol. 
viii.  p.  585,  586),  and  several  contemporaneous  letters  of  Pickering  in  Hamilton's 
Works.  See  Wolcott  to  Trumbull,  July  16,  1799.  (Gibbs's  Administrations,  etc.  vol.  ii. 
p.  246.)  See  McHenry  to  Hamilton,  June  27th,  179£.  (Hamilton's  Wcrks,  vol.  v. 
p.  283.) 

*  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  368.  „    . 


CHAP.  IX.]  MIRANDA   TO    THE   PRESIDENT.  441 

Miranda  would  be  detained  there,  on  one  pretence  or  another, 
until  events  should  decide  the  conduct  of  England.  He  said, 
"  the  revolution  of  Spain  was  decreed,"  and  that  "  the  President 
might  expect,  therefore,  the  overture  of  England."  ' 

In  another  letter  to  the  same  on  April  6th,  Mr.  King  declared 
that  "  South  America  must  soon  pass  through  a  revolution  " — 
that  an  English  "  expedition  had  been  prepared,  and  the  corres 
pondent  arrangements  had  been  ordered  for  the  purpose  of 
beginning  the  revolution  of  South  America" — that  England 
would  in  this  event  open  herself  to  and  ask  the  cooperation  of 
the  United  States.  He  again  more  distinctly  intimates  that 
Miranda  is  kept  "  ignorant  of  the  provisional  decisions  "  of  the 
British  Cabinet. 

In  a  letter  from  Miranda  to  President  Adams,  we  get  several 
valuable  hints ;  and  we  learn  what  he  supposed  to  be  the  plan 
of  government  agreed  on  by  the  contracting  parties  for  South 
America.  We  can  make  room  only  for  the  following  extracts  : 

A  LONDRES,  co  24  Mars,  1798. 
MONSIEUR  LE  PRESIDENT: 

C'est  au  nom  des  colonies  Hispano-Americaines,  que  j'ai  1'honneur  d'en- 
voyer  a  votre  Excellence  les  propositions  ci-jointes.  Elles  ont  6te  presentees  egale- 
ment  aux  ministres  de  sa  Majeste  Britannique,  qui  les  ont  re$u  tres  favorablement,  en 
temoignant  beaucoup  de  satisfaction  d'avoir  a  agir  dans  un  cas  pareil  avec  les  Etats 
Unis  de  1'Amerique.  Et  il  me  semble  que  le  delai  que  j'eprouve  (affligeant  reelle- 
rnent,  dans  un  moment  aussi  pressant)  resulte  precisement  de  1'attente  ou  le  gou 
vernement  Anglais  parait  etre,  de  voir  1'Amerique  du  Nord  decidee  u  rompre  defi- 
nitivement  avec  la  France;  par  le  desir  qu'elle  a  de  faire  cause  commune,  et  de 
cobp^rer  ensemble  al'independance  absolue  du  continent  entier  du  Nouveau-Monde. 
*  *  *  *  *  * -  *•  * 

Enfin  j'espere  que  le  petit  secours  dont  nous  avons  besoin  pour  commencer, 
et  qui  se  reduit  a  six  ou  huit  vaisseaux  de  ligne,  et  quatre  ou  cinq  mille  homines 
des  troupes,  nous  le  trouverons  facilement  tant  en  Angleterre  que  dans  1'Amerique ; 
.  .  .  mes  souhaits  seraient  que  la  marine  fut  Anglaise,  et  les  troupes  de  terre 
Americaines.  Veuille  la  Providence  que  les  Etats-Unis  fassent  pour  ses  compatri- 
otes  du  sud  en  1798,  ce  que  le  roi  de  France  fit  pour  eux  en  1788. 

Je  me  felicite  toujours  de  voir  a  la  tete  du  pouvoir  executif  Americain  cet 
homme  distingue,  qui  par  son  courage  rendit  son  pays  independant,  et  qui  par  sa 
sagesse  lui  donna  apres  un  gouvernement  bien  balance,  en  sauvant  ainsi  la  libert<§. 
Nous  profiterons  sans  doute  de  vos  savantes  lecons,  ct  je  me  rejouis  de  vous  appren- 
dre  d'avance  que  la  forme  de  gouvernement  projete  est  aiixte.  avec  un  chef  heredi- 
taire  du  pouvoir  executif  sous  le  nous  d'Ynca.  et,  ce  que  j'aune  d'avantage,  prig 
dans  la  meme  famille  ;  un  Senat  compose  de  families  nobles,  mais  non  hereditaire ; 
et  une  Chambre  des  communes  elue  parmi  tous  les  autres  citoyens  qui  auront  une 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  686. 


SCOPE  OF  THE  PLAN — FEENCH  WAR  A  PRETEXT.       [CHAP.    IX, 

propriete  competente.  Telle  est  1'esquisse  de  la  forme  de  gouvernement  qui  parait 
reunir  la  majorite  des  suffrages  dans  le  continent  Hispano-Americain,  et  qui  empe- 
chera  sans  doute  les  consequences  fatales  du  systeme  Franco-republicain,  que  Mon 
tesquieu  appelle  la  liberte  extreme. 

On  the  19th  of  October,  Miranda  again  wrote  to  Hamilton  : 

"Vos  souhaits  sont  en  quelque  sorte  remplis,  puisque  on  est  convenu  ici  que, 
d?un  cote,  on  n'employera  point  aux  operations  terrestres  des  troupes  Anglaises,  vu 
que  les  forces  auxiliares  de  terre  devront  etre  uniquement  Americaines,  tandis  que 
de  1'autre,  la  marine  sera  purement  Anglaise.  Tout  est  applani,  et  on  attend  seule- 
ment  lejiat  de  votre  illustre  President  pour  partir  connne  1'eclair."  1 

We  have  now  the  outlines  of  the  project  complete,  and  the 
fact  that  towards  the  close  of  1798  it  waited  for  nothing  but  the 
action  of  the  United  States  Executive  to  go  into  immediate  pro 
cess  of  execution.  Hamilton,  we  have  seen,  wrote  King  that 
we  were  u  not  quite  "  ready,  but  that  "  we  ripened  fast." 

Not  only  was  the  war  to  embrace  all  the  possessions  of  Spain 
in  South  America  and  the  West  Indies,  but  also  it  was  fully  in 
the  contemplation  of  Hamilton  and  his  followers,  to  make  it  an 
active  war — one  of  invasion  even,  in  the  West  Indies — on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  against  France.  King  constantly 
urges  this  policy  on  Hamilton  ;  openly  laments  at  every  pros 
pect  of  pacification  ; a  and  darkly  hints  that  if  any  negotiation  is 
recommenced,  it  should  be  confided  to  hands  "  above  all  suspi 
cion" — that  is,  all  suspicion  of  adverse  views.8  Hamilton  avowed 
these  views  to  his  instruments  in  the  succeeding  Congress,  and 
his  followers  there,  knowing  his  design,  did  their  best  to  make 
the  preparations  for  it  he  demanded.4 

In  truth,  a  war  against  France  was  the  only  pretext  which 
could  be  found  for  the  United  States  to  attack  the  possessions, 
or  forcibly  liberate  the  colonies  of  Spain,  with  whom  we  were 
at  that  period  at  perfect  peace,  and  writh  whom  we  had  not  even 
an  important  pending  diplomatic  controversy.  But  she  was  in 
a  state  of  dependence  on,  or  subserviency  to,  France,  and  if  we 
should  engage  in  a  war  with  France,  we  should  have  the  same 
excuse  that  England  made  for  depriving  Spain  of  her  colonies — 

i  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xiii.  p.  291.     Not  in  Hamilton's  Works. 

»  See  King  to  Hamilton,  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  314,  357,  359,  368,  389, 
411,  etc. 

8  Ib.  p.  359. 

4  We  defer  explicit  proofs  of  both  of  these  assertions  only  until  our  narrative  brings 
us  to  the  period  mentioned. 


.  IX.]  BEPUBLICAN    APPREHENSIONS    IN    1798. 

that  the  resources  of  the  latter  were  at  the  disposal  of  our  enemy. 
And  the  pretext  actually  cost  nothing  additional  ;  for  if  we  at 
tacked  the  Spanish  possessions  without  it,  France  was  certain  to 
make  common  cause  with  them  against  any  coalition  in  which 
England  was  a  sharer,  especially  where  she  received  the  prin 
cipal  share  of  the  advantages  resulting  to  the  external  parties. 

Before  entering  upon  a  sketch  of  the  proceedings  of  the  third 
session  of  the  Fifth  Congress,  we  must  turn  aside  to  trace 
the  history  of  another?  affair  which  exercised  a  most  important 
influence  on  the  course  of  national  events. 

The  Republicans  had  borne  many  measures  which  they  be 
lieved  unconstitutional  and  oppressive,  relying  on  time,  reflec 
tion,  and  the  ballot-box,  to  bring  back  things  ultimately  to  their 
proper  channel.  The  arbitrary  Alien  Laws  were  regarded  by 
them  with  abhorrence.  The  Sedition  Law,  not  only  theoretically 
but  practically  destroying  the  liberty  of  speech,  and  of  the  press 
in  political  affairs,  was  viewed  as  a  still  more  dangerous  stride 
towards  the  overthrow  of  popular  government.  Every  convic 
tion  which  took  place  under  it,  sent  a  fresh  thrill  of  apprehension 
and  detestation  to  the  bosoms  of  the  popular  masses  ;  and  they 
felt  that  if  this  darins;  encroachment  was  sustained,  the  die  was 

O  * 

cast  against  popular  liberty. 

The  Republicans  might  have  still  trusted  entirely  to  the 
ballot-box,  during  1798 — during  the  American  "  Reign  of  Ter 
ror,"  as  Randolph  named  it — but  for  a  circumstance  which  they 
regarded  as  far  more  serious  than  the  temporary  pressure  of  un 
constitutional  and  oppressive  laws.  That  circumstance  wras  the 
organization  and  officering  of  the  army  voted  by  the  last  Con 
gress.  If  the  Federalists  are  found  acknowledging  before  the 
close  of  the  year,  that  all  prospect  of  a  war  with  France  was  out 
of  the  question  (unless  we  voluntarily  forced  that  alternative 
on  her),  the  Republicans  had  believed  so  from  the  outset — or 
after  the  first  momentary  panic  produced  by  the  dispatches  of 
our  envoys  was  over.  They  believed  that  the  cry  of  a  French 
"  invasion  "  was  only  a  pretext  to  raise  and  place  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Government  an  army  of  regulars  which  could  be  employed 
to  execute  its  designs  at  home,  as  well  as  against  external 
foes. 

The  officering  of  the  army  deepened — nay,  gave  unalterable 
fixedness  to  this  foreboding  impression.  It  is  not  probable  thac 


BEPUBLICAN    SUSPICIONS    OF    HAMILTON.  [CHAP.    IX 

any  beyond  those  lunatics  to  be  found  in  every  party  in  periods 
of  high  excitement,  had  the  most  distant  idea  that  the  sword  of 
Washington  could  ever  be  employed  against  that  liberty  which 
it  had  been  the  most  signal  instrument  of  achieving,  and  placing 
on  its  present  constitutional  foundations.  But  all  knew  that  the 
physical  vigor  of  the  Lieutenant-General  had  been  sacrificed  for 
his  country — that  he  was  subject  to  sudden  and  severe  attacks 
of  disease — that  he  was  liable  at  any  moment  (as  was  soon  to  be 
mournfully  verified)  to  be  suddenly  cut  off.  All  felt  that  it  was 
impossible  that  he  had  acccepted  the  command  of  the  army  but 
for  an  exigency,  and  that  when  that  exigency  passed,  he  would 
resign. 

Next  him,  and  on  his  retirement  the  senior  in  command, 
was  the  man  to  whom  the  Republicans  attributed  a  larger  share 
than  to  any  other  person  of  the  origination  of  the  present  syste 
matic  effort  to  reduce  the  popular  features  in  our  government  to 
as  low  a  standard,  in  all  save  election,  as  they  then  held  in  Eng 
land  ;  and  they  also  expected  that  an  attack  on  the  elective  fea 
ture  would  promptly  follow  success  in  the  present  undertaking. 
The  public  did  not  know  that  Hamilton,  so  far  from  being  a 
mere  coadjutor  of  the  President,  was  the  prime  engineer — that 
John  Adams  had  always  been  doubtful  and  reluctant,  and  now, 
when  the  delirium  of  excitement  was  passing  away,  that  his  bet 
ter  sense  was  presenting  the  chalice  of  too  late  repentance1  to 
his  lips. 

Yet,  while  less  informed  and  burning  partisans,  equally 
dreaded  and  hated  Adams  and  Hamilton,  we  believe  those  who 
had  better  facilities  of  information,  and  particularly  those  who 
had  mixed  in  public  life,  continued  to  make  a  broad  distinction 
between  the  political  character  and  purposes  of  the  two  men, 
even  during  the  "  Reign  of  Terror,"  when  Adams  officially  stood 
responsible  for  the  obnoxious  legislation  of  his  party,  and  Ham 
ilton,  until  called  into  the  army,  was  but  a  private  citizen.  Jef 
ferson,  for  example,  it  subsequently  clearly  appears,  suspected 
that  Hamilton  was  preparing  for  his  "  crisis,"9  and  to  decide  it 
by  the  sword.  He  believed  Mr.  Adams  something  very  differ- 

1  We  are  authorized  by  no  express  declaration  of  Mr.  Adams  to  say  that  he  literally 
repented  the  passage  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  the  army  bills,  etc.     But  we  infer  it 
from  his  views  already  quoted,  from  his  subsequent  declarations,  and  more  still  from  his 
conduct.     His  life  and  writings,  as  a  whole,  in  our  judgment,  clearly  sustain  this  view 
And  we  need  not  say  that  we  regard  it  as  a  most  creditable  one  to  him. 

2  See  vol  i.  p.  580. 


CHAP.  IX.]  KEPUBLICAN    SUSPICIONS    OF   HAMILTON. 

ent  from  a  Republican,  and  at  this  moment  completely  infatuated 
by  bad  advisers,  and  by  the  hot  indiscretion  and  ungovernable 
temper  which  formed  a  part  of  his  character.  He  believed  him 
insanely  anxious  for  a  war  with  France.  But  he  suspected  him, 
we  think,  of  no  systematic  design  to  overthrow  the  constitution, 
or  to  call  in  force,  if  force  proved  necessary  to  effect  that  object. 

Most  of  the  Republicans  who  were  versed  in  public  affairs, 
made  the  same  distinction  between  the  men.  And  even  with 
the  most  ignorant,  there  was  something  in  the  frankness  and 
largeness  of  John  Adams's  nature,  and  much  in  his  history,  that 
not  only  told  common  instincts  that  he  was  not  a  plotter,  but 
carried  a  strong  appeal  to  the  latent  affections  and  magnanimity 
of  the  rudest  men.  There  never  was  an  hour  in  John  Adams's 
life  when  he  did  not  command  the  affections  of  the  masses  of  his 
own  party.  There  never  was  an  hour  when  had  he  stood  up  in 
his  bravery,  and  in  his  perfect  Americanism,  before  a  popular 
audience  of  his  opponents,  and  appealed  to  them  in  his  rugged, 
powerful  eloquence,  that  he  would  not  have  carried  the  personal 
sympathies  of  man}' — of  all  who  can  love  a  man  for  his  heart, 
if  they  disagree  with  his  head. 

It  was  otherwise,  wholly  otherwise,  with  Hamilton.  None 
had  so  devoted  a  coterie  of  sub-chiefs,  but  not  a  single  chord  of 
sympathy  united  the  popular  heart  to  him.  He  was  generally 
beaten  in  his  State,  and  generally  beaten  in  the  place  of  his 
residence.  No  popular  audience  ever  loved  to  listen  to  him. 
When  he  attempted  to  address  a  meeting  called  in  the  city  of 
his  residence,  to  express  the  public  sentiment  on  Jay's  treaty,  he 
was  stoned.  Nothing  but  a  very  commanding  Federal  majority 
t could  have  secured  his  election  to  any  popular  office  at  an  ad 
vanced  period  of  his  career.  He  was  careful  never  to  risk  such 
an  experiment — or  else  he  had  no  inclination  for  elective  office. 
He  was  not  merely  an  unpopular  man,  but  among  opponents  and 
even  among  lukewarm  partisans  of  his  own  side,  was  a  suspects  1 
and  dreaded  man.  Without  being  able  to  tell  why,  people  feared 
his  purposes.  He  could  take  no  step  which  did  not,  by  some  fata 
lity,  deepen  these  impressions,  and  he  never  was  more  unfortunate 
in  this  respect,  than  when  he  attempted  anything  for  popularity. 
There  are  a  class  of  men,  like  John  Hampden,  whom  the  people 
spontaneously  love.  There  are  a  class  of  men  infinitely  below 
the  moral  and  intellectual  rank  of  Hampden — stained,  it  may  be 


446  REPyBLICAN    SUSPICIONS    OF   THE   ARMY.          [CHAP.  IX, 

with  serious  faults — who  still  find  a  large  and  permanent  place 
in  the  popular  sympathy.  There  are  a  class  of  men  who,  almost 
independently  of  known  facts,  are  instinctively  feared.  The  good 
and  the  patriotic  are  often  temporarily  unpopular,  but  they  are 
rarely,  where  their  lives  are  before  the  public,  suspected  and 
dreaded.  Whether  Hamilton's  steady  unpopularity  was  based 
upon  a  pure  misconception  of  his  character — whether  that  pub 
lic  which  he  pronounced  a  "  deformed  and  blind  monster,"  mis 
took  a  Hampden  for  a  Strafford,  must  soon  be  decided,  so  far  as 
his  acts  throw  light  on  the  question  ;  for  the  sands  of  his  life 
were  now  counted,  and  were  swiftly  running  out. 

But,  whatever  the  justice  or  injustice  of  the  sentiment,  when 
the  Republicans  saw  this  man  placed  over  every  Revolutionary 
name  but  one  in  an  army  which  they  believed  had  no  outward 
foe  to  encounter — when  they  believed  that  he  must  very  soon 
(as  scon  as  the  idea  of  a  French  war  gave  place  to  one  of  em 
ploying  the  army  in  any  other  way)  succeed  to  the  chief  com 
mand — when  they  looked  through  the  list  of  officers  and  saw 
them  all  selected  from  one  side — they  believed  the  "  crisis  "  of 
the  Republic  had  come.  Mr.  Adams,  it  subsequently  appears, 
would  have  chosen  to  commission  some  general  officers  (or  at 
least  one)  from  the  Republican  side.  But  the  practical  exclu 
sion  was  so  rigorous,  that  Jefferson  used  afterwards  laughingly  to 
say,  that  when  he  came  to  the  Presidency,  he  found  but  one  of 
the  officers  of  the  army  who  had  supported  him.1 

1  We  have  mentioned  already  that  even  the  calm  and  good  first  President  was  per 
suaded  by  constant  and  artful  misrepresentations  to  believe  that  the  Republicans  could 
not  be  trusted  in  case  of  a  war  with  France.  He  wrote  the  Secretary  of  War,  July 
5,  1798 : 

"  Under  the  rose,  I  shall  candidly  declare,  that  I  do  not,  from  my  present  recollection 
of  them,  conceive  that  a  desirable  set  [of  officers]  could  be  formed  from  the  old  generals,- 
some  having  never  displayed  any  talents  for  enterprise,  and  others  having  shown  a  gene 
ral  opposition  to  the  Government,  or  predilection  to  French  measures,  be  their  present 
conduct  what  it  may.  Those,  who  will  come  up  with  a  flowing  tide,  will  descend  with 
the  ebb,  and  there  can  be  no  dependence  placed  upon  them  in  moments  of  diffi 
culty." — Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  xi.  p.  256. 

These  views  are  repeated  in  a  letter  to  the  same,  September  30,  1798. — See  76. 
p.  317. 

After  the  higher  commissions  were  filled,  he  wrote  the  same,  October  15th.  1798.  in 
respect  to  the  proper  "instructions  of  the  generals  "  for  "selecting  fit  characters"  for 
the  lower  offices.  After  saying  that  he  thought  the  first  preference  should  be  given  to 
officers  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  in  the  prime  of  life,  etc.,  he  added  : 

"Secondly,  if  such  are  not  to  be  found,  next  to  young  gentlemen  of  good  families, 
liberal  education,  and  high  sea^e  of  honor ;  and  thirdly,  in  neither  case  to  any  who  are 
known  enemies  to  their  own  Government;  for  they  will  as  certainly  attempt  to  create 
disturbances  in  the  military  as  they  have  done  in  the  civil  administration  of  their  coun 
try."—  76.  p.  324. 

These  views  are  repeated  in  a  confidential  letter  to  Brigadier-General  Davie.  of  the 
provisional  army,  in  which,  as  Commander-in-Chief,  General  Washington  advises  the 
former  in  regard  to  the  selection  of  subordinates. — See  Ib.  p.  336. 


CHAP.  IX.]       JEFFERSON  ON  A  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION.  447 

The  feelings  of  his  party  at  this  period  are  reflected  by  Jef 
ferson.  In  May,  1798,  he  had  been  shown  a  letter  written  by 
the  celebrated  Virginia  statesman,  John  Taylor  of  Caroline,  in 
which  the  latter  had  said,  "  that  it  was  not  unwise  now  to  esti 
mate  the  separate  mass  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  with  a 
view  to  their  separate  existence."  Jefferson  thus  wrote  Taylor 
from  Philadelphia,  June  1st,  on  that  text : 

"  In  every  free  and  deliberating  society,  there  must,  from  the  nature  of  man,  be 
opposite  parties,  and  violent  dissensions  and  discords ;  and  one  of  these,  for  the 
most  part,  must  prevail  over  the  other  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time.  Perhaps  this 
party  division  is  necessary  to  indirce  each  to  watch  and  delate  to  the  people  the 
proceedings  of  the  other.  But  if  on  a  temporary  superiority  of  the  one  party,  the 
other  is  to  resort  to  a  scission  of  the  Union,  no  federal  government  can  ever  exist. 
If  to  rid  ourselves  of  the  present  rule  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  we  break 
the  Union,  will  the  evil  stop  there  ?  Suppose  the  New  England  States  alone  cut  off, 
will  our  nature  be  changed  ?  Are  we  not  men  still  to  the  south  of  that,  and  with 
all  the  passions  of  men?  Immediately  we  shall  see  a  Pennsylvania  and  a  Virginia 
party  arise  in  the  residuary  confederacy,  and  the  public  mind  will  be  distracted  with 
the  same  party  spirit.  What  a  game,  too,  will  the  one  party  have  in  their  hands, 
by  eternally  threatening  the  other  that  unless  they  do  so  and  so.  they  will  join  their 
northern  neighbors.  If  we  reduce  our  Union  to  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  imme 
diately  the  conflict  will  be  established  between  the  representatives  of  these  two 
States,  and  they  will  end  by  breaking  into  their  simple  units.  Seeing,  therefore, 
that  an  association  of  men  who  will  not  quarrel  with  one  another  is  a  thing  which 
never  yet  existed,  from  the  greatest  confederacy  of  nations  down  to  a  town  meeting 
or  a  vestry ;  seeing  that  we  must  have  somebody  to  quarrel  with,  I  had  rather  keep 
our  New  England  associates  for  that  purpose,  than  to  see  our  bickerings  transferred 
to  others."  *  *  *  * 

*  *  *  "Better  keep  together  as  we  are,  haul  off  from  Europe  as  soon 
as  we  can,  and  from  all  attachments  to  any  portions  of  it;  and  if  they  show  their 
power  just  sufficiently  to  hoop  us  together,  it  will  be  the  happiest  situation  in  which 
we  can  exist.  If  the  game  runs  sometimes  against  us  at  home,  we  must  have 
patience  till  luck  turns,  and  then  we  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  winning  back  the 
principles  we  have  lost.  For  this  is  a  game  where  principles  are  the  stake. 
Better  luck,  therefore,  to  us  all,  and  health,  happiness,  and  friendly  salutations  to 
yourself." 

The  provisional  army  was  officered,  and  its  organization 
commenced.  Recruiting  stations  were  opened  throughout  the 
country.  Military  bodies  began  to  meet  the  eye.  Fifes, 
and  drums  sounded  throughout  the  land.  It  is  probable  the 
rattle  of  musketry  and  the  roar  of  artillery  began  to  break 
on  the  ear  as  they  were  disciplined  in  gun  practice  ! 

Jefferson,  on  the  26fh  of  September,  wrote  the  letter  we  have 
seen  to  Mr.  Rowan.  On  the  llth  of  October,  he  thus  addressed 


448  KENTUCKY   RESOLUTIONS    CONCOCTED.  [CHAP.    IX. 

Stephens  Thompson  Mason,  one  of  the  senators  in  Congress  from 
Virginia : 

"  The  XYZ  fever  has  considerably  abated  through  the  country,  as  I  am 
informed,  and  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  are  working  hard.  I  fancy  that  some  of 
the  State  legislatures  will  take  strong  ground  on  this  occasion.  For  my  own  part,  I 
consider  those  laws  as  merely  an  experiment  on  the  American  mind,  to  see  how  far 
it  will  bear  an  avowed  violation  of  the  Constitution.  If  this  goes  down,  we  shall 
immediately  see  attempted  another  act  of  Congress,  declaring  that  the  President 
shall  continue  in  office  during  life,  reserving  to  another  occasion  the  transfer  of  the 
succession  to  his  heirs,  and  the  establishment  of  the  Senate  for  life.  At  least, 
this  may  be  the  aim  of  the  Oliverians,  while  Monk  and  the  Cavaliers  (who  are  per 
haps  the  strongest)  may  be  playing  their  game  for  the  restoration  of  his  most 
gracious  majesty  George  the  Third.  That  these  things  are  in  contemplation,  I  have 
no  doubt;  nor  can  I  be  confident  of  their  failure,  after  the  dupery  of  which  our 
countrymen  have  shown  themselves  susceptible." 

This  letter  betrays  unwonted  excitement. 

Towards  the  close  of  October,  George  and  Wilson  C.  Nicholas 
being  at  Monticello,  discussed  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  plan  of 
the  leading  Republicans,  who  "  finding  themselves  of  no  use  "  in 
Congress,  "  brow-beaten  as  they  were  by  a  bold  and  overwhelm 
ing  majority,"  had  "  concluded  to  retire  from  that  field,  and 
take  a  stand  in  the  State  legislatures,"  against  their  opponents' 
"  enterprises  on  the  Constitution."  They  deliberated  on  engag 
ing  the  cooperation  of  Kentucky,  with  Virginia,  in  an  "  ener 
getic  protestation  against  the  constitutionality  of  those  laws,"  as 
the  "sympathy  between"  these  States  "  was  more  cordial  and 
more  intimately  confidential,  than  between  any  other  two  States 
of  Republican  policy." 

The  brothers  pressed  Mr.  Jefferson  strongly  "  to  sketch  reso 
lutions  for  that  purpose,"  which  George  Nicholas,  then  a  resi 
dent  of  Kentucky,  agreed  to  present  to  its  legislature.  Having 
obtained  their  "  solemn  assurance  "  that  it  should  not  be  known 
from  what  quarter  the  resolutions  came,  Jefferson  drafted  them. 
The  Nicholases  faithfully  kept  the  secret,  and  it  was  not  until 
1821,  that  Jefferson,  in  answer  to  a  direct  letter  of  inquiry  from 
a  son  of  George  Nicholas,  avowed  his  agency  in  the  transaction. 
It  is  from  this  letter  we  have  drawn  the  preceding  particulars.1 

The  resolutions  thus  prepared  were  substantially  those  which 
soon  became  famous  throughout  the  United  States  as  the  "Ken 
tucky  Resolutions."  Two  drafts  of  them,  the  original  and  a  fair 

>  December  11.  1821. 


CHAP.  IX.]  KENTUCKY    EESOLUTIONS    OF    1798.  449 

copy,  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  handwriting,  were  found  among  his 
papers,  and  a  copy  is  given  in  the  Congressional  edition  of  his 
Works.1  The  first  resolution  is  as  follows  : 

"1.  Resolved,  That  the  several  States  composing  the  United  States  of  America, 
are  not  united  on  the  principle  of  unlimited  submission  to  their  general  Government, 
but  that,  by  a  compact  under  the  style  and  title  of  a  Constitution  for  the  United 
States,  and  of  amendments  thereto,  they  constituted  a  general  Government  for 
special  purposes — delegated  to  that  Government  certain  definite  powers,  reserving, 
each  State  to  itself,  the  residuary  mass  of  right  to  their  own  self-government;  and 
that  whensoever  the  general  Government  assumes  undelegated  powers,  its  acts  are 
unauthoritative,  void,  and  of  no  force :  that  to  this  compact  each  State  acceded  as 
a  State,  and  is  an  integral  party,  its  co-States  forming,  as  to  itself,  the  other  party  : 
that  the  Government  created  by  this  compact  was  not  made  the  exclusive  or  final 
judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  itself;  since  that  would  have 
made  its  discretion,  and  not  the  Constitution,  the  measure  of  its  powers ;  but  that, 
as  in  all  other  cases  of  compact  among  powers  having  no  common  judge,  each 
party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode 
and  measure  of  redress." 

The  second,  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  resolutions  show 
how  these  principles  apply  to  the  acts  passed  by  Congress  to 
punish  frauds  on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  other  crimes 
not  enumerated  in  the  Constitution  ;  to  abridge  the  freedom  of 
the  press  and  of  speech  ;  to  allow  the  President  to  banish  aliens 
at  pleasure  ; — and  all  of  these  are  pronounced  wholly  unauthor 
ized  by  the  Constitution,  and  therefore  void  and  of  no  effect. 

The  seventh  resolution  declares  that  the  construction  applied 
by  the  General  Government  to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution, 
which  authorize  Congress  to  impose  taxes^ajid  excises,  pay  debts 
and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare,  "  goes 
to  the  destruction  of  all  limits  prescribed  to  their  power  by  the 
Constitution,"  and  "  that  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Govern 
ment  under  color  of  these  articles,  will  be  a  fit  and  necessary 
subject  of  revisal  and  correction,  at  a  time  of  greater  tranquillity, 
while  those  specified  in  the  preceding  resolutions  call  for  imme 
diate  redress." 

The  eighth  resolution  provides  "  that  a  committee  of  confer 
ence  and  correspondence  be  appointed  "  to  communicate  the 
preceding  resolutions  to  the  legislatures  of  other  States,  and  after 
assuring  them  of  the  fidelity  of  this  "commonwealth"  to  a 
constitutional  union,  to  apprise  them  that  it 

1  Vol.  is.  p.  464. 
VOL.  IT. — 29 


450  KENTUCKY    RESOLUTIONS    OF    1798.  [CHAP.    IX, 

"  is  determined,  as  it  doubts  not  its  co-States  are,  to  submit  to  undelegated^ 

and  consequently  unlimited  powers  in  no  man,  or  body  of  men  on  earth  :  that  in 
cases  of  an  abuse  of  the  delegated  powers,  the  members  of  the  General  Government, 
being  chosen  by  the  people,  a  change  by  the  people  would  be  the  constitutional 
remedy ;  but,  where  powers  are  assumed  which  have  not  been  delegated,  a  nullifi 
cation  of  the  act  is  the  rightful  remedy :  that  every  State  has  a  natural  right  in 
cases  not  within  the  compact  (casus  non  frederis],  to  nullify  of  their  own  authority 
all  assumptions  of  power  by  others  within  their  limits:  that  without  this  right,  they 
would  be  under  the  dominion,  absolute  and  unlimited,  of  whosoever  might  exercise 
this  right  of  judgment  for  them:  that  nevertheless,  this  commonwealth,  from 
motive?  of  regard  and  respect  for  its  co-States,  has  wished  to  communicate  with 
them  on  the  subject:  that  with  them  alone  it  is  proper  to  communicate,  they  alone 
being  parties  to  the  compact,  and  solely  authorized  to  judge  in  the  last  resort  of 
the  powers  exercised  under  it,  Congress  being  not  a  party,  but  merely  the  creature 
of  the  compact,  and  subject  as  to  its  assumptions  of  power  to  the  final  judgment 
of  those  by  whom,  and  for  whose  use  itself  and  its  powers  were  all  created  and 
modified."  *  *  *  * 

After  reciting  the  conclusions  which  would  flow  from  them 
if  the  obnoxious  acts  were  allowed  to  stand,  the  resolution  pro 
ceeds  to  say, 

u  that  these  and  guccessive  acts  of   the  same  character,  unless  arrested 

at  the  threshold  [will]  necessarily  drive  these  States  into  revolution  and  blood." 
****** 

"  That  this  commonwealth  does  therefore  call  on  its  co-States  for  an  expression 
of  their  sentiments  on  the  acts  concerning  aliens,  and  for  the  punishment  of  cer 
tain  crimes  herein  before  specified,  plainly  declaring  whether  these  acts  are  or  are 
not  authorized  by  the  federal  compact.  And  it  doubts  not  that  their  sense  will  be 
so  announced  as  to  prove  their  attachment  unaltered  to  limited  government,  whe 
ther  general  or  particular.  And  that  the  rights  and  liberties  of  their  co-States  will 
be  exposed  to  no  dangers  by  remaining  embarked  in  a  common  bottom  with  their 
own.  That  they  will  concur  with  this  commonwealth  in  considering  the  said  acts 
as  so  palpably  against  the  Constitution  as  to  amount  to  an  undisguised  declaration 
that  that  compact  is  not  meant  to  be  the  measure  of  the  powers  of  the  General 
Government,  but  that  it  will  proceed  in  the  exercise  over  these  States,  of  all  powers 
whatsoever:  that  they  will  view  this  as  seizing  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  conso 
lidating  them  in  the  hands  of  the  General  Government,  with  a  power  assumed  to 
bind  the  States  (not  merely  as  the  cases  made  federal  (casus  foederis)  but)  in  all 
cases  whatsoever,  by  laws  made,  not  with  thoir  consent,  but  by  others  against  their 
consent :  that  this  would  be  to  surrender  the  form  of  government  we  have 
chosen,  and  live  under  one  deriving  its  powers  from  its  own  will,  and  not  from 
our  authority;  and  that  the  co-States,  recurring  to  their  natural  right  in  cases  not 
made  federal,  will  concur  in  declaring  these  acts  void,  and  of  no  force,  and  will 
each  take  measures  of  its  own  for  providing  that  neither  these  acts,  no  any  others 
of  the  General  Government  not  plainly  and  intentionally  authorized  by  the  Consti 
tution,  shall  be  exercised  within  their  respective  territories." 

The  ninth  resolution  authorizes  the  committee  to  communicate 
by  writing  or  personal  conferences  with  persons  appointed  for 


CHAP.  IX.]  THEIR   IMPORT.  451 

the  same  object  by  other  States ;  and  directs  them  to  lay  their 
proceedings  before  the  next  session  of  the  Assembly. 

A  very  full  synopsis  of  these  voluminous  resolutions  has  not 
here  been  attempted,  as  they  will  be  given  entire  in  another 
portion  of  the  work.1 

The  genuine  import  of  these  resolutions — whether  they  con- 
^emplated  in  the  last  resort  a  constitutional  or  extra-constitu 
tional  remedy  for  the  grievances  complained  of — lias  excited 
a  good  'deal  of  discussion.  Mr.  Madison  has  too  fully  examined 
this  subject  (including  the  purport  of  the  Virginia  resolutions 
of  the  same  epoch)  to  leave  any  need  for  further  argument  by 
those  who  concur  in  his  interpretation.  His  views  will  be  found 
in  several  letters  to  Nicholas  P.  Trist,  in  one  to  Edward 
Everett,  and  in  various  others  to  Joseph  C.  Cabell,  Andrew 
Stevenson,  etc.,  between  the  years  1830  and  1834,  in  "  Selec 
tions  from  the  Private  Correspondence  of  James  Madison,  from 
1813  to  183t>,  published  by  J.  C.  McGuire,  exclusively  for  pri 
vate  distribution,  "Washington,  1853."  2 

Mr.  Madison  entertained  no  doubt  that  the  last  resort  con 
templated  by  the  Kentucky  resolutions  was  extra-constitutional, 
was  an  appeal  to  the  natural  and  sacred  right  of  resistance 
against  flagrant  and  otherwise  incurable  oppression.  This  was  a 
different  idea,  perhaps,  from  that  held  when  Jefferson  wrote  Mr. 
Rowan — and  if  so  it  was  the  more  deliberate  and  the  final  idea. 

Mr.  Jefferson  believed  the  ';  crisis  "  of  the  Constitution  had 
come — that  statutes  and  decisions  had  in  essential  particulars 
subverted  it — that  armies  were  organizing  to  crush  opposition 
and  make  that  subversion  complete.  If  the  appeal  to  solemn 
compacts  was  finally  disregarded,  if  after  the  last  solemn  remon 
strance  and  protest,  of  the  aggrieved,  the  unauthorized  and  forc 
ible  changes  in  the  whole  framework  of  our  government  were 
persisted  in,  he  was  in  favor  of  resistance,  and,  if  need  be,  of 
securing  the  rights  obtained  by  the  Revolution  by  again  un 
sheathing  the  sword  of  the  Revolution.  We  shall  soon  see 
whether  this  stern  alternative  was  decided  on  and  proclaimed  a 
moment  too  soon. 

The  resolutions,  presented  and  passed  (almost  unanimously) 
in  the  Kentucky  Legislature  about  the  middle  of  November, 
differed  in  several  particulars  from  the  preceding  draft.  The 

1  See  APPENDIX  No.  17.       a  For  a  copy  of  which  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  McGuire. 


452  MODIFIED   BY    JEFFERSON.  [CHAP.    IX. 

ninth  was  omitted,  and  the  eighth  so  modified  that  it  directed  the 
resolutions  to  be  placed  before  Congress  by  the  representatives 
of  Kentucky,  who  were  instructed  "to  use  their  best  endeavors 
to  procure  at  the  next  session  of  Congress  a  repeal  of  the  afore 
said  unconstitutional  and  obnoxious  acts."  The  Governor  was 
requested  to  transmit  the  resolutions  to  the  other  States,  and 
solicit  their  coaction  in  procuring  that  repeal. 

There  are  several  reasons  which  lead  us  to  conjecture  that 
Jefferson  was  consulted  before  these  changes  were  made,  and 
that  he  acquiesced  in,  if  indeed  he  did  not  propose  them.  Wil 
son  C.  Nicholas  was  a  resident  of  the  same  county.  There  was 
sufficient  time  for  a  subsequent  correspondence  before  the  reso 
lutions  were  presented  in  the  Kentucky  Legislature.  Men 
like  the  Nicholases  would  not  be  likely  to  press  another  man  to 
draw  up  an  important  document  for  a  specific  object,  and  then 
change  it  without  again  advising  with  the  author.  In  Jeffer 
son's  letter  to  young  Nicholas,  in  1821,  he  admits  the  authorship 
without  any  hint  that  it  was  a  joint  production.  Again,  on  the 
17th  of  November,  three  days  (we  think)  after  the  passage  of  the 
resolutions  in  the  Kentucky  Legislature,  and  before  therefore  they 
could  have  probably  reached  Jefferson  (by  any  roads  and  means 
of  communication  then  in  use)  the  latter  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison : 

"  I  inclose  you  a  copy  of  the  draft  of  the  Kentucky  resolutions.  I  think  we 
suould  distinctly  affirm  all  the  important  principles  they  contain,  so  as  to  hold  to 
that  ground  in  future,  and  leave  the  matter  in  such  a  train  as  that  we  may  not  be 
committed  absolutely  to  push  the  matter  to  extremities,  and  yet  may  be  free  to 
push  as  far  as  events  will  render  prudent." 

This  describes  the  resolutions  better  as  passed  than  in  their 
original  form. 

Essentially  in  the  same  spirit  he,  on  the  26th  of  November, 
wrote  Colonel  John  Taylor,  of  Caroline,  who,  like  Mr.  Madison, 
had  gone  into  the  Virginia  Legislature  expressly  to  aid  in  mak 
ing  a  stand  against  the  usurpations  of  the  federal  Government. 

We  will  give  several  passages  from  this  interesting  letter, 
having  no  connection  with  the  immediate  point  under  discussion, 
because  they  present  us  the  precise  color  of  his  general  views  at 
this  eventful  period. 

"  I  owe  you  a  political  letter.  Yet  the  infidelities  of  the  post-office  and  the 
circumstances  of  the  times  are  against  my  writing  fully  and  freely,  whilst  my  own 


CHAP.  IX.]  HIS    LETTER   TO   TAYLOR.  453 

dispositions  are  as  much  against  mysteries,  innuendoes,  and  half-confidences.  I 
know  not  which  mortifies  me  most,  that  I  should  fear  to  write  what  I  think,  or  my 
country  bear  such  a  state  of  things.  Yet  Lyon's  judges,  and  a  jury  of  all  nations, 
are  objects  of  national  fear.  We  agree  in  all  the  essential  ideas  of  your  letter. 
We  agree  particularly  in  the  necessity  of  some  reform,  and  of  some  better  security 
for  civil  liberty.  But  perhaps  we  do  not  see  the  existing  circumstances  in  the  same 
point  of  view.  There  are  many  considerations  dehors  of  the  State,  which  will  occur 
to  you  without  enumeration.  I  should  not  apprehend  them,  if  all  was  sound  within. 
But  there  is  a  most  respectable  part  of  our  State  who  have  been  enveloped  in  the 
XYZ  delusion,  and  who  destroy  our  unanimity  for  the  present  moment.  This 
disease  of  the  imagination  will  pass  over,  because  the  patients  are  essentially  repub 
licans.  Indeed,  the  doctor  is  now  on  his  way  to  cure  it,  in  the  guise  of  a  tax- 
gatherer.  But  give  time  for  the  medicine  to  work,  and  for  the  repetition  of  stronger 
doses,  which  must  be  administered.  The  principle  of  the  present  majority  is 
excessive  expense,  money  enough  to  fill  all  their  maws,  or  it  will  not  be  worth  the 
risk  of  their  supporting.  They  cannot  borrow  a  dollar  in  Europe,  or  above  two  or 
three  millions  in  America.  This  is  not  the  fourth  of  the  expenses  of  this  year, 
unprovided  for.  Paper  money  would  be  perilous  even  to  the  paper  men.  Nothing, 
then,  but  excessive  taxation  can  get  us  aloi.g ;  and  this  will  carry  reason  and  reflec 
tion  to  every  man's  door,  and  particularly  in  the  hour  of  election. 

"I  wish  it  were  possible  to  obtain  a  single  amendment  to  our  Constitution.  I 
would  be  willing  to  depend  on  that  alone  for  the  reduction  of  the  administration  of 
our  Government  to  the  genuine  principles  of  its  Constitution ;  I  mean  an  additional 
article,  taking  from  the  federal  Government  the  power  of  borrowing.  I  now  deny 
their  power  of  making  paper  money  or  anything  else  a  legal  tender.  I  know  that 
to  pay  all  proper  expenses  within  the  year,  would,  in  case  of  war,  be  hard  on  us. 
But  not  so  hard  as  ten  wars  instead  of  one.  For  wars  would  be  reduced  in  that 
proportion ;  besides  that  the  State  governments  would  be  free  to  lend  their  credit 

in  borrowing  quotas. 

****** 

"  For  the  present  I  should  be  for  resolving  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  to  be 
against  the  Constitution  and  merely  void,  and  for  addressing  the  other  States  to 
obtain  similar  declarations ;  and  I  would  not  do  anything  at  this  moment  which 
should  commit  us  further,  but  reserve  ourselves  to  shape  our  future  measures  or  no 
measures  by  the  events  which  may  happen. 

*  *  **  *  *  * 

"  It  is  a  singular  phenomenon,  that  while  our  State  governments  are  the  very 
best  in  the  world,  without  exception  or  comparison,  our  general  Government  has,  in 
the  rapid  course  of  nine  or  ten  years,  become  more  arbitrary,  and  has  swallowed 
more  of  the  public  liberty,  than  even  that  of  England.  I  inclose  you  a  column,  cut 
out  of  a  London  paper,  to  show  you  that  the  English,  though  charmed  with  our 
making  their  enemies  our  enemies,  yet  blush  and  weep  over  our  Sedition  Law. 
****** 

"  But  I  inclose  you  something  more  important.  It  is  a  petition  for  a  reforma 
tion  in  the  manner  of  appointing  our  juries,  and  a  remedy  against  the  jury  of  all 
nations,  which  is  handing  about  here  for  signature,  and  will  be  presented  to  your 
House.  I  know  it  will  require  but  little  ingenuity  to  make  objections  to  the  details 
of  its  execution  ;  but  do  not  be  discouraged  by  small  difficulties ;  make  it  as  perfect 
as  you  can  at  a  first  essay,  and  depend  on  amending  its  defects  as  they  develop 
themselves  in  practice.  I  hope  it  will  meet  with  your  approbation  and  patronage 


4:54  VIRGINIA   RESOLUTIONS    OF    1798.  [CHAP.    IX. 

It  is  tlic  ou'y  thing  which  can  yield  us  a  little  present  protection  against  the  domi 
nion  of  a  faction,  while  circumstances  are  maturing  for  bringing  and  keeping  the 
Government  in  real  unison  with  the  spirit  of  their  constituents."  * 

One  of  these  passages  settles  all  that  is  important  in  the 
inquiry  we  have  been  making,  because  it  decisively  shows  that 
whether  Jefferson  had  concerted  modifications  of  his  original 
resolutions  with  George  Nicholas  or  not,  he  now,  in  less  than  a 
month  from  the  time  of  drafting  them,  proposed  corresponding 
modifications  in  the  action  of  Virginia. 

The  facts  in  the  case  are  due  to  historic  truth.  They  are  not 
presented  as  modifying  any  principle  or  theory  of  political 
action  enounced  in  Jefferson's  original  draft  of  the  Kentucky 
resolutions. 

On  the  24th  of  December,  1798,  the  Virginia  Legislature, 
by  an  'overwhelming  majority,  passed  a  series  of  resolutions 
(offered  by  John  Taylor,  of  Caroline)  responsive  to  those  of 
Kentucky.  They  were  drafted  by  Mr.  Madison,  as  he  avows  in 
his  later  correspondence.  They  were  as  decided  in  the  essence 
as  those  passed  by  Kentucky,  but  were  drawn  up  with  more 
deliberation,  and  with  a  more  studied  avoidance  of  phraseology 
that  could  be  made  the  subject  of  misconstruction.  They  ex 
pressed  "  deep  regret  at  a  spirit  in  sundry  instances  manifested 
by  the  federal  Government  to  enlarge  its  powers  by  forced 
constructions  of  the  constitutional  charter  "  and  "  so  to  consoli 
date  the  States  by  degrees  into  one  sovereignty,  the  obvious 
tendency  and  inevitable  result  of  which  would  be  to  transpose 
the  present  Republican  system  of  the  United  States  into  an 
absolute,  or,  at  best,  a  mixed  monarchy."  They  protested 
against  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  as  u  palpable  and  alarming 

1  This  alludes  to  a  petition  addressed  "to  the  Speaker  and  House  of  Delegates  of  the 
commonwealth  of  Virginia,  being  a  protest  against  interference  of  judiciary  between 
representative  and  constituent,"  which  will  be  found  published  in  the  Congress  edition 
of  Jefferson's  Works,  vol.  ix.  pp.  447-454. 

It  was  intended  to  produce  a  reform  in  the  manner  of  appointing  grand  juries,  and 
probably  an  expression  of  legislative  opinion,  to  guard  against  such  purely  impudent 
and  gratuitous  assumptions  of  authority  as  the  presentation,  by  the  grand  jury,  at  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  held  at  Richmond,  May,  1797,  "as  a  real  evil  the  cir 
cular  letters  of  several  members  of  the  late  Congress,  and  particularly  letters  with  the 
signature  of  Samuel  J.  Cabell,  endeavoring,  at  a  time  of  real  public  danger,  to  dissemi 
nate  unfounded  calumnies  against  the  happy  government  of  the  United  States,  and  there 
by  to  separate  the  people  therefrom ;  and  to  produce  or  increase  a  foreign  influence, 
ruinous  to  the  peace,  happiness,  and  independence  of  these  United  States." 

Cabell  was  the  representative  of  Mr.  Jetferson's  own  congressional  district,  consisting 
of  Amherst,  Albemarle,  Fluvanna,  and  Goochland.  Hence  his  activity  in  this  affair. 

The  petition  has  a  good  deal  of  the  ring  of  the  old  Revolutionary  metal,  and  will 
repay  the  curious  reader  for  turning  to  it. 


CHAP.  IX.]  THIRD    SESSION   OF   FIFTH   CONGRESS.  455 

infractions  of  the  Constitution,"  and  called  upon  each  of  the 
other  States  "to  take  the  necessary  and  proper  measures  for 
cooperating"  "in  maintaining  unimpaired  the  authorities,  rights, 
and  liberties  reserved  to  the  States  respectively  or  to  the  peo 
ple." 

The  third  session  of  the  fifth  Congress  opened  on  the  third  of 
December.  The  President  declared  in  his  speech  that  the  tran 
sactions  between  France  and  the  United  States,  during  the  recess, 
would  be  made  the  subject  of  a  future  communication,  and  that 
this  would  "  confirm  the  ultimate  failure  of  the  measures  which 
had  been  taken  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  towards 
an  amicable  adjustment  of  differences  with  that  power;"  that 
while  France  wished  to  appear  solicitous  to  avoid  a  rupture,  by 
expressing  its  willingness  to  receive  a  minister,  it  was  u  unfor 
tunate  for  professions  of  this  kind,"  that  it  used  terms  which 
"  might  countenance  the  inadmissible  pretension  "  of  a  right  to 
prescribe  his  qualification  ;  and  that,  while  asserting  its  own 
disposition  to  conciliate,  it  should  "indirectly  question"  the 
"sincerity  of  a  like  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
of  which  so  many  demonstrative  proofs  had  been  given."  He 
said  that  the  decree  of  the  Directory,  "  alleged  to  be  intended  to 
restrain  the  depredations  of  the  French  cruisers,"  could  give  no 
relief,  as  it  only  enjoined  conformity  to  law,  and  the  law  itself 
was  the  source  of  the  depredations  ;  that  the  law  condemning 
vessels  any  portion  of  the  cargoes  of  which  was  of  British  manu 
facture,  had  "  lately  received  a  confirmation  by  the  failure  of  a 
proposition  for  its  repeal ;"  that  this  law  was,  of  itself,  "  an  une 
quivocal  act  of  war,"  calling  for  "  firm  resistance  ;"  that  "  hith 
erto,  therefore,  nothing  was  discoverable  in  the  conduct  of 
France  which  ought  to  change  or  relax  our  measures  of  defence  ;" 
that  "  to  extend  or  invigorate  them  was  our  true  policy  ;"  that  we 
had  no  reason  to  regret  those  already  entered  upon  ;  and  that 
"  in  proportion  as  we  enlarged  our  view  of  the  portentous  and 
incalculable  situation  of  Europe,  we  should  discover  new  and 
cogent  motives  for  the  full  development  of  our  energies  and 
resources."  He  continued  : 

"  But  in  demonstrating  by  our  conduct  that  we  do  not  fear  war  in  the  necessary 
protection  of  our  rights  and  honor,  we  shall  give  no  room  to  infer  that  we  abandon 
the  desire  of  peace.  An  efficient  preparation  for  war  can  alone  insure  peace.  It  is 
peace  that  we  have  uniformly  and  perseveringly  cultivated,  and  harmony  betweea 


456  PRESIDENT'S  SPEECH — JEFFERSON'S  ERROR.     [CHAP.  ix. 

us  and  France  may  be  restored  at  her  option.  But  to  send  another  minister  without 
more  determinate  assurances  that  he  would  be  received,  would  be  an  act  of  humi 
liation  to  which  the  United  States  ought  not  to  submit.  It  must  therefore  be  left  with 
France  (if  she  is  indeed  desirous  of  accommodation)  to  take  the  requisite  steps. 
The  United  States  will  steadily  observe  the  maxims  by  which  they  have  hitherto 
been  governed.  They  will  respect  the  sacred  rights  of  embassy.  And  with  a  sin 
cere  disposition  on  the  part  of  France  to  desist  from  hostility,  to  make  reparation 
for  the  injuries  heretofore  inflicted  on  our  commerce,  and  to  do  justice  in  future, 
there  will  be  no  obstacle  to  the  restoration  of  a  friendly  intercourse.  In  making 
to  you  this  declaration,  I  give  a  pledge  to  France  and  the  world  that  the  Executive 
authority  of  this  country  still  adheres  to  the  humane  and  pacific  policy  which  has 
invariably  governed  its  proceedings,  in  conformity  with  the  wishes  of  the  other 
branches  of  the  Government  and  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  But  consi 
dering  the  late  manifestations  of  her  policy  towards  foreign  nations,  I  deem  it  a 
duty  deliberately  and  solemnly  to  declare  my  opinion,  that  whether  we  negotiate 
with  her  or  not,  vigorous  preparations  for  war  will  be  alike  indispensable.  These 
alone  will  give  us  an  equal  treaty,  and  insure  its  observance." 

Jefferson  arrived  in  the  .capital  on  Christmas  Day,  and  he 
took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  on  the  27th  of  December.  He  wrote 
to  Madison,  January  3,  1799 : 

"  The  President's  speech,  so  unlike  himself  in  point  of  moderation,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  written  by  the  military  conclave,  and  particularly  Hamilton.  When 
the  Senate  gratuitously  hint  Logan  to  him,  you  see  him  in  his  reply  come  out  in  hia 
genuine  colors." 

Mr.  Jefferson  here  fell  into  an  utter  error,  which  shows  how 
well  Hamilton's  plans,  projects  and  political  views  were  kept 
concealed  from  his  opponents.  The  "  military  conclave  "  alluded 
to,  were  the  chiefs  of  the  Provisional  Army,  who  had  assembled 
at  the  seat  of  Government  to  concert  their  military  arrange 
ments.  If  Hamilton  wrote,  or  dictated  Wolcott's  draft  of  the 
speech,  he  prepared  an  exceedingly  coolly  worded,  but  none 
the  less  decisive,  war  document.  It  practically  closed  the  door 
of  conciliation,  unless  France  would  sue  more  abjectly  for  peace 
than  anybody  expected;  or,  rather,  it  assumed  that  door  to  be 
already  closed,  and  that  the  United  States  could  not  reopen  it 
without  dishonor. 

The  Senate  went  far  beyond  the  tone  of  the  speech  in  its 
answering  address.  It  substantially  assumed  throughout,  that 
all  had  been  done  by  the  United  States,  towards  a  pacification 
with  France,  that  honor  permitted,  and  that  the  sole  alternative 
was,  theiicet'onh,  to  prepare  vigorously  for  war.  It  said: 


CHAP,  ix.]  PRESIDENT'S  GROSS  INCONSISTENCY.  457 

"  But  if,  after  the  repeated  proofs  we  have  given  of  a  sincere  desire  for  peace, 
these  professions  should  be  accompanied  by  insinuations,  implicating  the  integrity 
with  which  it  has  been  pursued  ;  if,  neglecting  and  passing  by  the  constitutional 
and  authorized  agents  of  the  Government,  they  are  made  through  the  medium  of 
individuals,  without  public  character  or  authority;  and  abov^e  all,  if  they  carry  with 
them  a  claim  to  prescribe  the  political  qualifications  of  the  minister  of  the  United 
States  to  be  employed  in  the  negotiation ;  they  are  not  entitled  to  attention  or  con 
sideration,  but  ought  to  be  regarded  as  designed  to  separate  the  people  from  their 
Government,  and  to  bring  about  by  intrigue  that  which  open  force  could  not 
effect." 

The  "  hint "  to  Logan's  journey  was  purely  "  gratuitous," 
because  the  President  had  not  referred  to  it ;  and  the  ingenuity 
which  could  string  together,  in  so  few  words  as  those  above,  so 
many  keen  provocatives  to  Mr.  Adams's  weaknesses  and  follies, 
was  worthy  of  that  craftier  enemy  in  his  Cabinet,  who,  under 
the  guise  of  friendship,  spied  them  out  without  hindrance,  and 
took  advantage  of  them  without  compunction. 

The  explosion  followed.     Mr.  Adams  replied  to  the  Senate  : 

"  I  have  seen  no  real  evidence  of  any  change  of  system  or  disposition  in  the 
French  Republic  towards  the  United  States.  Although  the  officious  interference  of 
individuals,  without  public  character  or  authority,  is  not  entitled  to  any  credit,  yet 
it  deserves  to  be  considered  whether  that  temerity  and  impertinence  of  individuals 
affecting  to  interfere  in  public  affairs  between  France  and  the  United  States,  whe 
ther  by  their  secret  correspondence  or  otherwise,  and  intended  to  impose  upon  the 
people,  and  separate  them  from  their  Government,  ought  not  to  be  inquired  into 
and  corrected." 

The  mention  of  the  "  secret  correspondence "  looks  like 
an  approving  allusion  to  the  newspaper  charge  that  Logan  was 
an  emissary  of  Jefferson  ;  and  the  President's  ready  invocation 
of  penal  laws,  showrs  how  completely  his  better  principles  were 
the  sport  of  his  passions,  when  freshly  roused.  The  hint  to  resort 
to  penal  laws  to  prevent  the  freedom  of  political  action,  was 
thrown  on  a  soil  where  it  was  certain  to  vegetate  rankly. 

Mr.  Jefferson  gave  far  more  credit  to  the  moderation  of  the 
President's  speech  than  it  deserved,  considering  that  the  latter 
had,  since  the  first  week  in  October,  been  in  the  possession  of  in 
formation  which,  we  have  his  own  admission,  perfectly  convinced 
him  that  France  was  seeking,  and  making  real,  and  even  formal, 
diplomatic  overtures  for  reopening,  negotiations  looking  to  an 
honorable  pacification.  How  are  these  declarations  to  be  recon 
ciled  to  that  most  unfortunate  assertion  which  opens  the  para 


458  HAMILTON'S  PLAN.  [CHAP.  ix. 

graph  just  quoted  from  his  reply  to  the  Senate  ?  It  is,  assuredly, 
a  heavy  draft  on  credulity  to  believe  he  was  sincere  on  both 
occasions.  But  he  was  one  of  those  men  occasionally  to  be  met 
with,  who,  in  the  paroxysm  of  rage,  verily  believe  whatever  they 
desire  to  believe,  whatever  they  feel ;  and  who,  under  such  circum 
stances  are  not  to  be  treated,  or  reckoned  with  as  moral  agents. 

The  holidays  were  over  before  Congress  proceeded  seriously 
to  business. 

We  have  seen  that  Hamilton  wad  accustomed  to  send  in 
programmes  for  his  followers,  at  each  session.  That  for  the 
session  of  1798-99  was  tar  too  important  a  document  to  be 
passed  over,  without  a  careful  scrutiny,  by  all  who  are  desirous 
to  understand  the  real  objects  of  our  early  parties — to  under 
stand  whether  it  was  Jefferson  or  his  opponents  who  attempted 
to  misstate  them  to  posterity. 

The  document  (published  in  Hamilton's  works,  by  his  son)  is 
long,  but  we  have  felt  that  it  would  give  better  satisfaction  to 
present  it  entire : 

HAMILTON  TO  DAYTOX. 

1T99. 

Au  accurate  view  of  the  internal  situation  of  the  United  States  presents  many 
discouraging  reflections  to  the  enlightened  friends  of  our  Government  and  country. 
Notwithstanding  the  unexampled  success  of  our  public  measures  at  home  and 
abroad — notwithstanding  the  instructive  comments  afforded  by  the  disastrous  and 
disgusting  scenes  of  the  French  Revolution — public  opinion  has  not  been  amelio 
rated  ;  sentiments  dangerous  to  social  happiness  have  not  been  diminished  :  on 
the  contrary,  there  are  symptoms  which  warrant  the  apprehension  that  among  the 
most  numerous  class  of  citizens,  errors  of  a  very  pernicious  tendency  have  not  only 
preserved  but  have  extended  their  empire.  Though  something  may  have  been 
gained  on  the  side  of  men  of  information  and  property,  more  has  probably  been 
lost  on  that  of  persons  of  a  different  description.  An  extraordinary  exertion  of 
the  friends  of  Government,  aided  by  circumstances  of  momentary  impression,  gave, 
in  the  last  election  for  members  of  Congress,  a  more  favorable  countenance  to  some 
States  than  they  had  before  worn  ;  yet  it  is  the  belief  of  well-informed  men,  that 
no  real  or  desirable  change  has  been  wrought  in  those  States.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  admitted  by  close  observers,  that  some  of  the  parts  of  the  Union  which,  in 
time  past,  have  been  the  soundest,  have  of  late  exhibited  signs  of  a  gangrene, 
begun  and  progressive. 

It  is  likewise  apparent  that  opposition  to  the  Government  has  acquired  more  sys 
tem  than  formerly,  is  bolder  in  the  avowal  of  its  designs,  less  solicitous  than  it  was 
to  discriminate  between  the  Constitution  and  the  Adminstration,  and  more  open  and 
more  enterprising  in  its  projects.  The  late  attempt  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  to 
unite  the  State  legislatures  in  a  direct  resistance  to  certain  laws  of  the  Union,  can 
be  considered  in  no  other  light  than  as  an  attempt  to  change  the  Government. 

It  is  stated,  in  addition,  that  the  opposition  party  in  Virginia,  the  head-quarters 


CHAP,  ix.]  HAMILTON'S  PLAN.  459 

of  the  faction,  have  followed  up  the  hostile  declarations  which  are  to  be  found  in 
the  resolutions  of  their  General  Assembly  by  an  actual  preparation  of  the  means 
of  supporting  them  by  force  ;  that  they  have  taken  measures  to  put  their  militia  on 
a  more  efficient  footing — are  preparing  considerable  arsenals  and  magazines,  and 
(which  is  an  unequivocal  proof  how  much  they  are  in  earnest)  have  gone  so  far  as 
to  lay  new  taxes  on  their  citizens.  Amidst  such  serious  indications  of  hostility,  the 
safety  and  the  duty  of  the  supporters  of  the  Government  call  upon  them  to  adopt 
vigorous  measures  of  counteraction.  It  will  be  wise  in  them  to  act  upon  the  hypo 
thesis,  that  the  opposers  of  the  Government  are  resolved,  if  it  shall  be  practicable, 
to  make  its  existence  a  question  of  force.  Possessing  as  they  now  do  all  the  con 
stitutional  powers,  it  will  be  an  unpardonable  mistake  on  their  part  if  they  do  not 
exert  them  to  surround  the  Constitution  with  more  ramparts,  and  to  disconcert  the 
schemes  of  its  enemies. 

The  measures  proper  to  be  adopted  may  be  classed  under  heads. 

First. — Establishments  which  will  extend  the  influence  and  promote  the  popu 
larity  of  the  Government.  Under  this  head  three  important  expedients  occur. 
first.  The  extension  of  the  judiciary  system.  Second.  The  improvement  of  the 
great  communications,  as  well  interiorly  as  coastwise  by  turnpike  road:?.  Third. 
The  institution  of  a  society  with  funds  to  be  employed  in  premiums  for  new  inven 
tions,  discoveries,  and  improvements  in  agriculture  and  in  the  arts. 

The  extension  of  the  judiciary  system  ought  to  embrace  two  objects :  One,  the 
subdivision  of  each  State  into  small  districts  (suppose  Connecticut  into  four,  and  so 
on  in  proportion),  assigning  to  each  a  judge  with  a  moderate  salary.  The  other, 
the  appointment  in  each  county  of  conservators  or  justices  of  the  peace,  with  only 
ministerial  functions,  and  with  no  other  compensation  than  fees  for  the  services 
they  shall  perform.  This  measure  is  necessary  to  give  efficacy  to  the  laws,  the 
execution  of  which  is  obstructed  by  the  want  of  similar  organs  and  by  the  indispo 
sition  of  the  local  magistrates  in  some  States.  The  Constitution  requires  that  judges 
shall  have  fixed  salaries  ;  but  this  does  not  apply  to  mere  justices  of  the  peace  with 
out  judicial  powers.  Both  those  descriptions  of  persons  are  essential,  as  well  to  the 
energetic  execution  of  the  laws  as  to  the  purposes  of  salutary  patronage. 

The  thing  no  doubt  would  be  a  subject  of  clamor,  but  it  would  carry  with  it  its 
own  antidote,  and  when  once  established,  would  bring  a  very  powerful  support  to 
the  Government. 

The  improvement  of  the  roads  would  be  a  measure  universally  popular.  None 
can  be  more  so.  For  this  purpose  a  regular  plan  should  be  adopted  coextensive 
with  the  Union,  to  be  successively  executed,  and  a  fund  should  be  appropriated  suf 
ficient  for  the  basis  of  a  loan  of  a  million  of  dollars.  The  revenue  of  the  post- 
office  naturally  offers  itself.  The  future  revenue  from  tolls  would  more  than 
reimburse  the  expense,  and  public  utility  would  be  promoted  in  every  direction. 
The  institution  of  a  society,  with  the  aid  of  proper  funds,  to  encourage  agriculture 
and  the  arts,  besides  being  productive  of  general  advantage,  will  speak  powerfully 
to  the  feelings  and  interests  of  those  classes  of  men  to  whom  the  benefits  derived 
from  the  Government  have  been  heretofore  the  least  manifest. 

Second. — Provision  for  augmenting  the  means  and  consolidating  the  strength  of 
the  Government.  A  million  of  dollars  may  without  difficulty  be  added  to  the  reve 
nue,  by  increasing  the  rates  of  some  existing  indirect  taxes,  and  by  the  addition 
of  some  new  items  of  a  similar  character. 

The  direct  taxes  ought  neither  to  be  increased  nor  diminished.  Our  naval  force 
ought  to  be  completed  to  six  ships  of  the  line  twelve  frigates,  and  t»venty-fov.r 


4(>U  HAMILTON'S  PLAN.  [CHAP.  ix. 

sloops  of  war.  More  at  this  juncture  would  be  disproportioned  to  our  resources  ; 
less  would  be  inadequate  to  the  ends  to  be  accomplished.  Our  military  force  should, 
for  the  present,  be  kept  upon  its  actual  footing ;  making  provision  for  a  reenlist- 
ment  of  the  men  for  five  years  in  the  event  of  a  settlement  of  differences  with 
France ;  with  this  condition,  that  in  case  of  peace  between  Great  Britain,  France, 
and  Spain,  the  United  States  being  then  also  at  peace,  all  the  privates  of  the  twelve 
additional  regiments  of  infantry,  and  of  the  regiment  of  dragoons,  not  exceeding 
twenty  to  a  company,  shall  be  disbanded.  The  corps  of  artillerists  may  be  left  to 
retain  the  numbers  which  it  shall  happen  to  have,  but  without  being  recruited  until 
the  numbers  of  officers  and  privates  shall  fall  below  the  standard  of  the  infantry 
and  dragoons.  A  power  ought  to  be  given  to  the  President  to  augment  the  four  old 
regiments  to  their  war  establishment. 

The  laws  respecting  volunteer  companies,  and  the  eventual  army  should  be  ren 
dered  permanent,  and  the  Executive  should  proceed  without  delay  to  organize  the 
latter.  Some  modifications  of  the  discretion  of  the  President  will,  however,  be 
proper  in  a  permanent  law.  And  it  will  be  a  great  improvement  of  the  plan,  if  it 
shall  be  thought  expedient  to  allow  the  enlistment,  for  the  purpose  of  instruction, 
of  a  corps  of  sergeants  equal  to  the  number  requisite  for  the  eventual  army.  The 
institution  of  a  Military  Academv  will  be  an  auxiliary  of  great  importance.  Manu 
factories  of  every  article,  the  woollen  parts  of  clothing  included,  which  are  essen 
tial  to  the  supply  of  the  army,  ought  to  be  established. 

Third. — Arrangements  for  confirming  and  enlarging  the  legal  powers  of  the 
Government.  There  are  several  temporary  laws  which,  in  this  view,  ought  to  be 
rendered  permanent,  particularly  that  which  authorizes  the  calling  out  of  the  militia 
to  suppress  unlawful  combinations  and  insurrections. 

An  article  ought  to  be  proposed  to  be  added  to  the  Constitution,  for  empower 
ing  Congress  to  open  canals  in  all  cases  in  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  conduct 
them  through  the  territory  of^vo  or  more  States,  or  through  the  territory  of  a 
State  and  that  of  the  United  States.  The  power  is  very  desirable  for  the  purpose 
of  improving  the  prodigious  facilities  for  inland  navigation  with  which  nature  has 
favored  this  country.  It  will  also  assist  commerce  and  agriculture,  by  rendering 
the  transportion  of  commodities  more  cheap  and  expeditious.  It  will  tend  to  secure 
the  connection,  by  facilitating  the  communication  between  distant  portions  of  the 
Union,  and  it  will  be  a  useful  source  of  influence  to  the  Government.  Happy  would 
it  be,  if  a  clause  could  be  added  to  the  Constitution,  enabling  Congress,  on  the  ap 
plication  of  any  considerable  portion  of  a  State,  containing  not  less  than  a  hundred 
thousand  persons,  to  erect  it  into  a  separate  State,  on  the  condition  of  fixing  the 
quota  of  contributions  which  it  shall  make  towards  antecedent  debts,  if  any  there 
shall  be,  reserving  to  Congress  the  authority  to  levy  within  such  State  the  taxes 
necessary  to  the  payment  of  such  quota  in  case  of  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  State. 
The  subdivision  of  the  great  States  is  indispensable  to  the  security  of  the  general 
Government,  and  with  it  of  the  Union. 

Great  States  will  always  feel  a  rivalship  with  the  common  head,  will  often  be 
supposed  to  machinate  against  it,  and  in  certain  situations  will  be  able  to  do  it  with 
decisive  effect.  The  subdivision  of  such  States  ought  to  be  a  cardinal  point  in  the 
federal  policy ;  and  small  States  are  doubtless  best  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  local 
regulation  and  to  the  preservation  of  the  republican  spirit.  This  suggestion,  how 
ever,  is  merely  thrown  out  for  consideration.  It  is  feared  that  it  would  be  inexpe 
dient  and  even  dangerous  to  propose,  at  this  time,  an  amendment  of  the  kind 

Fourth. — Laws  for  restraining  and  punishing  incendiary  and  seditious  practiced 


OrlAP.  IX.]  ITS    PRACTICAL    OBJECTS.  461 

It  will  be  useful  to  declare  that  all  such  writings,  etc.,  which  at  common  law  are 
libels,  if  levelled  against  any  officer  whatsoever  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  cog 
nizable  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States.  To  preserve  confidence  in  the  officers 
of  the  General  Government,  by  preserving  their  reputations  from  malicious  and  un 
founded  slanders,  is  essential,  to  enable  them  to  fulfill  the  ends  of  their  appointment. 
It  is,  therefore,  both  constitutional  and  politic  to  place  their  reputations  under  the 
guardianship  of  the  courts  of  the  United  States.  They  ought  not  to  be  left  to  the 
cold  and  reluctant  protection  of  State  courts,  always  temporizing  and  sometimes 
disaffected.  But  what  avail  laws  which  are  not  executed  ?  Renegade  aliens  con 
duct  more  than  one  of  the  most  incendiary  presses  in  the  United  States — and  yet, 
in  open  contempt  and  defiance  of  the  laws,  they  are  permitted  to  continue  their 
destructive  labors.  Why  are  they  not  sent  away  ?  Are  laws  of  this  kind  passed 
merely  to  excite  odium  and  remain  a  dead  letter  ?  Vigor  in  the  executive  is  at  least 
as  necessary  as  in  the  legislature  branch ;  if  the  President  requires  to  be  stimulated 
those  who  can  approach  him  ought  to  do  it. 

These  stupendous  and  startling  propositions  deserve  analysis, 
but  we  can  indulge  in  but  a  rapid  recapitulation  of  a  few  heads. 
They  embrace  : 

1.  An  assumption  that  "sentiments  dangerous  to  social  hap 
piness  "  are  spreading  among  "  the  most  numerous  class  of  citi 
zens,"  as  contradistinguished  from    "  men  of  information   and 
property ;"  that   good    government   can  only  be  preserved  (in 
other  words,  the  questions  between  the  parties  settled)  by  force ; 
and  that  it  would  be  unpardonable  for  the  party  now  in  posses 
sion  of  the  government  not  to  employ  the  present  opportunity  to 
prepare  themselves  for  the  struggle,  and,  among  others,  by  the 
following  means  : 

2.  Making    United   States   district    courts,   and    appointing 
salaried  judges,  at  the  rate  of  four  for  Connecticut,  and  national 
justices  of  the  peace  ad  libitum.     Connecticut  contained  then 
about  two  hundred  and   fifty    thousand    inhabitants,    and    the 
United  States  somewhat  over  five  millions.     Proceeding  on  a 
poptilational  basis,    this    would    have    then    called    for    eighty 
judges.     On  a  territorial,  or  part  territorial   basis,  the  number 
would  have  been  much  larger.     In  the  same  ratio,  in  18r>0,  three 
hundred   and   sixty-eight  judges   would   have   been    required. 
The   justices   of  the   peace,   having   no   salaries,  and    obliged, 
therefore,  to  hunt  and  inform  to  obtain  a  portion  of  the  u  salu 
tary  patronage,"  could  not,  on  the  scale  proposed,  have  fallen 
short   of  thousands   in   1850,  and  might  have  been  swelled  to 
many  thousands.     Each   district  being  supplied  with  the  usual 
tail   of  district  attorney,  marshals,   and   other   officers   of  the 


4:62  OBJECTS  OF  HAMILTON'S  PLAN.  |_^HAP.  ix. 

federal  courts,  the  "salutary  patronage"  would  have  extended, 
literally,  to  an  army  of  officials  at  the  period  last  named. 

3.  An  assumption  on  the  part  of  the  federal  Government  of 
the  improvement  of  turnpike  roads. 

4.  An  addition  to  the  revenue  of  a  million  of  dollars. 

5.  A  completion  of  our  navy  to  six  ships  of  the  line,  twelve 
frigates,  and  twenty -four  sloops  of  war. 

6.  No  reduction  of  the  present  footing  of  the  army  except  in 
a  contingency  not  probable  to  happen  in  years  in   any  event, 
and  impossible  to  happen  if  Hamilton's  South  American  pro 
jects  should  go  on;  and  in  the  meantime,  an  addition  to  what 
thus  became  a  standing  army — an  organization  of  the  eventual 
army — a    military  academy — and   the   erection  of  government 
manufactories  for   "  every   article,"  even    to  woollen   clothing, 
essential  to  the  supply  of  the  troops. 

7.  The  addition  to  the  Constitution  of  an  article  to  empower 
Congress  to  open  canals  under  conditions  which  could  be  ren 
dered  available  in  nearly  every  case  where  the  construction  of 
an  important  work  of  this  kind  was  considered  desirable,  by 
Government,  to  swell  "  salutary  patronage,"  or   for  other   pur 
poses. 

8.  The  addition  to  the  Constitution  of  an  article  empowering 
Congress  to  cut  up  the  States  to  a  degree  which  would  render 
them  powerless  separately  to  maintain  a  shadow  of  resistance 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  General  Government — indeed 
powerless,  without  grinding  internal  taxes,  even  to  support  a 
complete  set  of  government  officers.     On   the  scale  proposed, 
Virginia  could  then  have  been  carved  into  seven  States,  Pennsyl 
vania   into   four;    Massachusetts,   New   York,    Maryland,   and 
North  Carolina  into  three  each ;  and  all  of  the  original  States 
could  have  been  subdivided  except  Georgia,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Delaware.     On  this  basis,  there  was,  in  1790,  sufficient  popula 
tion  for  thirty-nine  States,  and  in  1850,  sufficient  for  two  hun 
dred  and  thirty-one.    A  good  many  rural  counties  in  New  York 
and  other  States  would  contain  at  this  day  more  than  the  neces 
sary  population  for  a  State. 

9.  The  Sedition  Law,  stringent  enough  now  to  punish  a  scur 
rilous  wish,  to  be  so  extended  that  alt  "writings,  etc.,"  which 
at  common  law  were  libels,  should,  "  if  levelled  at  any  officer 
whatsoever  of  the  United  States,  be  cognizable  in  the  courts  (ou 


CHAP.  IX.]  OBJECTS    OF   HAMILTON'S    PLAN.  463 

the  scale  of  four  for  Connecticut)  of  the  United  States,  and  con 
sequently  subject  to  the  common  law  penalties. 

10.  A  more  stringent  execution  of  the  present  Alien  and 
Sedition  Laws. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  inform  the  reflecting  reader  that  these 
provisions,  carried  out,  would  have  constituted  a  purely  consoli 
dated  government,  and  one  nearly  as  absolute  in  spirit  and  more 
tyrannous  in  practice,  in'  some  particulars,  than  the  administra 
tions  of  Edward  IY.  or  Henry  VIII.  We  doubt  whether  there 
is  a  government  this  day  on  earth — there  is  certainly  not  one  in 
Christendom — which  practically  protects  "  any  officer  whatso 
ever  "  under  it,  as  the  preceding  provisions  would  have  pro 
tected  those  of  the  United  States. 

Blackstone  says  libels  "  are  malicious  defamations  of  any  per 
son,  and  especially  a  magistrate,  made  public  by  either  printing, 
writing,  signs,  or  pictures,  in  order  to  provoke  him  to  wrath,  or 
expose  him  to  public  hatred,  contempt,  and  ridicule " — that 
"  the  communication  of  a  libel  to  any  one  person  is  a  publi 
cation  in  the  eye  of  the  law" — that  "it  is  immaterial,  with 
respect  to  the  essence  of  a  libel,  whether  the  matter  of  it  be  true 
or  false,  since  the  provocation  [to  a  breach  of  the  peace]  and  not 
the  falsity,  is  the  thing  to  be  published  criminally"' — but  that 
"in  a  civil  action  *  *  *  a  libel  must  appear  to  be  false  as  well 
as  scandalous" — that  the  punishment  of  libel  criminally  "is 
fine,  and  such  corporal  punishment  as  the  court  in  its  discretion 
shall  inflict,1  regarding  the  quantity  of  the  offence,  and  the 
quality  of  the  offender."3  Such  were  the  common  law  jurisdic 
tion  and  powers  which  it  was  proposed  to  confer  on  the  federal 
courts,  for  the  punishment  of  those  who  should  speak  or  write 
against  the  lowest  "  officer  "  in  the  army,  the  navy,  the  custom 
house,  the  post-offices,  etc.  etc. !  And  if  these  "  officers  "  could 
not  exercise  a  sufficient  surveillance  for  themselves  and  the 
Administration,  they  would  have  the  United  States  justices  of 
the  peace,  "in  each  county,"  to  hunt  and  inform  against  all 
"libellers!" 

The  time  had  now  also  come  for  Hamilton  to  make  active 

1  It  was  punishable,  for  example,  by  putting  the  offender  in  the  pillory,  until  the 
statute  56  Geo.  3,  c.  138.  This  was  a  limitation  of  the  common  law,  which  Hamilton 
proposed  to  put  into  full  force. 

«  Blackstone,  iv.  150,  151.  Those  who  would  see  Hamilton's  views  of  the  proper 
application  of  the  law  of  libel  when  republicanism  was  in  the  ascendency,  will  turn  to 
the  case  of  the  People  v.  Croswell,  in  1804,  in  Johnson's  Reports,  vol.  iii.  p.  252,  tt  seg. 


40 i  PREPARATIONS    FOR   MIRANDA    SCHEME.  [CHAP.    IX, 

preparations  for  his  great  warlike  scheme  in  South  America. 
The  ice  must  be  broken  to  the  military  committees  of  Congress, 
filled  by  his  adherents.  He  wrote  to  Gen.  Gunn,  of  the  Senate, 
December  22d,  1798  : 

"  A  considerable  addition  ought  certainly  to  be  made  to  our  military  supplies. 
The  communications  of  the  Commander-in-Chief  [Washington]  will  also  afford  a 
standard  for  the  increase  in  this  respect,  as  far  as  concerns  the  force  to  be  employed 
in  the  field.  There  are,  however,  some  other  objects  of  supply  equally  essential, 
which  are  not  within  the  view  of  those  [Washington's]  communications — heavy 
cannon  for  our  fortifications,  and  mortars  for  the  case  of  a  siege.  Of  the  former,  in 
cluding  those  already  procured  and  procuring,  there  ought  not  to  be  fewer  than  one 
thousand,  from  eighteen  to  thirty-two  pounders,  chiefly  of  twenty-fours ;  of  the 
latter,  including  those  on  hand,  there  ought  to  be  fifty  of  ten-inch  calibre.  This, 
you  perceive,  looks  to  offensive  operations.  If  we  engage  in  war,  our  game  will  be 
to  attack  where  we  can.  France  is  not  to  be  considered  as  separated  from  her  ally.1 
Tempting  objects  will  be  within  our  grasp ! 

"  Will  it  not  likewise  be  proper  to  renew  and  extend  the  idea  of  a  provisional 
army  ?  The  force  which  has  been  contemplated  as  sufficient  in  any  event,  is  40,000 
infantry  of  the  line,  2,000  riflemen,  4,000  cavalry,  and  4,000  artillery,  making  in  the 
whole  an  army  of  50,000.  Why  should  not  the  provisional  army  go  to  the  extent 
of  the  difference  between  that  number  and  the  actual  army  ?  I  think  this  ought  to 
be  the  case,  and  that  the  President  ought  to  be  authorized  immediately  to  nominate 
the  officers,  to  remain  without  pay  until  called  into  service. 

********** 

"  A  loan,  as  an  auxiliary,  will  of  course  be  annexed."  2 

Harrison  Gray  Otis,  chairman  of  the  Committee,  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  appointed  to  consider  the  policy  of  extending 
our  internal  means  of  defence,  wrote  to  Hamilton  for  his  instruc 
tions.8  The  latter,  December  27th,  replied,  that  "  any  reduction 
of  the  actual  force  "  was  inexpedient ;  that  "  he  thought  the  act 
respecting  the  80,000  militia  ought  likewise  to  be  revived  ;"  that 
"good  policy"  did  not  "require  extensive  appropriations  for 
fortifications  at  the  present  juncture ;"  that  "  money  could  be 
more  usefully  employed  other  ways."  * 

In  a  letter  to  Sedgwick  (immediately  after — precise  date  not 
given)  Hamilton  proposed  a  house-tax  of  a  million — and  "to 
add  as  aid  the  taxes  contemplated  last  session." ' 

In  another  letter  to  Otis,  January  26th,  1799,  we  have  the 
schemes  darkly  hinted  to  General  Gunn  ushered  into  broad  day 
light.  He  said : 

1  Spam.  "  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  v.  p.  184. 

»  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  377.      *  Ib.  vol.  vi.  p.  380.  6  Ib.  p.  381. 


CHAP.   IX.]  SCHEME    AVOWED.  465 

"  I  should  be  glad  to  see,  before  the  close  of  the  session,  a  law  empowering  the 
President,  at  his  discretion,  in  case  a  negotiation  between  the  United  States  and 
France  should  not  be  on  foot  by  the  first  of  August  next,  or  being  on  foot,  should 
terminate  without  an  adjustment  of  differences — to  declare  that  -a  state  of  war  exists 
between  the  two  countries,  and  thereupon  to  employ  the  land  and  naval  forces  of  the 
United  States  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  appear  to  him  most  effectual  for  annoying 
the  enemy,  and  for  preventing  and  frustrating  hostile  designs  of  France,  either 
directly  or  indirectly  through  any  of  her  allies.'1'1  l 

After  declaring  that  such  a  delay  of  a  declaration  of  war 
"  would  be  a  further  proof  of  moderation  in  the  govern 
ment  ;"  "  would  tend  to  reconcile  our  citizens  to  the  last  extre 
mity,"  and  u  if  it  should  ensue,  gradually  accustom  their  minds 
to  look  forward  to  it,"  etc.,  he  added  : 

"  As  it  is  every  moment  possible  that  the  project  of  taking  possession  of  the 
Floridas  and  Louisiana,  long  since  attributed  to  France,  may  be  attempted  to  be 
put  in  execution,  it  is  very  important  that  the  Executive  should  be  clothed  with 
power  to  meet  and  defeat  so  dangerous  an  enterprise.  Indeed,  if  it  is  the  policy  of 
France  to  leave  us  in  a  state  of  semi-hostility,  'tis  preferable  to  terminate  it,  and  by 
taking  possession  of  those  countries  for  ourselves,  to  obviate  the  mischief  of  their 
falling  into  the  hands  of  an  active  foreign  power,  and  at  the  same  time  to  secure  to 
the  United  States  the  advantage  of  keeping  the  key  of  the  western  country.  I  have 
been  long  in  the  habit  of  considering  the  acquisition  of  those  countries  as  essential 
to  the  permanency  of  the  Union,  which  I  consider  as  very  important  to  the  welfare 
of  the  whole. 

"  If  universal  empire  is  still  to  be  the  pursuit  of  France,  what  can  tend  to  defeat 
the  purpose  better  than  to  detach  South  America  from  Spain,  which  is  the  only 
channel  through  which  the  riches  of  Mexico  and  Peru  are  conveyed  to  France 
The  Executive  ought  to  be  put  in  a  situation  to  embrace  favorable  conjunctures  for 
effecting  that  separation.  'Tis  to  be  regretted  that  the  preparation  of  an  adequate 
military  force  does  not  advance  more  rapidly.  There  is  some  sad  nonsense  on  thin 
subject  in  some  good  heads.  The  reveries  of  some  of  the  friends  of  the  Govermnep*. 
are  more  injurious  to  it  than  the  attacks  of  its  declared  enemies'."  9 

In  the  civil  and  military  plans  thus  sketched,  we  have  the 
"  THOROUGH  "  of  General  Hamilton  ! 

After  the  perusal  of  all  these  letters,  it  will  not  be  pretended 
that  Hamilton's  prominent  instruments  in  both  branches  of 
Congress  did  not  clearly  understand  his  designs. 

Jefferson  wrote  Madison,  January  16th,  1799,  that  "  the 
forgery  lately  attempted  to  be  played  off  by  Mr.  H.  [Harper] 
on  the  House  of  Representatives,  of  a  pretended  memorial  pre 
sented  by  Logan  to  the  French  Government,  had  been  so  pal- 

1  The  words  commencing  at  "  indirectly  "  italicized  by  Hamilton. 

a  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  391. 

VOL.  II. — 30 


466  LOGAN'S  MISSION.  [CHAP.  ix. 

pably  exposed  as  to  have  thrown  ridicule  on  the  whole  "  affair; 
but  that  the  majority  would  pass  the  hill.  He  said  "  their  real 
views  in  the  importance  they  had  given"  it,  "were  mistaken 
by  nobody."  We  suppose  in  the  latter  remark  he  meant  what 
was  no  doubt  true,  that  the  bill  was  intended  mainly  for  a  shir 
on  himself.  The  exposure  he  mentions  was  a  publication  of 
Logan's  to  the  effect  that  he  had  not  written  or  presented  any 
such  paper  in  France  as  that  attributed  to  him  by  Harper.1 
The  brave  hearted  Quaker  was  nominated  as  one  of  the  mem 
bers  for  Philadelphia  in  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  and 
elected  in  the  face  of  a  most  vehement  opposition. 

Jefferson  complains  in  the  same  letter,  that  notwithstanding 
Gerry  had  returned  five  months  ago,  and  that  it  was  under 
stood  that  his  communications  left  "  not  a  possibility  to  doubt 
the  sincerity  and  the  anxiety  of  the  French  Government  to 
avoid  the  spectacle  of  a  war  \vith  us,"  they  were  kept  from 
Congress,  while  an  army  and  a  great  addition  to  the  navy 
"  were  steadily  intended  " — "  that  a  loan  of  five  millions  was 
opened  at  eight  per  cent,  interest."  He  added  : 

"  That  these  measures  of  the  army,  navy,  and  direct  tax  will  bring  about  a  revo- 
ution  of  public  sentiment  is  thought  certain,  and  that  the  Constitution  will  then  re 
ceive  a  different  explanation.  Could  those  debates  [Madison's  Debates  of  the  Con 
vention  of  1787]  be  ready  to  appear  critically,  their  effect  would  be  decisive."  *  *  * 

1  Harper,  of  South  Carolina,  was  particularly  pointed  and  offensive  throughout  the 
whole  debate  on  what  was  ludicrously  termed  "  the  usurpation  of  federal  authority,"  in  his 
innuendoes  that  Logan  had  gone  to  France  as  a  political  emissary,  and  particularly  as 
an  emissary  of  Jefferson.  On  the  28th  of  December  he  offered  to  read  the  letter  to 
Mazzei,  in  the  debate.  On  the  10th  of  January,  1799,  he  read  by  paragraphs  and  com 
mented  on  a  paper,  purporting  to  be  addressed  by  Logan  to  the  French  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs.  He  affected  wholly  to  discredit  a  declaration  in  it  that  he  (Logan)  was 
"  without  any  official  character,  and  wholly  unauthorized  from  any  quarter,"  etc.  etc. 

Logan  made  the  following  reply : 

For  the  American  Daily  Advertiser. 

"Robert  G.  Harper,  on  Thursday  last,  brought  forward  and  read  in  Congress,  a 
memorial  which  he  insinuated  had  been  presented  by  me  to  the  Minister  of  the  Exterior 
Relations  in  Paris. 

"  Out  of  respect  to  the  honorable  situation  in  which  Mr.  Harper  has  been  placed  by  his 
country,  I  think  it  proper  to  observe  that  neither  the  memorial  in  question  nor  any  other 
writing  was  ever  presented  by  me  to  Citizen  Talleyrand.  The  piper  read  in  Congress 
was  drafted  by  a  respectable  citizen  of  Boston,  residing  in  Paris,  the  friend  and  corres 
pondent  of  Mr.  Otis  [H.  G.  Otis,  who  had  figured  largely  in  the  debate,  on  the  same  side 
with  Mr.  Harper].  Some  of  the  sentiments  which  it  contains  were  taken  from  a  letter 
whioh  that  person  had  just  received  from  his  brother,  and  which  he  had  a  few  days 
before  communicated  to  Citizen  Talleyrand.  It  was  judged  of  importance  that  these, 
united  with  other  opinions  calculated  to  promote  peace,  should  be  supported  by  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States  immediately  from  his  country.  On  this  account  the  memorial  waa 
handed  to  me  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  it  to  the  Minister.  I  declined  this 
service  as  having  too  much  the  appearance  of  an  official  act.  I  returned  it  to  Mr. 
Codman  without  even  taking  a  copy  of  it,  or  making  any  use  of  it  whatever. 

"GEORGE  LOO>N. 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  Jantntry  14,  1799.*' 


CHAP.   IX.]  THE    LOGAN    LAW.  467 

"  Your  favor  of  December  the  29th  came  to  hand  January  the  5th  ;  seal  sound. 
I  pray  you  always  to  examine  the  seals  of  mine  to  you,  and  the  strength  of  the  im« 
pression.  The  suspicions  against  the  Government  on  this  subject  are  strong." 

As  he  anticipated,  the  "  Logan  Law,"  as  it  was  popularly 
termed,  passed,  January  30th.  It  provided  that  any  "  citizen 
of  the  United  States  residing  within  them,  or  in  a  foreign 

C?  7  O 

country,  who  should,  without  the  permission  or  authority  of  his 
Government,  "  directly  or  indirectly,  commence  or  carry  on,  any 
verbal  or  written  correspondence  or  intercourse  with  any  foreign 
government,  or  any  officer  or  agent  thereof,  with  an  intent  to 
influence  the  measures  or  conduct  of  any  foreign  government,  or 
any  officer  or  agent  thereof,  in  relation  to  any  disputes  or  contro 
versies  with  the  United  States,  or  defeat  the  measures  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States,"  or  "  counsel,  advise,  aid,  or 
assist  in  any  such  correspondence,"  he  should  be  punished  by  a 
fine  not  exceeding  $5,000,  and  by  imprisonment  during  a  term 
not  less  than  six  months  nor  exceeding  three  years."  This  act 
not  only  rendered  such  conduct  as  Logan's  a  criminal  offence, 
but  also  every  word  uttered  by  Barlow,  God  man,  Skip  with  and 
other  American  residents  in  France,  to  any  "  officer  or  agent  " 
of  its  Government,  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  peace  between 
the  two  countries  !  To  write  a  letter  to  an  "  officer  or  agent " 
from  our  country,  for  the  same  object,  was  equally  punishable. 
And  who  could  not  have  been  adjudged  an  "  agent "  of 
France  by  our  courts  ? 

If  this  law  was  aimed  at  a  moral  crime,  then  Lafayette  com 
mitted  a  moral  crime  when  he  wrote  Washington  and  Hamil 
ton,  officers  of  the  American  Government,  for  the  purpose  of 
averting  a  desolating,  and  what  he  believed  totally  unnecessary, 
war  between  his  native  land  and  one  for  which  he  had  more 
than  once  shed  his  blood.  Such  a  pretence  would  be  an  insult 
to  common  sense.  A  more  arbitrary  and  purely  Vandalish 
enactment  has  rarely  disgraced  the  statute  books  of  a  civilized 
nation.  In  theory,  it  is  even  less  defensible  than  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  Laws. 

It  is  not  probable  that  a  single  prominent  Hamilton]' an -Fed 
eralist  who  voted  for  this  bill  in  Congress,  was  ignorant  that 
pending  the  circumstances  which  were  made  the  excuse  for  the 
enactment,  at  least  one  officer  in  the  President's  Cabinet,  and 
the  second  officer  in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  were, 


4:68  JEFFERSON'S  POLITICAL  CREED  IN  1799.      [CHAP.  ix. 

through  an  American  ambassador,  agreeing  upon  preparations, 
with  the  British  Cabinet,  for  a  great  combined  warlike  move 
ment  against  a  power  with  which  our  country  was  at  profound 
peace,  and  also  against  that  very  power  with  which  it  had  been 
the  object  of  Logan's  journey  to  preserve  the  peace!  Nor  is  it 
probable  that  any  of  them  were  ignorant  that  this  negotiation 
was  kept  as  profound  a  secret  from  the  President  as  it  was  from 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  With  this  fact  in  his  know 
ledge,  the  student  of  history  will  turn  back  to  the  eloquent  and 
seemingly  indignant  denunciations  heaped  on  Logan's  asserted 
"usurpation  of  Executive  authority  "  (and  this  was  the  avowed 
hypothesis  on  whicl  the  bill  rested)  by  Otis  and  others,  with 
feelings  of  surprise  and  disgust  which  it  is  difficult  to  express. 

Jefferson  wrote  Monroe,  January  23d,  giving  an  expose  of 
financial  affairs,  and  several  other  interesting  views,  afterwards 
more  fully  repeated.  We  allude  to  this  letter  only  from  its  con 
taining  the  first  intimation,  that  we  have  anywhere  observed,  of 
the  author  being  connected  with  the  raising  or  paying  of  money 
for  political  purposes.  He  informs  Monroe  "  that  an  important 
measure  is  under  contemplation,"  and  if  it  goes  on  "  will 
require  a  considerable  sum  of  money  on  loan  " — that  he  shall 
perhaps,  be  compelled  to  score  him  [Monroe]  "  for  fifty  or  one 
hundred  dollars."  This  "measure"  was  the  publication  of 
Madison's  Debates  of  the  Federal  Convention;  and,  we  need  not 
add,  did  not  then  go  into  effect. 

Jefferson  replied,  January  26th,  to  a  letter  from  Gerry,  of 
which  he  had  been  some  time  in  the  receipt.  After  declaring 
his  utter  want  of  connection  or  privity  with  Logan's  undertak 
ing,  he  entered  upon  an  explanation  of  his  political  views,  most 
of  which  would  not  be  new  to  tfye  observer  of  his  previous 
declarations  and  acts ;  but  as  a  succint  statement  of  his  whole 
political  creed,  at  this  period,  it  is  worthy  of  particular  refer 
ence,  by  investigators  of  political  history. l 

i  We  cannot,  though  at  the  expense  of  some  repetition,  repress  the  inclination  to 
allow  the  most  cursory  reader  an  opportunity  of  contrasting,  conveniently  and  connect 
edly,  this  profession  of  faith  with  the  "  Thorough  "  of  the  chief  of  the  opposite  party,  just 
given.  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  Gerry : 

u  I  do  then,  with  sincere  zeal,  wish  an  inviolable  preservation  of  our  present  federal 
Constitution,  according  to  the  true  sense  in  which  it  was  adopted  by  the  States,  that  in 
which  it  was  advocated  by  its  friends,  and  not  that  which  its  enemies  apprehended,  who, 
therefore,  became  its  enemies  :  and  I  am  opposed  to  the  monarchizing  its  features  by  the 
forms  of  its  administration,  with  a  view  to  conciliate  a  first  transition  to  a  President  and 
Senate  for  life,  and  from  that  to  an  hereditary  tenure  of  theye  offices,  and  thus  to  Tvorna 


CHAP.  IX.]  HIS    LETTER   TO    GERRY.  469 

After  presenting,  in  this  letter,  a  lively  account  of  the  suc 
cessful  means  resorted  to  by  the  Federalists  to  blow  up  the 
XYZ  flame,  alluding  to  the  inflexible  determination  evinced 
in  the  Secretary  of  State's  recent  report  (on  the  French  dis 
patches)  against  any  conciliation  with  France,  and  the  popular 
judgment  likely  to  be  formed  in  regard  to  it,  Jefferson  pro 
ceeds  : 

u  The  alien  and  sedition  acts  have  already  operated  in  the  South  as  powerful 
sedatives  of  the  XYZ  inflammation.  In  your  quarter,  where  violations  of  princi 
ple  are  either  less  regarded  or  more  concealed,  the  direct  tax  is  likely  to  have  the 
same  eft'ect,  and  to  excite  inquiries  into  the  object  of  the  enormous  expenses  and 
taxes  we  are  bringing  on.  And  your  information  supervening,  that  we  might  have 
a  liberal  accommodation  if  we  would,  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  reproduction 
of  that  general  movement  which  had  been  changed,  for  a  moment,  by  the  dispatches 
of  October  22d.  And  though  small  checks  and  stops,  like  Logan's  pretended  em 
bassy,  may  be  thrown  in  the  way,  from  time  to  time,  and  may  a  little  retard  its 
motion,  yet  the  tide  is  already  turned  and  will  sweep  before  it  all  the  feeble  ob 
stacles  of  art.  The  unquestionable  republicanism  of  the  American  mind  will  break 
through  the  mist  under  which  it  has  been  clouded,  and  will  oblige  its  agents  to  re 
form  the  principles  and  practices  of  their  administration." 

out  the  elective  principle.  I  am  for  preserving  to  the  States  the  powers  not  yielded  by 
them  to  the  Union,  and  to  the  Legislature  of  the  Union  its  constitutional  share  in  the 
division  of  powers  :  and  I  am  not  for  transferring  all  the  powers  of  the  States  to  the 
general  Government,  and  all  those  of  that  Government  to  the  executive  branch.  I  am 
for  a  Government  rigorously  frugal  and  simple,  applying  all  the  possible  sayings  of  the 
public  revenue  to  the  discharge  of  the  national  debt :  and  not  for  a  multiplication  of 
officers  and  salaries  merely  to  make  partisans,  and  for  increasing,  by  every  device,  the 

Sublic  debt,  on  the  principle  of  its  being  a  public  blessing.  I  am  for  relying,  for  internal 
efence,  on  our  militia  solely,  till  actual  invasion,  and  for  such  a  naval  force  only  as  may 
protect  our  coasts  and  harbors  from  such  depredations  as  we  have  experienced  :  and  not 
for  a  standing  army  in  time  of  peace,  which  may  overawe  the  public  sentiment ;  nor  for 
a  navy,  which,  by  its  own  expenses  and  the  eternal  wars  in  which  it  will  implicate  us, 
will  grind  us  with  public  burdens,  and  sink  us  under  them.  I  am  for  free  commerce 
with  all  nations ;  political  connection  with  none  ;  and  little  or  no  diplomatic  establish 
ment.  And  I  am  not  for  linking  ourselves  by  new  treaties  with  the  quarrels  of  Europe ; 
entering  that  field  of  slaughter  to  preserve  their  balance,  or  joining  in  the  confederacy 
of  kings  to  war  against  the  principles  of  liberty.  I  am  for  freedom  of  religion,  and 
against  all  manoeuvres  to  bring  about  a  legal  ascendency  of  one  sect  over  another  :  for 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  against  all  violations  of  the  Constitution  to  silence  by  force  and 
not  by  reason  the  complaints  or  criticisms,  just  or  unjust,  of  our  citizens  against  the  con 
duct  of  their  agents.  And  I  am  for  encouraging  the  progress  of  science  in  all  its 
branches  :  and  not  for  raising  a  hue  and  cry  against  the  sacred  name  of  philosophy ;  for 
awiug  the  human  mind  by  stories  of  raw-head  and  bloody-bones  to  a  distrust  of  its  own 
vision,  and  to  repo.se  implicitly  on  that  of  oth3rs  ;  to  go  backwards  instead  of  forwards  to 
look  for  improvement ;  to  believe  that  government,  religion,  morality,  and  every  other 
science,  were  in  the  highest  perfection  in  ages  of  the  darkest  ignorance,  and  that  nothing 
can  evrfr  be  devised  more  perfect  than  what  was  established  by  our  forefathers.  To 
the.se  I  will  add,  that  I  was  a  sincere  well  wisher  to  the  success  of  the  French  Revolution, 
and  still  wish  it  may  end  in  the  establishment  of  a  free  and  well  ordered  republic  :  but  I 
have  not  been  insensible  under  the  atrocious  depredations  they  have  committed  on  our 
commerce.  The  first  object  of  my  heart  is  my  own  country.  In  that  is  embarked  my 
family,  my  fortune,  and  my  own  existence.  I  have  not  one  farthing  of  interest,  nor  one 
fibre  of  attachment  out  of  it,  nor  a  single  motive  of  preference  of  any  one  nation  to 
another,  but  in  proportion  as  they  are  more  or  less  friendly  to  us.  But  though  deeply 
feeling  the  injuries  of  France,  I  did  not  think  war  the  surest  means  of  redressing  them,. 
I  did  believe,  that  a  mission  sincerely  disposed  to  preserve  peace,  Avould  obtain  for  us  a 
peaceable  and  honorable  settlement  and  retribution  ;  and  I  appeal  to  you  to  say, 
whether  this  might  not  have  been  obtained,  if  either  of  your  colleagues  had  been  of  the 
same  sentiment  with  yourself." 


l\ 

4.70  JEFFEBSON   TO   PENDLETON — MARSHALL.         [CHAP.    IX. 

The  treatment  Gerry  had  received  from  his  own  side,  is  then 
forcibly  reviewed. 

Some  pains  have  been  taken  to  show  that  Jefferson  labored  in 
this  letter  to  detach  his  correspondent  from  his  previous  political 
connections.  The  fact  needs  no  argument.  The  whole  letter  is 
an  unconcealed  effort,  by  contrasting  the  principles  and  con 
duct  of  the  two  parties,  to  draw  a  man  whose  understanding  and 
acquaintance  with  public  affairs  were  second  to  those  of  few  in 
the  United  States,  out  of  an  unnatural  party  affiliation,  resulting 
from  circumstances,  into  the  one  where  he  properly  belonged.1 

On  the  29th  of  January,  Mr.  Jefferson  addressed  the  vener 
able  Edmund  Pendleton  on  the  subject  of  a  political  production 
of  the  latter,  which  under  the  caption  of  a  Patriarchal  Address, 
was  running  through  the  Republican  newspapers,  and  producing 
a  marked  effect.  The  former  urged  him  to  prepare  a  second 
paper,  brief,  simple  and  levelled  to  every  capacity,  and  permit 
ten  or  twelve  thousand  copies  of  it  to  be  circulated  by  members 

of  Congress.  "  The  XYZ  dish  cooked  up  by "  2  is  pointed 

out  as  one  of  the  most  urgent  topics,  and  Jefferson  nervously 
adds : 

"  If  the  understanding  of  the  people  could  be  rallied  to  the  truth  on  this  subject, 
by  exposing  the  dupery  practised  on  them,  there  are  so  many  other  things  about  to 

1  Mr.  Gibbs,  the  federal  historian,  who  closely  represents  Wolcott's  views,  and  there 
fore  those  of  the   Hamiltonians,  is  at  constant  pains  to  disparage  Gerry,  as  a  mere 
favorite  of  John  Adams.     But  let  the  candid  reader  examine  Gerry's  career,  and  com 
pare  the  evidences  of  his  understanding,  his  information,  and  his  wisdom  with  those  left 
by  the  Dii  Majorum  Gentium  of  New  England  ultra-Federalism,  and  he  will,  we  are  per 
suaded,  find  that  the  comparison  resolves  itself  into  a  contrast,  and  that  the  contrast  is 
all  in  the  favor  of  Mr.  Gerry. 

2  The  blank  in  this  sentence  is  undoubtedly  to  be  filled  with  the  name  of  Marshall ; 
and,  it  appears,  Jefferson  expected  to  find  sympathy  from  Pendleton  in  this  severe 
characterization  of  that  gentleman's  conduct.     We  have  seen  that  Jefferson  made  no 
complaints  of  Marshall's  proceedings  in  France — that  he  gave  him  the  credit,  on  his 
return,  of  entertaining  no  views  of  forcing  on  a  war  between  the  countries  ;  though  Jef 
ferson  intimated  that  Hamilton  and  others  were  laboring  to  draw  from  Marshall  a  color 
ing  of  affairs  intended  for  that  object.     He  believed  that  the  effort  was  successful ;  and 
hence  originated  that  political  distrust  and  aversion  with  which  he  regarded  Marshall 
through  life  ;  and  the  debt  was  unquestionably  paid  with  interest !    Whether  Jefferson's 
severe  suspicions  were  well  or  ill  founded,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say.     He  rested  on  unquali 
fied  assertions  of  Edward  Livingston,  in  believing  that  Marshall  changed  his  views  soon 
after  his  return  from  France  to  the  United  States.    We  are  inclined  to  think  that  Living 
ston  misunderstood  Marshall.     Whether  the  latter  judged  correctly  in  the   view  he 
thought  our  Government  ought  to  take  of  the  XYZ  transactions — whether  he  acted  dis 
creetly  in  the  use  he  made,  or  allowed  to  be  made,  of  those  transactions  to  inflame  and  to 
so  long  keep  up  a  vehement  war  spirit  in  our  country,  liable  at  any  moment,  and  judging 
by  the  conduct  of  France  towards  other  powers,  most  likely  at  every  moment,  to  embark 
us  in  a  furious  struggle  with  a  nation  which  it  required  a  coalition  of  half  Europe  at  that 
epoch  to  hold  in  check — we  say.  whether  he  acted  wisely  in  all  this,  is  an  open  question  ; 
and  one  which  we  make  no  hesitation  in  answering  negatively.     But  we  are  not  willing 
to  believe  that  the  closetings  with  Hamilton  at  his  landing,  and  the  fetes,  processions, 
military  musters,  civic  feasts,  goings  out  of  Cabinet  officers  to  escort  him  to  the  capital, 
and  other  attentions  which  the  Federalists  heaped  on  Marshall,  or  the  opinions  and  wishes 
they  expressed  to  him,  warped  him  into  any  conscious  affirmative  misrepresentations,  as 
Jefferson's  words  above  would  seem  to  imply. 


CHAP.  IX.]  UNION    OF   REVOLUTIONARY   EXTREMES.  471 

bear  on  them  favorably  for  the  resurrection  of  their  republican  spirit,  that  a  reduc 
tion  of  the  Administration  to  constitutional  principles  cannot  fail  to  be  the  effect. 
These  are  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  the  vexations  of  the  Stamp  Act,  the  disgusting 
particularities  of  the  direct  tax  ;  the  additional  army  without  an  enemy,  and  recruit 
ing  officers  lounging  at  every  courthouse  to  decoy  the  laborer  from  his  plow ; 
a  navy  of  fifty  ships,  five  millions  to  be  raised  to  build  it,  on  the  usurious  interest  of 
eight  per  cent. ;  the  perseverance  in  war  on  our  part,  when  the  French  Government 
shows  such  an  anxious  desire  to  keep  at  peace  with  us ;  taxes  of  ten  millions  now 
paid  by  four  millions  of  people,  and  yet  a  necessity,  in  a  year  or  two,  of  raising  five 
millions  more  for  annual  expenses.  These  things  will  immediately  be  bearing  oil 
the  public  mind,  and  if  it  remain  not  still  blinded  by  a  supposed  necessity,  for  the 
purposes  of  maintaining  our  independence  and  defending  our  country,  they  will  set 
things  to  rights.  I  hope  you  will  undertake  this  statement." 

Mr.  Pendleton's  papers  had  the  effect  on  the  public  mind 
anticipated  by  Jefferson.  His  patriarchal  age,  his  great  talents 
and  experience,  his  obvious  disinterestedness,  his  conceded  purity 
of  public  and  private  character,  and  his  life-long  prudence  and 
caution,  made  him  a  man  to  whose  advice  neither  friends 
nor  intelligent  opponents  could  refuse  to  pay  serious  heed.  All 
knew  the  natural  conservatism  of  his  character.  A  respectable 
Virginian  would  as  soon  have  thought  of  classing  Washington 
with  the  Caligulas  and  Tiberiuses,  as  Pendleton  with  the  Marats 
and  Dantons.  He  meddled  little  in  the  turbid  currents  of 
personal  politics.  He  had  passed  the  age  for^  ambition.  He 
never  had  affected  popular  leadership.  He  was  neither  in  public 
nor  in  private  life  an  egotist,  fond  of  occupying  noticeable  posi 
tions,  or  of  hearing  the  public  reverberations  of  his  own  voice. 
Accordingly,  when  that  aged  voice  of  warning  was  now  heard 
rising,  though  still  serene,  amidst  the  swells  of  the  storm,  discreet, 
men  felt  that  danger  impended. 

The  union  of  the  Revolutionary  patriotic  extremes,  in  the  por- 
ons  of  Jefferson  and  Pendleton  in  Virginia,  and  of  Jefferson 
and  Dickinson  in  Pennsylvania,  is  an  interesting  fact  for  con 
templation  and  speculation.  It  would  have  been  more  naturally 
expected  that  the  latter  would  fall  into  some  middle  line.  That 
Pendleton,  so  affectionately  esteeming  and  esteemed  by  Wash 
ington,  should  have  rather  followed  the  path  of  the  younger 
Jefferson  when  it  diverged  from  that  of  the  first  President, 
would  seem  most  singular  on  a  superficial  view.  But  neither 
Pendleton  nor  Dickinson  was  placed  by  the  elevation  of  office 
or  the  fame  of  his  achievements,  on  that  lofty  summit,  which 
the  mass  of  men  approach  with  too  mil'  h  awe  freely  to  express 


PENDLETON   AND    DICKINSONS    ATTITUDE.        [GOAF.    IX. 

their  own  dissenting  opinions  and  feelings.  Pendleton  and 
Dickinson  mingled  daily  in  the  busy  stream  of  society,  in  the 
currents  of  common  life,  flowing  in  their  natural  channels  and 
without  any  restraint.  They  therefore  could  judge  the  public 
mind  by  their  own  eyes  and  ears,  and  were  in  no  danger  of 
being  misled  by  interested  interpreters  who  brought  them  every 
fact  dyed  to  the  hue  of  a  partisan  theory,  or  fashioned  into  a 
"  prop  "  for  some  concealed  personal  plan. 

The  conservatism  of  Pendleton's  mind  had  reference  to  the 
actual  rather  than  to  abstract  dogmas.  He  took  mankind  and 
circumstances  as  they  were — and  in  judging  what  ought  to  be 
done,  always  first  judged  what  could  be  done.  His  standard 
was  the  practical ;  and  when  it  was  warred  on  by  tradition, 
authority,  or  even  pseudo-logic,  he  dismissed  them  as  imper 
tinences.  Accordingly  he  was  a  representative  man.  If  he 
represented  the  rear-guard  of  that  portion  of  society  which  moves 
forward,  he  never  became  detached  from  the  main  body.  He 
may  be  compared  to  the  artillery,  which  does  not  keep  pace 
with  cavalry  and  infantry  in  the  rapid  advance  over  new 
country.  But  the  latter  proceed  confidently  and  safely  when 
a  backward  look  from  the  height  rests  upon  the  heavy  guns  toil 
ing  on  within  "  supporting  distance  I" 

In  another  respect  Pendleton  and  Dickinson  coincided. 
They  were  both  thoroughly  American  men.  Each  would  often 
have  planned  the  march  or  the  battle  differently  ;  but  when 
the  die  was  cast,  neither  wished  a  better  fate  than  his  country 
men,  or  a  different  one. 

AYhen  the  class  of  men  these  calm,  grave  old  chiefs  repre 
sented,  rallied  round  Jefferson  in  1798,  it  gave  pregnant  proof, 
if  any  were  needed,  that  Federalism  was  reaction  and  not 
conservatism  ;  that  it  was  at  war  with  American  feeling  and 
impracticable ;  that  its  tall  was  swiftly  impending. 

Jefferson  wrote  to  Col.  IN".  Lewis  on  the  29th  or  30th  of 
January : 1 

"  You  will  see  by  Mr.  Pickering's  report,  that  we  are  determined  to  believe  nc 
declarations  they  [the  French]  can  make,  but  to  meet  their  peaceable  professions 
with  acts  of  war.  An  act  has  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  majority  ot 
twenty,  for  continuing  the  law  cutting  off  intercourse  with  France,  but  allowing  the 

1  The  date  not  given  in  Congress  edition  (where  it  only  appears),  but  the  letter  i? 
arranged  between  two,  dated  January  29th  and  30th. 


CHAP.  IX.]  FEDERAL    MEASURES    IN    CONGRESS.  473 

President,  by  proclamation,  to  except  out  of  this  such  parts  of  their  dominions  as 
disavow  the  depredations  committed  on  us.  This  is  intended  for  St.  Domingo, 
where  Totissaint  has  thrown  off  dependence  on  France.  He  has  an  agent  here  on 
this  business.  Yesterday  the  House  of  Representatives  voted  six  ships  of  74  guns, 
and  six  of  18,  making  522  guns.  These  would  cost  in  England  $5,000  a  gun.  They 
would  cost  here  $10,000,  or  the  whole  will  cost  five  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars. 
And  this  is  only  a  part  of  what  is  proposed;  the  whole  contemplated  being  twelve 
74's,  12  frigates,  and  about  25  smaller  vessels.  The  state  of  our  income  and  expense 
is  (in  round  numbers)  nearly  as  follows : 

u  Imports,  seven  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars ;  excise,  auctions,  licenses,  car 
riages,  half  a  million  ;  postage,  patents,  and  bank  stock,  one-eighth  of  a  million — 
making  eight  and  one-eighth  millions.  The  expenses  on  the  civil  list,  three-fourths 
of  a  million  ;  foreign  intercourse,  half  a  million ;  interest  on  the  public  debt,  four  mil 
lions  ;  the  present  navy,  two  and  a  half  millions ;  the  present  army,  one  and  a  half 
millions — making  nine  and  one-quarter  millions.  The  additional  army  will  be  two 
and  a  half  millions  ;  the  additional  navy,  three  millions;  and  interest  on  the  new 
loan,  near  one-half  a  million — in  all,  fifteen  and  one-quarter  millions.  So  in  about 
a  year  or  two  there  will  be  five  millions  annually  to  be  raised  by  taxes,  in  addition 
to  the  ten  millions  we  now  pay.  Suppose  our  population  is  now  five  millions,  this 
would  be  three  dollars  a  head.  This  is  exclusive  of  the  outfit  of  the  navy,  for  which 
a  loan  is  opened  to  borrow  five  millions  at  8  per  cent.  If  we  can  remain  at  peace, 
we  have  this  in  our  favor,  that  these  projects  will  require  time  to  execute  ;  that  in 
the  meantime,  the  sentiments  of  the  people  in  the  middle  States  are  visibly  turn- 
Ing  back'  to  their  former  direction,  the  XYZ  delusion  being  abated,  and  their 
minds  becoming  sensible  to  the  circumstances  surrounding  them — to  wit :  the  Alien 
and  Sedition  Acts,  the  vexations  of  the  Stamp  Act,  the  direct  tax,  the  follies  of  the  ad 
ditional  army  and  navy,  money  borrowed  for  these  at  the  usurious  interest  of  eight 
per  cent.  ;  and  Mr.  Gerry's  communications  showing  that  peace  is  ours  unless  we 
throw  it  away.  But  if  the  joining  the  revolted  subjects  (negroes)  of  Franca,  and 
surrounding  their  islands  with  our  armed  vessels,  instead  of  their  merely  cruising 
on  our  own  coasts  to  protect  our  own  commerce,  should  provoke  France  to  a  decla 
ration  of  war,  these  measures  will  become  irremediable. 

*******  ** 

"  I  wish  I  could  have  presented  you  with  a  more  comfortable  view  of  our  affairs. 
However,  that  will  come  if  the  friends  of  reform,  while  they  remain  firm,  avoid 
every  act  and  threat  against  the  peace  of  the  Union,  that  would  check  the  favorable 
sentiments  of  the  middle  States,  and  rally  them  again  around  the  measures  which 
are  ruining  us.  Reason,  not  rashness,  is  the  only  means  of  bringing  our  fellow-citi 
zens  to  their  true  minds.  Present  my  best  compliments  to  Mrs.  Lewis,  and  accept 
yourself  assurances  of  the  sincere  and  affectionate  esteem  with  which  I  am,  dear 
sir,  your  friend  and  servant." 

The  bill  alluded  to,  continuing  non-intercourse  with  France, 
became  a  law  February  9th,  and  that  for  the  augmentation  of 
the  navy  on  the  25th. 

He  wrote  to  Madison,  January  30th : 

"  Petitions  and  remonstrances  against  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  are  coming 
from  the  various  parts  of  New  York,  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  ;  some  of  them  very 


PARTY   EFFORTS.  [CHAP.    IX. 

well  drawn.  I  am  in  hopes  Virginia  will  stand  so  countenahced  by  those  States,  as 
to  repress *  the  wishes  of  the  Government  to  coerce  her,  which  they  might  venture 
on,  if  they  supposed  she  would  be  left  alone.  Firmness  on  our  part,  but  a  passive 
firmness,  is  the  true  course.  Anything  rash  or  threatening  might  check  the  favor 
able  dispositions  of  these  middle  States,  and  rally  them  again  around  the  measures 
that  are  ruining  us." 

In  a  letter  to  Madison,  February  5th,  we  have  another  hint 
of  using  money  for  political  objects  : 

"  A  piece  published  in  Bache's  paper  on  foreign  influence,  has  had  the  greatest 
currency  and  effect.  To  an  extraordinary  first  impression,  they  have  been  obliged 
to  make  a  second,  and  of  an  extraordinary  number.  It  is  such  things  as  these  the 
public  want.  They  say  so  from  all  quarters,  and  that  they  wish  to  hear  reason  in 
stead  of  disgusting  blackguardism.  The  public  sentiment  being  now  on  the  creen,a 
and  many  heavy  circumstances  about  to  fall  into  the  republican  scale,  we  are  sensi 
ble  that  this  summer  is  the  season  for  systematic  energies  and  sacrifices.  The  en 
gine  is  the  press.  Every  man  must  lay  his  purse  and  his  pen  under  contribution. 
As  to  the  former,  it  is  possible  I  may  be  obliged  to  assume  something  for  you.  As 
to  the  latter,  let  me  pray  and  beseech  you  to  set  apart  a  certain  portion  of  every 
post  day  to  write  what  may  be  proper  for  the  public.  Send  it  to  me  while  here,  and 
when  I  go  away  I  will  let  you  know  to  whom  you  may  send,  so  that  your  name 
shall  be  sacredly  secret.  You  can  render  such  incalculable  services  in  this  way,  as 
to  lessen  the  effect  of  our  loss  of  your  presence  here.  I  shall  see  you  on  the  5th  or 
6th  of  March. 

He  wrote  to  Monroe,  February  llth : 

u  We  have  already  an  existing  army  of  5,000  men,  and  the  additional  army  of 
9,000  now  going  into  execution.  We  have  a  bill  on  its  progress  through  the  Senate 
for  authorizing  the  President  to  raise  thirty  regiments  (30,000),  called  an  eventual 
army,  in  case  of  war  with  any  European  power,  or  of  imminent  danger  of  invasion 
from  them  in  his  opinion.  And  also  to  call  out  and  exercise  at  times  the  volunteer 
army,  the  number  of  which  we  know  not." 


He  wrote  to  Mr.  Stewart,  February  13th : 


"  The  President  has  appointed  Rufus  King  to  make  a  commercial  treaty  with 
the  Russians  in  London,  and  William  Smith,  of  South  Carolina,  to  go  to  Constanti 
nople  to  make  one  with  the  Turks.  Both  appointments  are  confirmed  by  the 
Senate.  A  little  dissatisfaction  was  expressed  by  some  that  we  should  never  have 
treated  with  them  till  the  moment  when  they  had  formed  a  coalition  with  the  English 
against  the  French  You  have  seen  that  the  Directory  had  published  an  arret 
declaring  they  would  treat  as  pirates  any  neutrals  they  should  take  in  the  ships  of 
their  eneu.ies.  The  President  communicated  this  to  Congress  as  soon  as  he  received 

1  Printed  "express"  in  the  Congress  edition,  where  it  alone  appears,  but  the  word 
should  ob .  iously  be  what  we  have  given  it,  or  some  equivalent  one. 

2  Manufactured  out  of  the  nautical  word  "careen,"  to  heave  or  bring  a  ship  to  laj 
on  her  side. 


CHAP,  ix.]  THE  PRESIDENT'S  CONDUCT.  iT5 

it.  A  bill  was  brought  into  the  Senate  reciting  that  arret,  and  authorizing  retaliation^ 
The  President  received  information  almost  in  the  same  instant  that  the  Directory 
had  suspended  the  arret  (which  fact  was  privately  declared  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  two  of  the  Senate),  and  though  it  was  known  we  were  passing  an  act 
founded  on  that  arret,  yet  the  President  has  never  communicated  the  suspension.1 
However  the  Senate,  informed  indirectly  of  the  fact,  still  passed  the  act.  yesterday, 
an  hour  after  we  had  heard  of  the  return  of  our  vessel  and  crew  before  mentioned. 
It  is  acknowledged  on  all  hands,  and  declared  by  the  insurance  companies,  that  the 
British  depredations  during  the  last  six  months  have  greatly  exceeded  the  French, 
yet  not  a  word  is  said  about  it  officially.  *  *  * 

"  Several  parts  of  this  State  [Pennsylvania]  are  so  violent  that  we  fear  an  insur 
rection.  This  will  be  brought  about  by  some  if  they  can.  It  is  the  only  thing  we 
haA*e  to  fear.  The  appearance  of  an  attack  of  force  against  the  Government  would 
check  the  present  current  of  the  middle  States,  and  rally  them  around  the  Govern 
ment  ;  whereas,  if  suffered  to  go  on,  it  will  pass  on  to  a  reformation  of  abuses.  The 
materials  now  bearing  on  the  public  mind  will  infallibly  restore  it  to  its  republican 
soundness,  if  the  knowledge  of  facts  can  only  be  disseminated  among  the  people." 

After  alluding,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Pendleton,  of  February 
14th,  to  the  nomination  of  King  and  Smith,  as  Ministers  to  form 
treaties  with  the  Russians  and  Turks,  he  indignantly  adds : 

"  So  that  as  soon  as  there  is  a  coalition  of  Turks,  Russians,  and  English,  against 
France,  we  seize  that  moment  to  countenance  it  as  openly  as  we  dare,  by  treaties, 
which  we  never  had  with  them  before.  All  this  helps  t6  fill  up  the  measure  of  pro 
vocation  towards  France,  and  to  get  from  them  a  declaration  of  war,  which  we  arc 
afraid  to  be  the  first  in  making.  It  is  certain  the  French  have  behaved  atrociously 
towards  neutral  nations,  and  us  particularly  ;  and  though  we  might  be  disposed  not 
to  charge  them  with  all  the  enormities  committed  in  their  name  in  the  West  Indies, 
yet  they  are  to  be  blamed  for  not  doing  more  to  prevent  them.  *  *  *  * 
It  is  at  the  same  time  true,  that  their  enemies  set  the  first  example  of  violating  neu 
tral  rights,  and  continue  it  to  this  day  ;  insomuch,  that  it  is  declared  on  all  hands, 
and  particularly  by  the  insurance  companies,  and  denied  by  none,  that  the  British 
spoliations  have  considerably  exceeded  the  French  during  the  last  *'*:  months.  Yet 
not  a  word  of  these  things  is  said  officially  to  the  Legislature. 

"  Still  further,  to  give  the  devil  his  due  (the  French),  it  should  be  observed  that 
it  has  been  said  without  contradiction,  and  the  people  made  to  believe,  that  their 
refusal  to  receive  our  Envoys  was  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations,  and  a  sufficient 
cause  of  war ;  whereas,  every  one  who  ever  read  a  book  on  the  law  of  nations 
knows,  that  it  is  an  unquestionable  right  in  every  power  to  refuse  to  receive  any 
minister  who  is  personally  disagreeable.  Martens,  the  latest  and  a  very  respected 
writer,  has  laid  this  down  so  clearly  and  shortly  in  his  '  summary  of  the  law  of 
nations,'  B.  7,  ch.  2,  sec.  9,  that  I  will  transcribe  the  passage  verbatim.  '  Sec.  9. 
Of  choice  in  the  person  of  the  minister.  The  choice  of  the  person  to  be  sent  as 

>  Two  days  afterwards  (February  15th),  the  President,  by  a  message  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  communicated  the  suspension  of  the  arret — but  he  mentioned  that 
even  if  it  were  suspended  or  repealed,  "it  should  be  remembered"  that  the  one  of 
March  2d,  1797,  remained  in  force  subjecting  American  seamen  to  be  treated  as 
pirates  if  found  on  board  ships  of  the  enemies  of  France.  As  the  latter  had  been  in  force 
two  years,  without  being  in  a  single  instance  acted  on,  this  was  rather  late  retaliation ! 


47t>  FRENCH   AND   ENGLISH   INSULTS    COMPARED.       [CHAP.    IX. 

minister  depends  of  right  on  the  sovereign  who  sends  him,  leaving  the  right,  how 
ever,  of  him  to  whom  he  is  sent,  of  refusing  to  acknowledge  any  one,  to  whom  he 
has  a  personal  dislike,  or  who  is  inadmissible  by  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  coun 
try.'  And  he  adds  notes  proving  by  instances,  etc.  This  is  the  whole  section/' 

The  motive  here  assigned  for  the  Russian  and  Turkish  mission, 
will  presently  receive  confirmation  from  a  quarter  which  places 
it  beyond  dispute. 

A  French  corvette,  captured  by  Decatur,  had  been  refitted, 
named  the  "  Retaliation,"  and  placed  under  the  command  of 
Bainbridge.  On  the  20th  of  November,  1798,  two  French 
frigates  had  recaptured  her.  On  board  of  one  of  these  was 
Desforneaux,  appointed  by  the  Directory  to  supersede  Hughes 
as  their  Commissioner  at  Guadaloupe.  Hughes,  so  abhorred  for 
his  severities  to  Americans,  was  arrested  and  sent  a  prisoner  to 
France.  We  name  the  preceding  facts,  that  they  may  be  viewed 
in  connection  with  some  to  follow,  which  will,  in  their  respective 
consequences,  exhibit  the  spirit  of  our  Government  in  a  strong 
light. 

Within  a  week  of  the  time  that  the  Retaliation  was  recap 
tured  by  the  French  (not  far  from  the  middle  of  November, 
1798),  the  commander  of  a  British  squadron  cruising  in  the 
West  Indies,  not  only  seized  and  detained  part  of  a  fleet  of 
American  merchantmen,  sailing  to  Havana  under  convoy  of  the 
United  States  sloop-of-war  Baltimore,  but  he  sent  on  board  the 
sloop-of-war,  and  took  five  or  six  of  her  crew,  claiming  them  as 
British  subjects.  The  insult,  it  would  seem,  would  not  be  suffi 
cient  to  impress  from  merchantmen,  or  without  taking  men  from 
directly  under  the  national  flag  of  the  United  States !  The 
Executive,  while  asking  Congress  to  "  remember "  old  and 
unacted-on  decrees  of  the  French  Directory,  involving  the  safety 
of  American  seamen  in  foreign  service,  made  the  forcible  seizure 
of  those,  in  one  of  its  own  vessels  of  war,  as  Mr.  Jefferson 
remarks,  the  subject  of  no  communication  to  Congress  ! 

The  concluding  proposition  to  Pendleton,  that  a  government 
has  the  right  to  refuse  to  receive  a  minister  from  personal  objec 
tions,  without  giving  good  cause  of  war  to  the  power  sending 
him,  will  not  now  be  questioned. 

He  wrote  to  Madison,  February  19th : 

*'  But  the  event  of  events  was  announced  to  the  Senate  vesterday.     It  is  this : 
it  seems  that  soon   after  Gerry's  departure,  overtures  must  have  been  made  ly 


CflAP.  IX.]  NOMINATION    OF   FRENCH   MISSION.  477 

Pichon,  French  charge  d'affaires  at  the  Hague,  to  Murray.  They  were  so  soon  ma 
tured,  that  on  the  28th  of  September,  1798,  Talleyrand  writes  to  Pichon,  approving 
what  had  been  done,  and  particularly  of  his  having  assured  Murray  that  whatever 
Plenipotentiary  the  Government  of  the  United  States  should  send  to  France  to  end 
our  differences,  would  undoubtedly  be  received  with  the  respect  due  to  the 
representative  of  a  free,  independent  and  powerful  nation;  declaring  that  the 
President's  instructions  to  his  Envoys  at  Paris,  if  they  contain  the  whole  of  the 
American  Government's  intentions,  announce  dispositions  which  have  been  always 
entertained  by  the  Directory  ;  and  desiring  him  to  communicate  these  expres 
sions  to  Murray,  in  order  to  convince  him  of  the  sincerity  of  the  French  Govern 
ment,  and  to  prevail  on  him  to  transmit  them  to  his  Government.  This  is  dated 
September  the  28th,  and  may  have  been  received  by  Pichon  October  the  1st ;  and 
nearly  five  months  elapse  before  it  is  communicated.  Yesterday  the  President  nomi 
nated  to  the  Senate,  William  Vans  Murray,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  French 
Republic,  and  added,  that  he  shall  be  instructed  not  to  go  to  France,  without  direct 
and  unequivocal  assurances  from  the  French  Government  that  he  shall  he  received 
in  character,  enjoy  the  due  privileges,  and  a  minister  of  equal  rank,  title  and  power, 
be  appointed  to  discuss  and  conclude  our  controversy  by  a  new  treaty.  This  had 
evidently  been  kept  secret  from  the  Federalists  of  both  houses,  as  appeared  by  their 
dismay.  The  Senate  have  passed  over  this  day  without  taking  it  up.  It  is  said 
they  are  gravelled  and  divided ;  some  are  for  opposing,  others  do  not  know  what  to 
do.  But  in  the  meantime,  they  have  been  permitted  to  go  on  with  all  the  measures 
of  war  and  patronage,  and  when  the  close  of  the  session  is  at  hand  it  is  made 
known.  However,  it  silences  all  arguments  against  the  sincerity  of  France,  and 
renders  desperate  every  further  effort  towards  war.  I  inclose  you  a  paper  with 
more  particulars." 

The  Federal  leaders  were,  indeed,  "  gravelled,"  but  they  were 
but  little  "divided."  Sedgwick  wrote  to  Hamilton  for  advice, 
declaring  that,  "  had  the  foulest  heart  and  the  ablest  head  in  the 
world  been  permitted  to  select  the  most  embarrassing  and 
ruinous  measure,  perhaps  it  would  have  been  precisely  the  one 
which  had  been  adopted."  He  does  not  know,  "  in  the  dilemma  to 
which  we  are  reduced,"  whether  to  approve  or  reject  the  nomi 
nation.1  Pickering  boiled  over  with  more  impotent  fury.  He 
wrote  to  Hamilton,  February  25tn : 

"  We  have  all  been  shocked  and  grieved  at  the  nomination  of  a  minister  to 
negotiate  with  France.  There  is  but  one  sentiment  on  the  subject  among  the 
friends  of  their  country  and  the  real  supporters  of  the  President's  administration. 
Pains  have  been  taken  to  ameliorate  the  measure  by  throwing  it  into  a  commission. 
But  the  President  is  fixed  The  Senate  must  approve  or  negative  the  nomination. 
In  the  latter  event,  perhaps,  he  will  name  commissioners.  I  beg  you  to  be  assured, 
it  is  wholly  his  own  act. 

"  It  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  his  late  nominations  of  Mr.  King  to  negotiate 
a  commercial  treaty  with  Russia,  and  of  Mr.  Smith  to  negotiate  a  like  treaty  wit.s 

i  This  letter  is  dated  February  19th.    Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  396. 


478  FEDERAL   LEADERS    GRAVELLED,    ETC.  [CHAP.    IX. 

the  Porte.  Both  these  objects  will  now  be  defeated.  It  was  by  the  proffered  aid  of 
Russia  and  Great  Britain,  that  we  were  induced  to  propose  to  negotiate  with  the 
Poite."  1 

A  Committee  of  the  Senate,  to  whom  Murray's  nomination 
was  referred,  called  on  the  President,  and,  in  consequence  of 
what  they  heard  from  him,  determined  to  reject  the  nomi*- 
nation.9  Mr.  Adams  said  this  Committee  was  dissatisfied  with 
the  selection  of  Murray  ;  asked  why  he  did  not  nominate  Mr. 
King  or  our  Minister  at  Berlin;  why  he  did  not  nominate  a 
commission  of  three  or  five  instead  of  one  :  hut,  in  direct  con 
flict  with  Sedgwick's  account  of  the  interview,  he  represents  that 
he  acquiesced  in  the  commission,  and  that  the  Committee  then 
appeared  satisfied,  and  even  consented  that  Murray  be  retained 
in  it.8  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Sedgwick's  contempora 
neous  statement  is  the  correct  one,  and  that  Mr.  Adams  con 
founded  in  his  memory  his  conversation  with  the  Committee  and 
the  later  occurrences  which  took  place. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  the  President  nominated  "  Oliver 
Ellsworth,  Esquire,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  Patrick 
Henry,  Esquire,  late  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  William  Vans 
Murray,  Esquire,  our  Minister  resident  at  the  Hague,  to  be 
Envoys  Extraordinary  and  Ministers  Plenipotentiary  to  the 
French  Republic,  with  full  powers  to  discuss  and  settle,  by  a 
treaty,  all  controversies  between  the  United  States  and  France." 
The  message  thus  concluded  : 

"  It  is  not  intended  that  the  two  former  of  these  gentlemen  shall  embark  for 
Europe,  until  they  have  received  from  the  Executive  Directory,  assurances,  signified 
by  their  Secretary  of  Foreign  Relations,  that  they  shall  be  received  in  character,  that 
they  shall  enjoy  all  the  prerogatives  attached  to  that  character  by  the  law  of  nations, 
and  that  a  minister  or  ministers  of  equal  powers  shall  be  appointed  and  commis 
sioned  to  treat  with  them  " 

The  Senate  approved  the  nominations. 

Jefferson  wrote  Kosciusko,  Feb.  21st,  that  "  if  we  are  torced 
into  war,  we  must  give  up  political  differences  of  opinion,  and 
unite  as  one  man  to  defend  our  country  ;  but,"  he  added, 
"  whether  at  the  close  of  such  a  war,  we  shall  be  as  free  as  we 
are  now,  God  knows." 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  398.  We  have  preserved  the  italicization  of  the 
original.  The  closing  sentence  contains  a  curious  confession. 

*  Sedgwick  (Chairman  of  the  Committee)  thus  wrote  Hamilton,  Feb.  25th.    Ib.  p  399. 
8  See  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  250. 


CHAP,  ix.] 

A  letter  to  Madison,  on  the  26th,  exhibits  the  singular  fact, 
that  Jefferson  continued  completely  in  the  dark  in  regard  to  the 
respective  attitudes  of  the  two  Federal  wings,  on  the  subject  of 
war  and  peace  with  France — that  he  supposed  Mr.  Adams  was 
anxious  for  war ;  that  the  latter  dared  not,  however,  conceal  the 
overture  made  by  France,  but  that  he  hoped  his  friends  in  the 
Senate  would  reject  his  nominations,  which  were  only  intended 
to  parry  that  overture.  But,  conjectures  Jefferson,"  the  Hamil- 
tonians  would  not,  and  the  others  could  not  alone."  To  such 
strange  misconstructions  had  Mr.  Adams's  conduct  exposed 
him. 

The  petitions  which  had  continued  to  pour  into  the  House 
of  Representatives,  through  the  session,  for  a  repeal  of  the  Alien 
and  Sedition  Laws,  had  been  referred  to  a  special  committee. 
Its  chairman,  Goodrich,  prepared  an  elaborate  report,  sustaining 
the  constitutionality  and  expediency  of  those  laws.  Jefferson, 
in  the  same  letter  to  Madison,  just  quoted  from,  thus  describes 
what  took  place  when  this  report  was  presented  to  the  House : 

"  Yesterday  witnessed  a  scandalous  scene  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  It 
was  the  day  for  taking  up  the  Report  of  their  Committee  against  the  Alien  and  Se 
dition  Laws,  etc.  They  held  a  caucus  and  determined  that  not  a  word  should  be 
spoken  on  their  side,  in  answer  to  anything  which  should  be  said  on  the  other.  Gal- 
latin  took  up  the  Alien,  and  Nicholas  the  Sedition  Law  ;  but  after  a  little  while  of 
common  silence,  they  began  to  enter  into  loud  conversations,  laugh,  cough,  etc.,  so 
that  for  the  last  hou?  of  these  gentlemen's  speaking,  they  must  have  had  the  lungs 
of  a  vendue  master  to  have  been  heard.  Livingston,  however,  attempted  to  speak. 
But  after  a  few  sentences,  the  Speaker  called  him  to  order,  and  told  him  what  he 
was  saying  was  not  to  the  question.  It  was  impossible  to  proceed.  The  question 
was  taken  and  carried  in  favor  of  the  report,  fifty-two  to  forty-eight ;  the  real 
strength  of  the  two  parties  is  fifty-six  to  fifty.  But  two  of  the  latter  have  not 
attended  this  session." 
i 

The  appointment  of  a  new  commission  to  France,  of 
course,  arrested  the  principal  army  bills.  General  Hamilton's 
"THOROUGH"  was  checked  for  the  time  being.  No  further 
events  of  the  session  demand  our  notice.  Mr.  Jefferson  left  his 
seat  in  the  Senate  on  the  28th  of  February,  and  started  for  home 
the  next  day.  Congress  adjourned  on  the  3d  of  March. 

To  ge"t  a  just  view  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  warm  political  exertions 
during  the  past  session,  it  is  necessary  to  turn  from  our  meagre 
extracts  to  his  full  correspondence.  Never  before  or  afterwards 
did  he  make  such  efforts  as  this  dark  crisis  called  forth. 


480  HAMILTON    AND   JEFFERSON   Iff    1799.  [CHAP.    IX. 

There  is  something  instructive  in  a  comparison  of  the  means 
employed  to  advance  their  objects,  in  the  decisive  struggle,  by 
the  chiefs  of  the  two  great  parties. 

One  declared  that  our  people  were  "gangrened"  with  bad 
principles — that  the  gangrene  was  spreading — that  it  would  be 
unpardonable  not  to  act  on  the  hypothesis,  that  the  question 
must  be  settled  by  force.  To  prepare  for  this,  he  called  upon 
his  party  to  use  the  power  which  he  considered  only  transiently 
in  its  hands,  to  consolidate  all  sovereign  authority  in  the  general 
Government.  He  called  upon  it  to  raise  navies  and  standing 
armies.  He  called  for  a  more  severe  and  sweeping  execution 
of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  He  called  for  the  enactment 
of  a  new  law  against  the  political  liberty  of  speech,  and  the  press, 
to  which  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  would  have  been  mild 
both  in  their  scope  and  the  extent  of  their  penalties. 

The  other  chief  had  made  up  his  mind  a  little  earlier, 
that  final  resistance  was  preferable  to  a  complete  over 
throw  of  the  Constitution.  Under  his  advice  a  solemn  protest 
had  been  made  against  the  usurpations  of  the  federal  Govern 
ment.  He,  too,  was  for  preparations  ;  and  his  injunctions  to  his 
party  were  as  constantly  and  earnestly  uttered.  But  his  pre 
parations  were  confined  to  explanations  of  facts  and  arguments, 
addressed  to  the  intelligence  and  integrity  of  the  American 
people.  He  said  :  "  the  materials  now  bearing  on  the  public 
mind  will  infallibly  restore  it  to  its  Republican  soundness,  if  the 
knowledge  of  the  facts  can  only  be  disseminated  among  the 
people." 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Jan.  1st,  '99. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

I  left  Monticello  the  18th  of  December  and  arrived  here  to  breakfast  on  the 
25th,  having  .experienced  no  accident  or  inconvenience  except  a  slight  cold,  which 
brought  back  the  inflammation  of  my  eyes  and  still  continues  it,  though  so  far 
mended  as  to  give  hopes  of  its  going  off  soon.  I  took  my  place  in  Senate  before  a 
single  bill  was  brought  in  or  other  act  of  business  done,  except  the  Address,  which 
is  exactly  what  I  ought  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  ;  and  indeed  I  might,  have  stayed 
at  home  a  week  longer  without  missing  any  business  for  the  last  eleven  days  The 
Senate  have  met  only  on  five,  and  then  little  or  nothing  to  do.  However,  when  I 
am  to  write  on  politics  I  shall  address  my  letter  to  Mr.  Eppes.  To  you  I  had  rather 
indulge  the  effusions  of  a  heart  which  tenderly  loves  you,  which  builds  its  happiness 
on  yours,  and  feels  in  every  other  object  but  little  interest.  Without  an  object 
here  which  is  not  alien  to  me,  a"d  barreu  of  every  delight,  I  turn  to  your  situation 


CHAP.  IX.]  JEFFERSON    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  4:8  J 

\vith  pleasure,  in  the  midst  of  a  good  family  which  loves  you,  and  merits  all  voui 
love.  Go  on,  my  dear,  in  cultivating  the  invaluable  possession  of  their  affections. 
The  circle  of  our  nearest  connections  is  the  only  one  in  which  a  faithful  and  lasting 
affection  can  be  found,  one  which  will  adhere  to  us  under  all  changes  and  chances. 
It  is  therefore  the  only  soil  on  which  it  is  worth  while  to  bestow  much  culture.  Of 
this  truth  you  will  become  more  convinced  every  day  you  advance  into  life.  I  ima 
gine  you  are  by  this  time  about  removing  to  Mont-Bianco.  The  novelty  of  setting 
up  housekeeping  will,  with  all  its  difficulties,  make  you  very  happy  for  a  while.  Its 
delights,  however,  pass  away  in  time,  and  I  am  in  hopes  that  by  the  spring  of  the 
year  there  will  be  no  obstacle  to  your  joining  us  at  Monticello.  I  hope  I  shall  on 
my  roturn  find  such  preparation  made  as  will  enable  me  rapidly  to  get  one  room 
after  another  prepared  for  the  accommodation  of  our  friends,  and  particularly  of 
any  who  may  be  willing  to  accompany  or  visit  you  there.  Present  me  affectionately 
to  Mrs.  and  Mr.  Epoes,  father  and  son  and  all  the  family.  Remember  now  pleasing 
your  letters  will  be  to  me,  and  be  assured  of  my  constant  and  tender  love.  Adieu, 
my  ever  dear  Maria. 

Yours  affectionately. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extracts.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  Jan  23</,  '99. 

The  object  of  this  letter,  my  very  dear  Martha,  is  merely  to  inform  you  I  am 
well,  and  convey  to  you  the  expressions  of  my  love.  It  will  not  be  new  to  tell  you 
your  letters  do  not  come  as  often  as  I  could  wish.  This  deprives  me  of  the  gleams 
of  pleasure  wanting  to  relieve  the  dreariness  of  this  scene,  where  not  one  single 
occurrence  is  calculated  to  produce  pleasing  sensations.  I  hope  you  are  all  well, 
and  that  the  little  ones,  even  Ellen,  talk  of  me  sometimes.  *  *  *  * 
*  *  *  Kiss  all  the  little  ones,  and  receive  the  tender  and  unmingled  effu 
sions  of  my  love  to  yourself.  Adieu. 


PHILADELPHIA,  Feb.  5,  '99. 

Jupiter,  with  my  horses,  must  be  at  Fredericksburg  on  Tuesday  evening,  the 
5th  of  March.  I  shall  leave  this  place  on  the  1st  or  2d.  You  will  receive  this  the 
14th  instant.  I  am  already  light-hearted  at  the  approach  of  my  departure.  Kiss 
my  dear  children  for  me,  inexpressible  love  to  yourself,  and  the  sincerest  affection 
to  Mr.  Randolph.  Adieu. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Feb.  7,  '99. 

Your  letter,  my  dear  Maria,  of  January  21st,  was  received  two  days  ago.  It 
was,  as  Ossian  says,  or  would  say,  like  the  bright  beams  of  the  moon  on  the 
desolate  heath.  Environed  here  in  scenes  of  constant  torment,  malice  and  obliquy, 
worn  down  in  a  station  where  no  effort  to  render  service  can  avail  anything,  I  feel 
not  that  existence  is  a  blessing,  but  when  something  recalls  my  mind  to  my  family 

VOL.    II. 31 


482  JEFFERSON   TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.    IX. 

or  farm.  This  was  the  effect  of  your  letter,  and  its  affectionate  expressions  kindled 
up  all  those  feelings  of  love  for  you  and  our  dear  connections  which  now  constitute 
the  only  real  happiness  of  my  life.  I  am  now  feeding  on  the  idea  of  my  departure 
fc/r  Monticello,  which  is  but  three  weeks  distant.  The  roads  will  then  be  so  dread 
ful  that,  as  to  visit  you  even  by  the  direct  route  of  Frederlcksburg  and  Richmond 
would  add  100  miles  to  the  length  of  my  journey,  I  must  defer  it  in  the  hope  that 
about  the  last  of  March,  or  first  of  April,  I  may  be  able  to  take  a  trip  express  to 
see  you.  The  roads  will  then  be  fine ;  perhaps  your  sister  may  join  in  a  flying  trip, 
as  it  can  only  be  for  a  few  days.  In  the  meantime  let  me  hear  from  you.  Letters 
which  leave  Richmond  after  the  21st  instant  should  be  directed  to  me  at  Monticello. 
I  suppose  vou  to  be  now  at  Mont-Bianco,  and  therefore  do  not  charge  you  with  the 
delivery  of  those  sentiments  of  esteem  which  I  always  feel  for  the  family  at  Epping- 
ton.  I  write  to  Mr.  Eppes.  Continue  always  to  love  me,  and  be  assured  that  there 
is  no  object  on  earth  so  dear  to  my  heart  as  your  health  and  happiness,  and  that 
my  tende  est  affections  always  hang  on  you.  Adieu,  my  ever  dear  Maria. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


CHAPTER      X. 
1799—1800. 

The  President's  Inconsistency  in  respect  to  France — His  Embarrassments — His  Misjudged 
Course  towards  General  Washington — He  casts  away  Washington's  Aid — Washington's 
Letter  and  his  Reply — Virginia  Elections — Washington  takes  part — Urges  Patrick  Henry 
to  be  a  Candidate — He  consents — The  Sequel — Henry's  Death — His  Character  and 
Fame — Result  of  the  Elections — Cabinet  settle  Heads  of  Instructions  for  our  French 
Envoys — The  President  returns  to  Quincy — Directs  Preparation  of  the  French  Instruc 
tions — Delayed  six  months — Frivolous  Excuses  of  the  Cabinet — Talleyrand's  Sarcasm — 
Instructions  prepared,  and  Cabinet  then  propose  to  suspend  the  Mission — The  Presi 
dent  repairs  to  the  Seat  of  Government — Finds  a  Convocation  of  Hamiltonians — His 
Struggle  with  his  Cabinet — Hamilton's  last  Card— The  Envoys  dispatched — Complaints 
of  the  Cabinet — Grounds  of  the  Objections  of  the  Hamiltonians — The  President's 
occasional  Struggles  in  his  Duress — Touches  of  the  "Dwarf" — Pickering  scents 
Sedition  in  Cock's  Feathers — Urges  President  to  banish  Priestley — Mr.  Adams  vacil 
lating — His  miserable  Excuse  to  save  Priestley — Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania — State 
Prisoners — Convictions  for  Treason — President  pardons  contrary  to  Advice  of  his 
whole  Cabinet — Enormities  charged  on  the  Troops — Editors  whipped— Pennsylvania 
State  Elections— The  Candidates  and  the  Result— Jefferson's  Letters  to  Mrs.  Eppes— 
His  Domestic  Affairs  in  Summer  of  1799 — Political  Letters — Virginia  and  Kentucky 
Resolutions  of  1799 — Congress  meet — President's  Third  Annual  Speech — Wolcott 
describes  to  Ames  the  Situation  of  Parties  in  Congress — His  "  Engine  of  Government " 
— Ames's  Reply  and  his  "Engine  of  Government " — Wolcott  in  Private  Correspondence 
with  Mr.  Pitt— Hamilton  to  Washington  and  to  King— Spirit  and  Designs  of  the  Fede 
ralists  at  this  Period — Hamiltonians  preparing  to  bring  forward  Washington  for  the 
Presidency — His  Death — Public  Demonstrations  thereon — Demonstrations  in  France 
and  England — Cabot's  Hint  to  Ames  to  weave  Politics  into  Eulogy  of  Washington — 
That  Hint  generally  followed  up— His  Views  and  Principles  were  unlike  those  of 
Ames — His  Principles  and  Designs  equally  at  variance  with  Hamilton's — His  Party 
Connection  incidental — He  was  systematically  deceived — A  fresh  and  striking  Instance 
of  this — He  belonged  to  no  Party — His  Fame  is  National — Jefferson's  Political  Corres 
pondence  during  the  Session— Letters  to  Priestley — "  Our  Bonaparte  " — Congress  Pro 
ceedings  sketched  to  Madison— Party  Arithmetic— Political  Letters— The  Election  Law 
in  Congress— The  state  of  things  in  Pennsylvania  it  was  intended  for— John  Randolph 
denounces  "  Ragamuffins  "  and  "  Mercenaries  " — Jostled  in  the  Theatre — His  Communi 
cation  to  the  President — Action  in  the  House — Bills  passed — The  Robbins  affair — 
"Truxton's  Aggression"— "Overhauling  Editor  of  Aurora "— Macon's  Resolution  to 
Repeal  the  Law  in  regard  to  Seditious  Libels— His  Reliance  on  Federal  Pledges— The 
Pledges  kept  to  the  Letter  but  broken  to  the  Spirit — The  Presidential  Caucuses — 
Adjournment— Jefferson's  Letters  to  his  Daughters— Character  of  the  late  Session- 
Hamilton's  Quietness— His  Plans  and  his  Despondency — Reasons  of  that  Despondency. 

PICKERING'S   assertion   that   the    President's   new  policy  in 
respect  to  France  was  inconsistent  with  his  recent  nomination 

433 


484  THE  PRESIDENT'S  INCONSISTENCY.  [CHAP.  x. 

of  ministers  to  form  commercial  treaties  with  Russia  and  Turkey, 
under  the  circumstances  named,  was  undeniably  true.  But  this 
was  not  the  worst  inconsistency  which  Mr.  Adams's  conduct 
involved.  We  have  his  own  recorded  declaration  that  when  he 
made  the  nomination  of  Murray  he  had  been  towards  five 
months  in  the  possession  of  dispatches  which  completely  satis 
fied  him  that  France  sincerely  desired  an  adjustment — that  she 
had  made  "  a  regular  diplomatic  communication  "  to  that  effect 
— that  she  in  as  solemn  and  explicit  terms  as  the  "  French  or 
English  language  "  contained,  had  given  "  assurances  uf  all  that 
he  had  demanded  as  conditions  of  negotiation  " — and  that  uif 
any  thing  further  had  been  wanting,"  Mr.  Gerry's  letters  and  per 
sonal  conversations  had  "  confirmed  these  assurances  beyond  all 
doubt  in  his  mind." 

Yet  notwithstanding  this,  the  President  had  in  his  speech  to 
Congress,  more  than  two  months  after  receiving  all  this  informa 
tion,  held,  at  best,  but  an  ambiguous  tone  ;  had  not  hinted  at 
either  the  facts  or  his  conclusions  ;  had  conveyed  a  generally 
opposite  idea  in  regard  to  the  attitude  of  France  ;  had  blustered, 
menaced,  and  fanned  the  war  spirit  of  our  country  ;  and  had 
only  reopened  the  door  to  negotiation  as  an  alternative  requiring 
a  decisive  change  of  action  on  the  part  of  France,  not  a  step 
towards  which,  he  left  it  to  be  inferred,  had  yet  been  taken. 

Subsequent  to  this  speech,  Congress  had  been  more  than  two 
months  in  session.  Every  measure  adopted  by  it  pointed  to 
war.  Navies  were  founded.  Bills  for  great  land  armaments 
were  reported  and  were  on  their  passage.  The  President's  let 
ters  to  McHenry1  and  others  show  that  no  pretence  can  be  set 
up  that  he  regarded  these  as  necessary  preparations,  in  any 
event ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  when  he  spoke  his  real  feel 
ings,  he  knew  their  uselessness  and  deprecated  their  expensive- 
ness.  His  personal  course  towards  France,  in  the  matter  of  the 
Retaliation  and  others,  was  unnecessarily  harsh  and  offensive. 
While  keeping  up,  as  was  perhaps  proper,  the  quasi-war  with 
that  power  on  the  ocean,  he  lacked  firmness,  or  something  else, 
to  make  the  gross  and  deliberate  insult  to  one  of  our  national 
vessels  in  the  West  Indies  by  England,  the  subject  of  a  passing 
allusion  to  Congress.  He  ostensibly  seized  the  occasion  of  a 
coalition  against  France  to  open  negotiations  with  her  enemies 

J  See  ante,  p.  432. 


CHAP.   x.J  THE  PRESIDENT'S  INCONSISTENCY.  485 

mider  the  auspices  of  England  ;  and  he  nominated  ministers  to 
conduct  those  negotiations,  known  to  be  as  hostile  to  the  former 
power  as  were  any  two  persons  who  could  be  found  in  the 
United  States.  He  sanctioned,  nay,  suggested  a  tyrannical  law, 
designed  to  affix  a  stigma  on  a  man  for  individually  attempting 
to  save  our  peace  with  France — a  man  whom  he  afterwards 
declared  "  a  gentleman  of  fortune  and  education,  and  cer 
tainly  not  destitute  of  abilities  " — whom  he  said,  "  he  had  no 
reason  to  believe  a  corrupt  character  or  deficient  in  memory  or 
veracity  " — and  finally,  whom  he  even  assumed  especial  merit 
for  having  received  with  respect  and  for  giving  credit  to  his  state 
ments  on  his  return  from  that  very  "  mission  ?<l  to  France,  which 
was  made  the  pretext  of  the  law.1  And  if  Mr.  Adams  did  not 
also  design  the  stigma  to  rest,  without  a  shadow  of  criminatory 
proof,  and  contrary  to  the  published  statements  of  this  respect 
able  Mr.  Logan,  on  a  still  more  conspicuous  political  opponent, 
his  motives  were  unlike  the  substantially  avowed  ones  of  many 
who  voted  for  the  bill. 

In  short,  we  discover  nothing  in  the  President's  public  con 
duct  from  the  opening  of  Congress  to  the  nomination  of  Mur 
ray,  which  tends  to  show  that  he  was  less  infatuated  or  less 
infuriated  than  the  most  ultra-Federalists  in  his  Cabinet  or  in 
Congress.  So  far  as  preserving  the  peace  of  the  nation  was  con 
cerned,  his  conduct  receives  no  mitigation  from  the  unquestioned 
fact  that  he  had  not  a  remote  suspicion  of  the  real  object  of 
those  great  war  preparations  on  the  part  of  the  controllers  of  Con- 

1  If  such  inconsistency  appears  incredible,  we  will,  for  the  better  satisfaction  of  the 
reader,  quote  a  passage  from  a  publication  which  Mr.  Adams  made  in  the  Boston  Patriot 
in  1809,  and  which  will  be  found  in  the  family  edition  of  his  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  244.  He 
said  : 

"  I  shall  conclude  this  letter  with  another  anecdote.  Mr.  Logan,  of  Philadelphia,  a 
gentleman  of  fortune  and  education,  and  certainly  not  destitute  of  abilities,  who  had 
for  several  years  been  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  and  has  since  been 
a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  though  I  knew  he  had  been  one  of  the  old  constitutional 
party  in  that  State,  and  a  zealous  disciple  of  that  Democratical  school,  which  has  propa 
gated  many  errors  in  America,  and,  perhaps,  many  tragical  catastrophes  in  Europe, 
went  to  France,  either  with  the  pretext  or  the  real  design  of  improving  his  knowledge  in 
agriculture,  and  seeing  the  practice  of  it  in  that  country.  I  had  no  reason  to  believe  him 
a  corrupt  character,  or  deficient  in  memory  or  veracity.  After  his  return  he  called  upon 
me,  and  in  a  polite  and  respectful  manner  informed  me  that  he  had  been  honored  with 
conversations  with  Talleyrand,  who  had  been  well  acquainted  with  me,  and  repeatedly 
entertained  at  my  house,  and  now  visited  me  at  his  request  to  express  to  me  the  desire 
of  the  Directory  as  well  as  his  own,  to  accommodate  all  disputes  with  America,  and  to 
forget  all  that  was  past ;  to  request  rae  to  send  a  Minister  from  America,  or  to  give  cre 
dentials  to  some  one  already  in  Europe,  to  treat ;  and  to  assure  me  that  my  Minister 
should  be  received,  and  all  disputes  accommodated,  in  a  manner  that  would  be  satisfac 
tory  to  me  and  my  country.  I  knew  the  magical  words,  Democrat  and  Jacobin,  were 
Enough  to  destroy  the  credibility  of  any  witness  with  some  people.  But  not  so  with  me 
r  saw"  hi  'v^-  of  candor  and  sincerity  in  this  relation,  that  convinced  me  of  its  truth." 


4:86  THE  PRESIDENT'S  VACILLATION.  CHAP.   x. 

gressioiifj  movements — not  a  remote  suspicion  that  officers  in 
his  Cabinet  and  the  second  commander  in  the  army  of  the 
United  States  had  concerted  a  combined  warlike  movement 
with  England  against  France  and  Spain,  and  were  making  pre 
parations  to  carry  it  out.  If  that  object  was  a  reprehensible 
one,  lie  deserves  no  share  of  the  blame  ;  but  no  less  than  the 
parties  to  the  Miranda  scheme  did  he  know  the  war  preparations 
then  making  were  uncalled  for  by  the  real  circumstances  ;  that 
they  were  based  on  an  insincere  pretence  (the  danger  of  a 
French  invasion)  ;  that  they  would  overwhelm  his  country  with 
expense  ;  and  finally,  that  they  would  fearfully  increase  the  pro 
vocatives  to  and  consequent  probabilities  of  an  unnecessary  war 
with  France. 

With  his  eyes  open,  a  free  moral  ngent,  an  officer  clad  with 
constitutional  powers  which  no  personal  or  official  authority  on 
earth  could  restrain  from  all  that  was  necessary  to  arrest  the  evil 
and  protect  himself,  he  shrunk  from  his  duty  ;  for  more  than  two 
months  voluntarily  left  the  question  of  peace  or  purely  unne 
cessary  war  so  quivering  in  the  scales  that  a  hair  might  turn 
them  :  and  when  he  finally  acted  wras  so  implicated  himself  in 
the  practical  measures  set  on  foot  by  the  Miranda  schemers, 
that  he  could  not  and  did  not  place  a  most  meritorious  act  on 
any  ground  that  carried  the  applauses  of  the  honest  portion  ot 
his  own  party,  or  disarmed  the  hostility  and  suspicion  of  his  op 
ponents.  We  have  seen  how  completely  as  keen  sighted  a  man 
as  Jefferson  was  misled  as  to  the  respective  attitudes  of  Mr. 
Adams  and  the  Ilamiltonians  at  this  period  with  regard  to  our 
policy  towards  France. 

At  the  opening  of  Congress,  John  Adams  had  again  stood 
or.  one  of  those  occasional  points  where  a  man  commands  and 
carves  out  the  great  lines  of  his  own  destiny.  He  had  in  his 
hands  the  speech  prepared  for  him  by  Hamilton  and  Wolcott, 
and  which  had  the  sanction  of  his  Cabinet.  Had  he  wholly 
rejected  this — had  he  stated  the  real  facts  and  his  own  convic 
tions  in  regard  to  our  French  relations — had  he  followed  this  up 
by  immediately  doing  what  he  did  two  months  afterwards — had 
he  accepted  the  resignation  of  his  Cabinet,  if  tendered,  and 
removed  them  if  they  resisted — had  he  braved  a  rejection  of 
his  nominations  by  the  Senate — in  short,  had  he  done  what 
ln\  subsequent  conduct  proves  he  knew  to  be  his  duty,  and 


CHAP.     X.]  HIS    EMBARRASSMENTS.  487 

thrown  himself  upon  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  his 
countrymen — he  would  have  heroically  won  the  victor's  laurel 
or  the  martyr's  crown.  There  can  be  no  doubt  which  would  have 
been  the  result.  "When  the  circumstances  became  public,  an 
irrepressible  burst  of  enthusiasm  for  the  man  who  had  preferred, 
his  country  to  faction  and  ostensibly  to  self,  would  have  been 
heard  throughout  the  land.  The  honest  masses  of  his  own  party, 
entangled  in  no  concealed  schemes  and  never  partial  to  the  chief 
of  their  own  ultra-wing,  would  have  unhesitatingly  sustained 
him.  The  Republicans  would  have  necessarily  sustained  him  in 
a  body.  He  would  have  stood  on  a  pinnacle  of  popularity 
which  he  never  before  had  occupied  during  any  moment  of  his 
life.  He  would  have  been  reflected  to  the  Presidency  by  accla 
mation,  in  spite  of  any  ordinary  follies  he  could  intermediately 
perpetrate.  And  what  would  have  been  worth  infinitely  more 
than  popularity  or  office,  he  would  have  enjoyed  the  serene 
consciousness  of  having  dared  to  do  a  great  duty  in  a  great  cri 
sis  of  human  affairs. 

He  hesitated,  feared,  and  vacillated ;  and  though  he  acted 
in  time,  as  things  propitiously  turned,  to  avert  from  himself  the 
sin,  and  from  his  country  the  consequences  of  a  needless  war, 
he  did  not  act  in  time  to  vindicate  his  consistency  as  a  man  or 
his  character  as  a  statesman. 

Mr.  Adams,  it  must  be  confessed,  was  in  an  embarrassing  posi 
tion.  His  Cabinet  was  against  him.  The  Senate  was  against 
him ;  and  as  the  haughty  Hamiltonian  leaders  in  that  body  had 
not  hesitated  so  wantonly  to  humiliate  him  in  the  rejection  of  his 
son-in-law,  though  they  had  Washington's  recommendation  to 
rest  a  different  action  on,  he  had  nothing  to  expect  from  their  for 
bearance  farther  than  it  was  dictated  by  their  fears.  The  Hamil- 
tonians  were  paramount  also  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Finally,  what  was  really  more  formidable  than  all  of  these,  Mr. 
Adams  had  against  him  the  tremendous  weight  of  General  Wash 
ington's  name.  It  was  a  hardy  thing  for  a  civilian  President  to 
act  on  the  hypothesis  that  no  war  was  threatened,  or  likely  to  be 
come  necessary  to  vindicate  the  national  honor,  when  the  great 
first  President,  the  warlike  leader  of  the  Revolution,  so  firmly 
believed  the  contrary  that  he  had  again  reluctantly  girded  on 
his  sword,  and  had  taken  and  continued  to  take  an  active  and 
approving  part  in  all  the  steps  for  the  organization  of  the  army, 


488  THE  PRESIDENT'S  EMBAKEASSMENTS.  !~OHAP.   x. 


The  Harailtonians  understood  the  advantage  of  what  Mr. 
Adams  bitterly  termed  "  setting  a  General  over  the  President." 
We  know  of  no  instance  where  General  Washington  voluntarily 
attempted  improperly  to  dictate  to  the  latter  ;  but  the  two  were 
kept  in  a  constant  misunderstanding  as  to  each  other's  real 
wishes  and  motives.  This  had  been  particularly  the  case  in  ap 
pointing  and  determining  the  respective  rank  of  the  major-gene 
rals.  Wolcott,  as  intent  on  overriding  the  President's  wishes  on 
that  occasion  as  either  Pickering  or  McIIenry,  never  approved 
of  rough  and  bungling  strategy.  He  wrote  Hamilton  :  u  The 
affair  was  .  .  .  unfortunately  managed,  and  General  Wash 
ington  and  the  President  have  not  been  understood  by  each 
other."1  The  unfortunate  management  continued,  and  the  mis 
understanding  continued.  Mr.  Adams's  official  conduct  towards 
his  predecessor  in  the  Presidency  appears  to  have  been  uni 
formly  intended  to  be  respectful  and  deferential.  If  not  his 
feelings,  every  interest  clearly  pointed  to  such  a  line  of  con 
duct.  But  his  most  casual  differences  of  opinion  from  Washing 
ton's  where  there  was  any  official  coaction  between  them,  were 
injuriously  misrepresented  by  officious  and  exaggerating  tale 
bearers.  Unapprised  of  these  misrepresentations,  Mr.  Adams 
could  not  understand  Washington's  feelings  and  expressions  in 
return.  Both  sides  felt  too  much  delicacy,  and  in  some  instances 
too  much  hurt,  to  seek  any  explanations.  The  frank  personal 
confidence  which  ought  to  have  existed  between  them  therefore 
had  no  existence. 

Mr.  Adams,  if  he  would  have  consented  to  overstep  his 
pride,  could  at  any  moment  have  come  to  an  explanation  with 
General  Washington  which  would  have  removed  all  sources  of 
misunderstanding.  All  the  latter  required  to  know  was  the 
truth,  not  only  to  do  justice  to  the  President's  feelings,  but 
to  treat  them  with  delicacy  and  magnanimity.  It  may  be  said 
that  Mr.  Adams  did  not  know  that  misrepresentations  had  been 
made,  that  explanations  were  necessary.  This  is  very  possibly 
true ;  and,  at  any  rate,  it  was  an  affair  only  pertaining  to 
themselves,  which  they  were  entitled  to  dispose  of  in  their  own 
way,  without  the  public  becoming  concerned. 

But  the  President's  reserve  extended  to  a  point  where  the 

*  Wolcott  to  Hamilton,  October  10th,  1798.    (See  Gibbs's  Administrations,  etc. 
vol.  ii.  p.  101.) 


CHAP.     X.]  HIS    INJUSTICE   TO   WASHINGTON.  489 

public  had  a  deep  concern.  If  General  Washington's  course  in 
respect  to  the  army,  and  his  expressions,  strengthened  the  hands 
of  those  who  were  calling  for  great  military  preparations,  and 
if  Mr.  Adams  was  in  possession  of  reliable  and  abundant  private 
information  that  showed  that  no  war  was  really  menaced,  we 
cannot  bring  ourselves  to  doubt  that  the  duty  of  the  latter  to  his 
country,  his  duty  to  the  Lieutenant-General  of  the  armies  of  the 
United  States,  his  duty  to  a  man  who  in  all  respects  occupied  the 
position  of  Washington,  required  him  promptly  and  frankly  to 
communicate  the  facts  and  his  opinion  to  the  latter,  in  order  to 
allow  him  to  shape  his  official  and  personal  conduct  accordingly. 
The  President  knew  the  eagerness  of  his  secretaries  for  a  French 
war  quite  too  well  to  suppose  they  would  carry  any  information 
to  Washington  calculated  to  show  him  that  no  such  \vnr  was 
threatened ;  indeed,  Mr.  Adams  ought  to  have  presumed,  and 
probably  did  presume  (though  very  erroneously),  that  the  con 
tents  of  important  unpublished  official  dispatches,  from  a  quasi- 
belligerent  power  to  the  United  States  were  not  without  express 
understanding'with  the  President,  communicated  by  his  secre 
taries  to  any  persons  whatever  outside  of  the  Cabinet.  He  had 
no  right  to  assume  that  Washington  was  apprised  of  the  contents 
of  Murray's  dispatches,  or  of  t-he  true  character  of  Gerry's  state 
ments  of  what  took  place  in  France  after  Marshall  and  Pinckney 
left.  He  had  no  right  to  conjecture  that  the  flood  of  private 
letters  from  American  residents  in  France,  and  the  weighty 
character  of  some  of  the  writers,  had  been  made  known  to  him. 
Did  Mr.  Adams  communicate  any  of  these  facts  to  Washing 
ton  ?  So  far  from  it,  that  the  first  communication  of  information 
of  this  tenor  was  made  by  the  latter  to  the  former ;  and  Mr. 
Adams  answered  it  by  pouring  out  a  torrent  of  insane  insult  on 
the  author  of  the  information  which  Washington  transmitted. 
The  facts  were  these :  Joel  Barlow,  on  the  2d  of  October,  1798, 
addressed  General  Washington  a  letter  from  Paris,  averring 
that  the  dispute  between  the  governments  was  "simply  and 
literally  a  misunderstanding ;"  that  "  the  French  Directory  was  at 
present  sincerely  desirous  of  restoring  harmony  between  that 
country  and  the  United  States,  on  terms  honorable  and  advantage 
ous  to  both  parties  ;"  that  they  were  willing  to  adopt  the  most  just 
and  liberal  measures  (which  Mr.  Barlow  proceeded  to  specify), 
and  that  the  final  refusal  of  the  American  Government  to  treat 


[CHAP.,  x. 

"  would  be  followed  by  immediate  war,"  and  of  "  the  most  ter 
rible  and  vindictive  kind."  * 

This  communication  did  not  reach  its  destination  until  the 
31st  of  January,  1799.  Washington  inclosed  it  the  next  day  to 
the  President.  If  his  letter  betrays  strong  aversion  to  Barlow 
and  some  suspicion  of  his  motives,  it  but  gives  the  more  signifi- 
cancy  to  the  following  passage  : 

"  If,  then,  you  should  be  of  opinion  that  this  letter  is  calculated  to  bring  on 
negotiation  upon  open,  fair,  and  honorable  ground,  and  merits  a  reply,  and  will 
instruct  me  as  to  the  tenor  of  it,  I  shall  with  pleasure  and  alacrity  obey  your  orders ; 
more  especially  if  there  is  reason  to  believe,  that  it  would  be  a  means,  however 
small,  of  restoring  peace  and  tranquillity  to  the  United  States  upon  just,  honorable, 
and  dignified  terms ;  which  I  am  persuaded  is  the  ardent  desire  of  all  the  friends 
of  this  rising  empire."  a 

This  letter  demonstrates,  in  spite  of  all  pretended  proofs  that 
can  be  possibly  adduced  to  the  contrary — in  spite  of  all  trium 
phantly  quoted  warm  expressions  from  the  same  quarter,  made 
under  misapprehension — that  Washington  was  at  heart  not  only 
anxious  for  peace,  but  ready  to  employ  means,  "however 
small,"  to  "  bring  on  negotiations  upon  open,  fair,  and  honor 
able  ground."  His  catching  so  promptly  at  this  single  purely 
inofficial  and  only  conjectured  intimation  of  the  Directory — his 
willingness  to  see  such  an  inofficial  line  of  communication 
adopted  between  our  Government  and  that  of  France — his  readi 
ness,  notwithstanding  personal  feelings,  to  make  himself  the 
instrument  of  that  communication  on  one  side,  show  how  he 
viewed  and  how  he  was  disposed  to  avail  himself  of  far  less 
direct  and  authoritative  overtures  to  pacification  than  had  then 
been  months  in  Mr.  Adams's  possession.  And  they  afford  satis 
factory  proof  of  what  would  have  been  the  effect  of  all  of  Mr. 
Adams's  information,  had  it  been  placed  frankly  and  without 
discoloration  before  hkn. 

If,  then,  the  President  had  the  prestige  of  Washington's 
colossal  fame  to  awe  him  from  his  duty,  the  fault  was  all  his 
own.  Nor  is  this  quite  the  worst.  His  reply  to  the  communi 
cation  of  the  latter  was  late,8  calculated  to  mislead,  and  of  a 
tenor  admirably  adapted  to  discourage  all  further  attempts  to 

i  For  Barlow's  able  letter,  see  Washington's  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  560. 
a  Washington's  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  399. 

1  That  is  late,  considering  the  subject  and  the  person  addressed.    Mr.  Adams  replied. 
February  10th,  after  his  nomination  of  Murray  ! 


CHAP.    X.]  VIKGENIA    ELECTION.  491 

advise  with  him  from  the  serious  and  dignified  man  to  whom  it 
was  addressed.1 

Before  giving  the  sequel  of  Mr.  Adams's  new  step,  we  will 
turn  our  attention  to  some  intervening  matters  of  interest. 

The  elections  in  Virginia  of  members  of  Congress  and  of  the 
State  Legislature  in  the  spring  of  1799.  attracted  profound  and 
general  attention.  The  Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions  of 
the  preceding  year,  had  not  met  with  a  favorable  response  from 
the  other  States.  It  was  the  especial  desire  of  the  Federalists 
to  elect  a  legislature  in  the  latter  State,  which  would  rescind 
those  resolutions.  The  popular  reaction  caused  by  the  XYZ 
dispatches  had  by  no  means  subsided.  The  President's  real 
course  in  the  late  transactions  was  but  very  dimly  understood. 
He  rather  appeared  to  the  country  in  the  light  of  a  brave  officer 

1  It  is,  we  confess,  impossible  for  us  to  fathom  the  whole  spirit  of  Mr.  Adams's  reply. 
We  could  understand  his  puerile  ribaldry  in  regard  to  Barlow,  for  that  gentleman's  pow 
erful  pen  had  (as  it  had  been  made  to  appear  in  a  court  of  law)  characterized  Mr.  Adams's 
conduct  as  that  of  a  madman.  But  what  means  the  last  paragraph  below  ?  Was  the 
writer  anxious  to  sail  under  false  colors — to  pass  for  one  of  the  stiffest  haters  and  scorners 
of  France — for  a  genuine  high  church  Federalist  ?  Or  did  his  insane  vanity  bristle  up 
because  Washington  had  interfered — because  the  latter  had  presumed  to  imagine  he 
could  of  possibility  render  sgone  needful  assistance  to  the  "  sovereign  authority  quo  ad 
hoc?11  The  last  is  probably  the  true  solution.  But  the  reader  will  judge.  After  saying 
that  "  yesterday  he  had  determined  to  nominate  Mr.  Murray,"  in  consequence  of  Talley 
rand's  communications,  Mr.  Adams  proceeded  : 

"  Barlow's  letter  had,  I  assure  you,  very  little  weight  in  determining  me  to  thia 
measure.  I  shall  make  few  observations  upon  it.  But,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  not  often 
that  we  meet  with  a  composition  which  betrays  so  many  and  so  unequivocal  symptoms 
of  blackness  of  heart.  The  wretch  has  destroyed  his  own  character  to  such  a  degree, 
that  I  think  it  would  be  derogatory  to  yours  to  give  any  answer  at  all  to  his  letter.  Tom 
Paine  is  not  a  more  worthless  fellow.  The  infamous  threat  which  he  has  debased  himself 
to  transmit  to  his  country  to  intimidate  you  and  your  country,  'that  certain  conduct  will 
be  followed  by  war,  and  that  it  will  be  a  war  of  the  most  terrible  and  vindictive  kind,' 
ought  to  be  answered  by  a  Mohawk.  If  I  had  an  Indian  chief  that  I  could  converse  with 
freely,  I  would  ask  him  what  answer  he  would  give  to  such  a  gasconade.  I  fancy  he 
would  answer  that  he  would,  if  they  began  their  cruelties,  cut  up  every  Frenchman  joint 
by  joint,  roast  him  by  a  fire,  pinch  off  his  flesh  with  hot  pincers,  etc.  I  blush  to  think 
that  such  ideas  should  be  started  in  this  age. 

"  Tranquillity  upon  just  and  honorable  terms,  is  undoubtedly  the  ardent  desire  of  the 
friends  of  this  country,  and  I  wish  the  babyish  and  womanly  blubbering  for  peace  may 
not  necessitate  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  that  will  not  be  just  nor  very  honorable.  I  do 
not  intend,  however,  that  they  shall.  There  is  not  much  sincerity  in  the  cant  about  peace  ; 
those  who  snivel  for  it  now,  were  hot  for  war  against  Britain  a  few  months  ago,  an  1 
would  be  now,  if  they  saw  a  chance.  In  elective  governments,  peace  or  war  are  alike 
embraced  by  parties,  when  they  think  they  can  employ  either  for  electioneering  pur 
poses." — Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  625. 

In  Mr.  Adams's  justification  of  himself  in  1809,  for  reopening  negotiations  with  France, 
he  particularly  mentioned  this  letter  of  Washington  of  Feb.  1,  1799,  and  drew  from  it, 
among  others,  the  following  inferences:  "that  he  was  so  desirous  of  peace,  that  he  was 
willing  to  enter  into  correspondence  with  Mr.  Barlow,  a  private  gentleman,  without 
any  visible  credentials  or  public  character,  or  responsibility  to  either  Government,  in 
order  to  bring  on  a  public  negotiation!"  Here  again,  as  in  Logan's  case,  we  have 
Mr.  Adams  assuming  to  rise  above  the  prejudices  of  his  party  in  the  following  exquisite 
specimen  of  consistency:  "I  however  considered  General  Washington's  question, 
whether  Mr.  Barlow's  [letter]  was  written  with  a  very  good  or  a  very  bad  design ;  and 
as,  with  all  my  jealousy,  I  had  not  sagacity  enough  to  discover  the  smallest  room  for  sus 
picion  of  any  ill  design,  I  frankly  concluded  that  it  was  written  with  a  very  good  one  ' 
-Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  242. 


492  PARTY    EFFORTS — WASHINGTON    TO    HENRY.       [CHAP.      X 

who  had  driven  France  to  solicit  terms  of  arrangement.  If  a 
nreless  army  in  our  midst  was  not  of  itself  an  agreeable  object 
of  contemplation,  multitudes  had  been  kept  firmly  convinced 
that  it  was  liable  at  any  moment  to  be  called  into  active  service 
to  defend  onr  firesides  and  our  fanes.  If  the  prospect  of  in 
creased  taxes  was  not  one  to  enlist  partiality,  the  public  knew 
that  war  required  preparation  ;  and  the  public  blood  was  al 
ready  heated  by  our  quasi-war  with  France  on  the  ocean.  On 
the  whole,  the  Federalists  entered  the  elections  under  advan 
tageous  auspices. 

We  have  seen  how  actively  Mr.  Jefferson  was  exerting  him 
self  in  his  political  correspondence.  Madison,  Monroe,  Giles, 
Nicholas,  Taylor,  Mason,  Tazewell,  and  a  brilliant  band  of 
younger  men,  were  as  industrious  on  the  same  side.  On  the 
other,  Marshall,  one  of  the  Ministers  ordered  out  of  France,  and 
General  Lee,  were  making  great  efforts.  General  Washington's 
immense  personal  influence  was  now  for  the  first  time  brought 
to  bear  in  a  local  political  struggle.  He  wrote  Patrick  Henry, 

January  15th,  1799  : 

« 

"  It  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  attempt  to  bring  to  the  view  of  a  person  of 
your  observation  and  discernment,  the  endeavors  of  a  certain  party  among  us  to 
disquiet  the  public  mind  with  unfounded  alarms  ;  to  arraign  every  act  of  the  Admi 
nistration  ;  to  set  the  people  at  variance  with  their  Government ;  and  to  embarrass 
all  its  measures.  Equally  useless  would  it  be  to  predict  what  must  be  the  inevitable 
consequences  of  such  a  policy,  if  it  cannot  be  arrested. 

"  Unfortunately,  and  extremely  do  I  regret  it,  the  State  of  Virginia  has  taken 
the  lead  in  this  opposition.  I  have  said  the  State,  because  the  conduct  of  its  Legis 
lature  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  will  authorize  the  expression,  and  because  it  is  au 
mcontrovertible  fact,  that  the  principal  leaders  of  the  opposition  dwell  in  it,  and 
that  with  the  help  of  the  chiefs  in  other  States,  all  the  plans  are  arranged  and 
systematically  pursued  by  their  followers  in  other  parts  of  the  Union ;  though  in  no 
State  except  Kentucky,  that  I  have  heard  of,  has  the  legislative  countenance  been 
obtained  beyond  Virginia." 

After  giving  some  reasons  for  the  previous  successes  of  the  op 
position  in  Virginia ;  dilating  on  the  importance  of  "  sucb  a  crisis 
as  this,  when  everything  dear  and  valuable  to  us  was  assailed  ;" 
and  portraying  the  disastrous  consequences  which  would  ensue 
if,  by  reason  of  "  activity  and  misrepresentation  on  one  side,  and 
supineness  on  the  other,"  the  "Republicans,  "  accumulated  by 
intriguing  and  discontented  foreigners  under  proscription,  who 
were  at  war  with  their  own  governments,  and  the  greater  part 


3HAP.   x.]        HENKY'S  LAST  CAMPAIGN — HIS  DEATH.  493 

of  them  with  all  governments,"  should  cany  the  election  ;  he 
asked  Mr.  Henry  to  come  forward  as  a  candidate  for  represen 
tative  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia.  And  he  added  : 

"Your  weight  of  character  and  influence  in  the  House  of  Representatives  would 
be  a  bulwark  against  such  dangerous  sentiments  as  are  delivered  there  at  present. 
It  would  be  a  rallying  point  for  the  timid,  and  an  attraction  of  the  wavering.  In  a 
word,  I  conceive  it  to  be  of  immense  importance  at  this  crisis  that  you  should  be 
there ;  and  I  would  fain  hope,  that  all  minor  considerations  will  be  made  to  yield  to 
the  measure."  1 

Mr.  Henry  listened  to  this  earnest  appeal  ;  offered  himself 
for  the  representation  of  Charlotte ;  and  the  last  effort  of  that 
eloquence  which  in  the 'Virginia  Convention  had  been  so  vehe 
mently  directed  against  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion,  as  too  strongly  favoring  consolidation,  was  now  heard  ad 
vocating  the  doctrine  that  "  Virginia  was  to  the  Union,  only 
what  Charlotte  county  was  to  Virginia" — pronouncing  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  "  good  and  proper  " — and  depicting 
"  Washington  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  and  well  appointed 
army,  inflicting  military  execution  "  on  the  people  of  Virginia, 
as  the  probable  ultimate  consequence  of  their  persisting  in  the 
line  of  policy  laid  down  in  the  resolutions  of  1798.2  Mr.  Henry 
was  elected.  His  eloquent  biographer  thus  gives  the  sequel : 

"His  intention  having  been  generally  known  for  some  time  before  the  period  of 
the  State  elections,  the  most  formidable  preparations  were  made  to  oppose  him  in 
the  Assembly.  Mr.  Madison  (the  late  President  of  the  United  States),  Mr.  Giles  of 
Amelia,  Mr.  Taylor  of  Caroline,  Mr.  Nicholas  of  Albemarle,  and  a  host  of  young 
men  of  shining  talents  from  every  part  of  the  State  were  arrayed  in  the  adverse 
rank,  and  commanded  a  decided  majority  in  the  House.  But  Heaven  in  its  mercy 
saved  him  from  the  unequal  conflict.  The  disease  which  had  been  preying  on  him 
for  two  years  now  hastened  to  its  crisis ;  and  on  the  sixth  of  June,  1799,  this  friend 
of  liberty  and  of  man  was  no  more/' 3 

Patrick  Henry  was  not  without  his  share  of  human  weak 
ness.  If  he  had  faults,  an  honest  change  of  opinion,  however 
mistaken,  is  not  to  be  ranked  as  one.  He  was  unquestionably 
as  honest  in  the  last  act  of  his  public  life  as  he  was  in  that  glo- 
rious  first  one,  when,  an  obscure  young  man,  he  threw  himself 
in  front  of  the  old  Whig  leaders  of  Virginia,  and  lit  the  torch 

1  Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  xi.  pp.  388-391.  2  Wirt's  Life  of  Henry,  p.  409. 

»  Wirt's  Life  of  Henry,  p.  411. 


494:  PATRICK   HENRY^S    CHARACTER  [CHAP.     X. 

of  the  Revolution.  Except  in  his  divine  gift  of  oratory,  there 
were  others  perhaps  greater  than  he  ;  but  not  one  was  so  indis 
pensable.  He  was  the  Tribune  of  the  People — the  exponent  of 
their  innermost  hearts — the  master  of  the  magical  key  which  un 
locked  and  gave  the  control  of  their  minds.  There  was  a  lyrical 
splendor  and  depth  of  feeling  in  his  oratory  which  moved  the 
most  learned  and  saturnine  ;  but  when  it  descended  on  the 
thirsty  and  loving  ears  of  the  multitude,  it  fell  like  flame  on  dry 
combustibles.  There  was  not  a  passion  or  emotion  in  the  com 
mon  heart,  which  the  mighty  master  could  not  as  rapidly  touch 
singly  or  in  combination  as  the  skillful  player  touches  the  keys 
of  his  instrument.  Every  note  in  the  heart's  diapason  was  within 
his  perfect  command,  from  the  tenderest  emotion  of  love  or  pity 
to  the  iierce  extremity  of  rage  :  and  he  could  dissolve  the  brown 
multitude  into  unwonted  tears,  or  precipitate  them  raging  and 
roaring  on  the  foe.  He  was  the  tirst — incomparably  the  first — 
orator  of  his  country.  None  approached  him  but  (in  his  great 
moods)  titanic  John  Adams. 

When  Patrick  Henry  went  down  to  the  grave  in  1799,  he 
left  not  a  warmer,  a  braver,  or  a  truer  heart  behind.  All  that 
was  erring  or  drossy  in  his  career,  then  perished.  His  labors 
and  his  motives  alone  survived  ;  and  his  fame — not  an  abstrac 
tion  resting  on  a  cold  conviction  of  the  understanding,  but  a 
sentiment  bearing  somewhat  the  warmth  of  personal  love — was 
left  a  patrimony  to  his  State. 

That  State  has  been  the  teeming  mother  of  great  men.  The 
American  who  has  closely  studied  the  history  of  the  Revolution 
— whose  heart  has  kindled  to  that  great  epic — visits  Virginia 
for  the  first  time  with  associations  and  memories  which  kindle 
at  every  step.  Every  ripple  of  a  Virginia  river,  every  sigh  of  a 
Virginia  breeze,  syllable  to  his  ear  the  names  of  her  great  dead. 
And  in  the  long  array,  not  a  name  comes  oftener  or  warmer 
before  the  mind's  eye  and  ear  than  that  of  Patrick  Henry. 

Mr.  Henry's  last  speech  at  Charlotte  Court  House,  at  the 
March  court,1  was  answered  by  the  Republican  candidate  for 
Congress  in  the  district  of  which  his  county  formed  a  part — "  a 
tall,  slender,  effeminate  looking  youth,"  with  "  light  hair  combed 
back  into  a  well-adjusted  cue — pale  countenance,  a  beardless 

1  Mr.  Wirt  erroneously  places  the  date  of  this  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  polls  in 
April.     (See  Randolph  to  Mrs.  Bryan,  Garland's  Randolph,  vol.  i.  p.  130.) 


CHAP.     X.]       THE   ELECTIONS ULTIMATUM  WITH   FRANCE.  495 

chin,  bright,  quick  hazel  eye,  blue  frock,  buff  small  clothes,  and 
fair  top  boots."  This  individual,  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke, 
now  a  candidate  for  office  the  first  time,  was  elected  to  Con 
gress  over  Powhatan  Boiling,  the  Federal  candidate,  who  was 
also  present  at  the  March  court — "  dressed  in  his  scarlet  coat, 
tall,  proud  in  his  bearing,  and  a  fair  representative  of  the  old 
aristocracy."  ' 

Marshall  beat  Clopton,  the  late  member,  for  Congress, 
in  the  Richmond  district;  and  General  Henry  Lee  beat  Jones, 
the  Republican  candidate  in  the  Westmoreland  district.  Gene 
ral  Washington  rode  ten  miles  to  deposit  his  vote.  "With  in 
finite  pleasure,"  he  wrote,  "  he  received  the  news  of  Marshall's 
election."  2  He  only  regretted  that  his  and  Lee's  majorities  had 
not  been  larger — but  "  as  the  tide  was  turned,  he  hoped  it  would 
come  in  with  a  full  flow — but  this  would  not  happen  if  there 
was  any  relaxation  on  the  part  of  the  Federalists."  8 

The  Federalists  carried  upwards  of  a  third  of  the  members. 
The  legislature  remained  strongly  Republican. 

The  Federal  gains  in  the  Congressional  election,  about  corre 
sponded  with  these  throughout  the  entire  South.  In  the  middle 
States  there  was  little  change.  In  New  England  the  triumph  of 
that  party  was  overwhelming. 

President  Adams  called  a  Cabinet  meeting  on  the  10th  of 
March,  to  consult  upon  the  instructions  to  be  given  to  the  new 
Envoys  to  France.  These  were  agreed  upon,  and  reduced  to 
writing  on  the  llth.  The  points  settled  as  "  ultimata,"  were  : 
that  France  should  indemnity  our  citizens  for  spoliations  on 
their  commerce  committed  by  the  armed  vessels  of  France,  or 
by  the  adjudication  of  her  courts;  that  no  condemnation  of 
American  vessels  for  want  of  a  role  <T  equipage*  should  be  held 
valid,  and  that  this  point  was  to  be  considered  settled  in  ad 
vance,  if  commissioners  should  be  agreed  upon  to  adjust  claims ; 
and  that  the  United  States  should  not  stipulate  to  guarantee  any 
part  of  the  dominions  of  France.6 

i  Garland's  Life  of  Randolph,  vol.  i.  pp.  129,  130. 

3  Letter  to  Marshall,  May.5th.    Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  xi.  p.  424. 

8  Letter  to  Bushrod  Washington,  May  5th.    Sparks's  Washington,  vol.  xi.  p.  425. 

4  An  ancient  ordinance  of  Prance  authorized  their  ships  of  war  to  capture  as  pirates 
vessels  not  having  a  rile  d1  equipage,  that  is,  articles  signed  by  the  seamen,  and  counter 
signed  by  a  public  officer.    It  was  on  this  ground  that  many  of  the  Atnerinan  capturoH 
and  condemnations  had  been  made. 

fi  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  627. 


496  DELAY   OF   THE   FRENCH   INSTRUCTIONS.         [CHAP.    X. 

The  President  and  his  family  set  out  for  Quincy  on  the  llth 
of  March.  The  yellow  fever  was  expected  in  Philadelphia,  and 
this  somewhat  accelerated  his  departure  ;  but  Mr.  Adams  had 
adopted  the  custom  of  his  predecessor,  to  spend  the  greater  por 
tion  of  the  summer  at  home.  His  distance  from  the  seat  of 
Government,  and  the  discrepancy  between  his  views  and  those 
of  his  Cabinet,  rendered  a  custom,  never  a  favorable  one  to  a 
rapid  and  harmonious  transaction  of  business,  exceedingly 
prejudicial  to  the  success  of  his  administration.  The  secretaries 
who  represented  the  Government  at  the  capital  would  necessarily 
determine  minor  questions,  and  all  those  demanding  instant 
action — and  on  greater  ones,  they  could,  by  misrepresentation, 
by  spinning  out  discussion,  or  by  availing  themselves  of  inciden 
tal  excuses  for  delay,  either  misdirect  the  President,  or  seriously 
retard  any  course  of  action  which  was  disagreeable  to  them, 
unless  he  should  resort  to  that  abrupt  and  mandatory  tone  which 
is  not  tolerated  between  the  official  head  and  the  subordinates 
of  a  government,  where  the  parties  are  gentlemen. 

The  President  "had  repeatedly  endeavored  to  impress  upon 
the  mind  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  necessity  of  trans 
mitting  to  him,  as  soon  as  possible,  his  draught  of  the  instruc 
tions,"  1  but  they  were  not  sent  until  the  10th  of  September, 
six  months  after  their  heads  were  determined  on  in  the  Cabinet.2 
And  the  next  day  after  they  were  sent,  the  Cabinet,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Attorney-General,  then  absent  in  Virginia, 
"  entreated  him  to  suspend  the  mission."1 

To  estimate  properly  the  conduct  and  motives  of  the  Cabinet, 


i  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  251. 

3  The  author  of  the  "Administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams"  (a  descendant  of 
one  of  the  members  of  the  Cabinet),  assumes  that  after  agreeing  on  the  heads  of  the 
instructions  (before  the  President  left  Philadelphia),  "things  necessarily  remained 
in  this  state  until  intelligence  could  be  received  of  Talleyrand's  answer  to  the  President's 
requisitions,"  after  which  the  Cabinet  set  about  preparing  the  instructions  "in  good 
faith ;  but  before  they  could  be  completed,  the  breaking  out  of  the  yellow  fever  made  it 
necessary  to  remove  the  public  offices  to  Trenton,  "which  occasioned  a  short  further 
delay."  The  delay  in  framing  this  document,  in  order  to  hear  from  Talleyrand,  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  made  by  the  wishes  of  the  President,  and  it  was  certainly  in  no 
point  of  view  necessary.  The  removal  to  Trenton  (in  August)  need  not  have  hindered 
for  any  length  of  time  the  preparation  of  an  important  and  necessary  State  paper.  The 
heads  being  definitely  settled,  and  few  in  number,  three  days  was  more  than  sufficient  to 
prepare  the  instructions,  and  that  number  of  hours  would  probably  have  sufficed,  on  a 
pinch,  when  Mr.  Jefferson  was  Secretary  of  State.  We  confess  Mr.  Gibbs's  reasons 
sound  to  us  like  the  merest  pretexts:  and 'that  he,  speaking  for  Wolcott,  could  assign  no 
better  ones,  would  appear  to  show  that  none  existed. 

3  This  letter  was  only  signed  by  Pickering,  but  all  had  concurred  in  it  but  Lee.  Ham 
ilton  says  of  this,  his  Ministers  "addressed  him  a  joint  letter." — Hamilton's  tVorks^ 
vol.  vii.  p.  710. 


CHAP,  x.]  TALLEYRAND'S  SAKCASM.  d-97 

it   is   necessary   to   take    into   view   some    preceding    circum 
stances. 

On  the  6th  of  March  a  letter  had  been  written  to  Murray, 
at  the  Hague,  instructing  him  to  inform  the  French  Minister  of 
Foreign  Relations  of  the  appointment  of  the  American  Envoys,, 
but  that  they  would  not  embark  for  Europe,  until  they  received 
from  the  French  Government  "direct  and  unequivocal  assur 
ances"  as  to  their  proper  reception.  Murray  forwarded  this 
statement  to  Talleyrand,  May  5th,  and  was  answered  May  12th, 
as.  follows : 

"  The  Executive  Directory  .  .  .  sees  with  pleasure  that  its  perseverance  in 
pacific  sentiments  has  kept  open  the  way  to  an  approaching  reconciliation.  It  baa 
a  long  time  ago  manifested  its  intentions  with  respect  to  this  subject.  Be  pleased 
to  transmit  to  your  colleagues  and  accept  yourself  the  frank  and  explicit  assurance 
that  it  will  receive  the  envoys  of  the  United  States  in  the  official  character  with 
which  they  are  invested,  that  they  shall  enjoy  all  the  prerogatives  which  are 
attached  to  them  by  the  law  of  nations,  and  that  one  or  more  ministers  shall  be 
authorized  to  treat  with  them. 

"  It  was  certainly  unnecessary  to  suffer  so  many  months  to  elapse  for  the  mere 
confirmation  of  what  I  have  already  declared  to  Mr.  Gerry,  and  which  after  hia 
departure,  I  caused  to  be  declared  to  you  at  the  Hague.  I  sincerely  regret  that 
your  two  colleagues  await  this  answer  at  such  a  distance." 

To  this  last  remark,  Pickering  bristled  up.  He  thought  it 
"  a  reproach  or  insult "  very  unnecessarily  "  insinuated." 1  Wol- 
cott's  sensibilities  were  equally  disturbed  at  the  "  keen  and  ma 
licious  insult  conveyed  in  Talleyrand's  letter."  a  Mr.  Adams, 
perhaps,  thought  it  would  be  awkward  to  take  an  issue — an 
issue  involving  a  question  of  war  and  peace,  on  a  paragraph, 
which,  if  untrue,  had  no  force  beyond  that  of  a  civil  diplomatic 
pretence.  It  required  the  tacit  admission  of  the  truth  of  the 
adroit  Frenchman's  assertion  to  convert  it  into  a  sarcasm.  The 
six  months'  country  atmosphere  of  Quincy  had  still  further 
cooled  the  fever  of  the  President's  blood,  and  he  replied  to 
Pickering:  "It  is  far  below  the  dignity  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  take  any  notice  of  Talleyrand's  impertinent 
regrets,  and  insinuations  of  superfluities." 8 

On  the  31st  of  July  *  Pickering  inclosed  to  Mr.  Adams  the 
dispatches  containing  the  unconditional  official  assent  of  tho 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  10 — note. 

3  Gibbs's  Administrations,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  2^9. 

8  Adams  to  Pickering,  August  6th.    Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  10. 

4  See  ibid. 

VOL.  11—32 


498  SUSPENSION    OF   MISSION    URGED.  [CHAP.     X. 

French  Government  to  all  the  steps  which  the  American  Execu 
tive  had  insisted  on,  preparatory  to  sending  its  Ministers.  It 
was  six  weeks  after  this  (on  the  llth  of  September),  that  Mr. 
Pickering,  speaking  his  own  sentiments,  and  those  of  three  other 
colleagues,  proposed  to  suspend  the  mission,  because  information 
had  been  received  that  Treilhard  had  been  dismissed  from  the 
Directory;  la  Reveillere,  le  Peaux  and  Merlin  had  been  dismissed ; 
threats  were  being  "uttered  by  the  military  of  a  king;"  and 
"  another  explosion  "  appeared  imminent.1  Mr,  Adams  treated 
this  reasoning  as  "  a  mere  quibble,  too  much  like  an  attorney's 
plea  in  abatement,  when  gravely  alleged." 

"  Astonished  at  this  unexpected,  this  obstinate  and  persever 
ing  opposition  to  a  measure"  which  appeared  to  him,  not  only 
u  essential  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  nation,"  but  to 
"  the  honor  of  the  Government  at  home  and  abroad,"  3  the  Presi 
dent — as  he  should  have  done  some  months  before — set  out  for 
the  seat  of  Government.  On  the  way,  he  called  on  Chief-Jus 
tice  Ellsworth,  one  of  the  Envoys.  At  Trenton  he  found 
another  Envoy,  General  Davie,  of  North  Carolina,  who  had 
been  appointed  to  a  vacancy  occasioned  by  Mr.  Henry's  declin 
ing  to  serve.  Hamilton  had  arrived  a  few  hours  before  the 
President,  and  Ellsworth,  the  President's  late  entertainer,  wholly 
unexpectedly  to  the  latter — but  probably  not  so  to  Hamilton, 
or  the  Cabinet — arrived  two  or  three  days  after.  This  gathering 
was,  doubtless,  preconcerted.4  Preparations  for  a  final  struggle 
were  evidently  making !  Six  days  were  spent  in  conferences  be 
tween  the  President  and  the  four  heads  of  departments,6  they  mak 
ing  a  most  determined  effort6  to  stave  off  the  embarkation  of  the 
Envoys  until  spring — believing  that  nothing  was  more  certain 

»  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  24.  See  also  Wolcott's  Statements  in  Gibbs's  Adminis 
trations,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  279. 

2  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  256 — note. 

3  Ib.  p.  252. 

4  Hamilton  subsequently  declared  that  he  went  to  Trenton  to  meet  General  Wilkin 
son,  in  pursuance  of  an  arrangement  before  made  ;  and  that  when  he  left  New  York,  on 
this  journey,  "he  had  no  expectation   whatever  that    the    President  would  come  to 
Trenton."    This  was  doubtless  literally  true.    The  remark,  however,  does  not  extend  to 
the  President's  Cabinet  and  the  Envoys. 

Mr.  Ellsworth  wrote  the  President  the  day  after  the  latter  stopped  at  his  house,  that 
since  the  President's  departure,  he  had  "  concluded  to  meet  Governor  Davie  at  Trenton, 
•which  he  would  probably  expect,"  and  he  "  regretted  that  he  did  not  consult"  the  Pre 
sident  "  on  the  subject  of  the  propriety  of  this  visit,  but  if  he  erred,  experience  had 
taught  him  that  the  President  could  excuse." 

6  Lee  continued  absent.  The  conferences  lasted  from  the  10th  to  the  15th  of  October 
inclusive. 

•  Stoddert,  however,  was  more  diffident  in  his  opinions  than  the  rest,  and  was 
respectful  in  his  tone  and  manner. 


3HAP.    X.]  THE   ENVOYS   SENT.  499 

than  that  Louis  XYI1I.  was  on  the  point  of  being  restored. 
Ellsworth  evidently  concurred  with  the  Hamiltonians,  and  was 
in  their  confidence,1  though  he  finally  declared  himself  willing  to 
embark  when  the  President  pleased.2  Davie  alone  was  in  favor 
of  proceeding  immediately.  Mr.  Adams  directed  the  instruc 
tions  to  be  prepared. 

A  little  before,  or  a  little  after  this,8  Hamilton  played  his  last 
card,  by  seeking  a  personal  interview  with  the  President.  Mr. 
Adams  describes  him  as  repeating  over  and  over  again  the  cer 
tainty  of  the  speedy  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  and  working 
himself  up  to  a  great  pitch  of  "heat  and  effervescence"  on  the 
subject.4 

The  instructions  were  prepared,  and  unanimously  approved 
by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet ;  and  the  next  morning  (Octo 
ber  16th),  the  former  requested  the  Envoys  to  embark  as  soon  as 
possible.  Hamilton  afterwards  bitterly  complained,  that  this  last 
direction  was  given  without  another  Cabinet  consultation.5  The 
biographer  of  one  of  the  Cabinet,  extends  the  idea  a  little  fur 
ther,  by  alleging  that  the  President  "  entrapped  his  officers 
into  preparing  the  way  for  a  measure  they  disapproved."  a  Re 
peated  insinuations  of  Wolcott  show,  that  his  biographer  was  in 
this  but  the  organ  of  his  own  sentiments;7  and  the  distressed 
Secretary  exclaimed :  "  Thus  are  the  United  States  governed, 
as  Jupiter  is  represented  to  have  governed  Olympus;  without 
regarding  the  opinions  of  friends  or  enemies,  all  are  summoned 
to  hear,  reverence,  and  obey  the  unchangeable  fiat." ' 

It  would  seem  that  the  question  of  dispatching  the  envoys 

1  See  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  254,  and  note. 

3  So  Mr.  Adams  expressly  declares  that  Ellsworth  informed  him.     This  is  ostensibly 
denied  by  Mr.  Gibbs,  who  says  that  it  is  "  very  well  known  "  that  Ellsworth  "  to  the  last 
disapproved  of  the  mission,"  and  would  have  refused  to  go,  "but  for  the  apprehension 
that  Madison  or  Burr  would  have  been  sent  in  his  place."     (Vol.  ii.  p.  274.)    Mr.  Gibbs 
offers  no  proof  of  his  assertion.     His  history  of  these  events,  the  reader  will  understand, 
derives  its  special  importance  from  the  circumstance,  that  it  is  to  be  considered  the  expo 
sition  of  facts,  as  they  were  claimed  to  exist  by  Wolcott  and  consequently  by  the 
Cabinet. 

8  Mr.  Adams  states  before ;  Mr.  Gibbs  states  later.  The  point  is  not  material. 
Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  255,  and  note. 

4  Adams's  very  contemptuous  account  of  this  interview  will  be  found  in  his  Works, 
vol.  ix.  p.  255.     After  giving  Hamilton's  positions,  he  says : 

"  His  eloquence  and  vehemence  wrought  the  little  man  up  to  a  degree  of  heat  and 
effervescence  like  that  which  General  Knox  used  to  describe  of  his  conduct  in  the  battle 
of  Monmouth,  and  which  General  Lee  used  to  call  his  paroxysms  of  bravery,  but  whi  ',h 
he  said  would  never  be  of  any  service  to  his  country." 

6  In  his  letter  on  "  The  Public  Conduct  and  Character  of  John  Adams."    See  Hamil 
ton  s  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  710,  et  seq. 

*  Gibbs's  Administrations,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  269. 

7  Wolcott  to  Hamilton ;  see  ibid,  p.  278. 

8  Wolcott  to  Cabot ;  ib.  p.  286. 


500  DEATH-BLOW    OF   MIRANDA    SCHEME.  [CHAP.     X 

was  sufficiently  embraced  in  the  subject-matter  of  the  six  days' 
debate.  Were  this  otherwise,  the  idea  that  the  circumstances 
afford  any  ground  for  the  position  that  the  President  "  entrap 
ped  "  his  Cabinet,  or  exceeded  his  own  proper  powers,  is  simply 
absurd  ;  and  the  very  hypothesis  shows,  that  the  miserable  Cabi 
net  domination  unknown  to  our  Constitution  had  reached  such  a 
pitch,  that  its  members  considered  themselves  equal  partners 
in  both  the  consequence  and  power  of  the  President.  Mr. 
Adams  declared  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  at  the  time,  that  he 
"  avoided  any  consultation  out  of  respect  to  them  [the  Cabinet], 
as  he  had  fully  deliberated  on  the  subject,  and  his  determina 
tion  was  irrevocable." '  He  might  probably  have  added,  that 
he  did  not  desire  unnecessarily  to  expose  himself  to  another 
week's  exhibition  of  partisan  violence,  not  unmixed  with  a 
degree  of  personal  disrespect  to  himself.1 

The  real  objections  of  Hamilton,  and  his  followers  in  the 
Cabinet,  to  the  renewal  of  negotiations  with  France,  are  now 
fully  disclosed.  Those  negotiations  were  likely  to  result  in  a 
speedy  adjustment.  This  would  leave  no  starting-point,  no  pre 
text  for  an  attack  on  the  Spanish  domination  in  South  America. 
It  would  leave  no  excuse,  no  blind  for  the  country  at  home,  to 
raise  navies  and  armies  to  be  ready  to  act  in  that  direction,  with 
or  without  a  pretext.  Established  peace  with  France,  at  this 
period,  would  be  a  death-blow  to  the  great  Miranda  scheme  ! 

Could  the  parties  to  that  scheme  have  known  that  the  facts 
concerning  it  would  one  day  come  to  light,  it  might  not  have 
prevented  them  from  exhibiting  a  long  tissue  of  carefully  woven 
and  completely  hypocritical  explanations  of  their  opposition  to 
a  reopening  of  negotiations  with  France  ;  for  this  was  necessary 
to  veil  their  own  motives  from  the  public,  and  to  pull  down  Mr. 
Adams,  henceforth  to  be  hunted  by  them  with  even  greater 
rancor  than  they  hunted  the  Kepublican  leaders.  But  we  fancy 
if  some  of  them  had  suspected  that  their  network  of  plot  and 
intrigue  would  ever  become  visible  to  all  eyes,  they  would 
have  abstained  in  public  documents  expected  to  become  per 
manent,  from  their  pathetic  lamentations  over  the  decadence  of 
national  honor,  so  cruelly  sacrificed  by  Mr.  Adams's  "humili- 

1  Gibbs's  Administrations,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  269 ;  Hamilton  confirms  this     Works,  vol. 
vii.  p.  711. 

2  See  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  256— note. 


CHAP,   x.]  PRESIDENT'S   DURESS.  501 

ation  "  to  France.  At  all  events  they  probably  would  not  have 
indulged,  in  such  documents,  in  hypotheses  of  explanation,  and 
even  in  direct  affirmations  of  fact,  which  unerringly  convict 
them  of  gross  and  intentional  deception.  We  shall  have  more 
on  this  point. 

The  result  of  the  new  French  mission  was  the  best  commen 
tary  on  the  propriety  of  Mr.  Adams's  conduct  in  its  establishment. 
It  led  to  a  speedy,  honorable  and  advantagous  pacification.  Mr. 
Adams's  great  and  unpardonable  error,  both  as  a  statesman  and 
a  politician,  was  in  not  acting  earlier.  He  fortunately  saved  the 
peace  of  his  country,  but  he  fell  himself;  and  what  was  far 
more  disastrous,  he  fell  meriting  his  doom. 

The  humiliation  of  that  duress  of  feeling  and  judgment  to 
which  he  contemporaneously  submitted  in  other  matters,  broke 
out  in  occasional  expressions  which  betray  the  throes  of  his  shame 
and  his  anguish.  For  example,  in  answer  to  a  proposition  from 
McHenry  to  raise  six  additional  companies  of  cavalry,1  accom 
panied  by  an  intimation  that  he  had  previously  delayed  it  "  to 
husband  our  means,"  Mr.  Adams  wrote  (July  27th) : 

"'Our  means!'  I  never  think  of  our  means  without  shuddering.  All  the 
declamations  as  well  as  demonstrations  of  Trenchard  and  Gordon,  Bolingbroke, 
Barnard,  and  Walpole,  Hume,  Burgh,  and  Burke,  rush  upon  my  memory  and 
frighten  me  out  of  my  wits.  The  system  of  debts  and  taxes  is  levelling  all  govern 
ments  in  Europe.  We  have  a  career  to  run,  to  be  sure,  and  some  time  to  pass 
oefore  we  arrive  at  the  European  crisis  ;  but  we  must  ultimately  go  the  same  way. 
There  is  no  practicable  or  imaginable  expedient  to  escape  it,  that  I  can  conceive." a 

On  learning  from  Pickering  that  all  did  not  go  well  with 
our  Russian  and  Turkish  embassies,  the  President  gave  way  to 
the  following  burst  of  feeling : 

"  There  is  not  a  question  in  mathematics  or  physics,  not  the  square  of  the  circle 
or  the  universal  menstruum,  which  gives  me  less  solicitude  or  inquietude  than  the 
negotiations  with  Russia  and  the  Porte.  Mr.  King's  official  assurances  induced  me 
to  nominate  the  missions,  and  if  there  has  been  anything  hasty  in  the  business,  it 
was  Mr.  King's  haste."  3 

Of  the  same  period  we  find  a  manly  letter  of  the  President, 
directing  the  Secretary  of  State  to  allow  Mr.  Gerry's  accounts 

1  As  per  instructions  of  Hamilton     See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  v.  p.  275. 
"  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  4. 
'  Ib.  p   9. 


502  TOUCHES    OF   THE   DWARF.  [CHAP,     X 

as  an  Ambassador  (refused  by  Pickering  on  the  most  sordid  and 
trivial  pretexts),  and  saying,  "he  is  ashamed  to  make  any 
remarks  "  on  one  of  the  heads,  and  "shall  not  do  it  unless  driven 
to  the  necessity  of  it."  1 

We  could  pity  Mr.  Adams  as  a  just,  and  possibly  even  as  a 
sensible  and  discreet  man,  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  a  cabal, 
and  afraid  to  break  abruptly  awa}T,  were  it  not  for  two  consider 
ations.  He  had  irresistible  power  by  a  word  to  sweep  this 
cabal  out  of  his  path.  And  next,  we  find  a  painful  exhibition  of 
human  nature,  and  of  Mr.  Adams's  particular  nature,  in  the 
undeniable  fact  that  after  he  fully  understood  the  temper  of  his 
Cabinet,  his  struggles  against  the  current  of  their  selfish,  unscru 
pulous,  and  virulent  partisanship,11  were  but  spasmodic  and  con 
fined  to  particular  topics.  In  others,  he  swam  with  that  cur 
rent. 

We  have  had  touches  of  the  man,  and  now  for  the 
"  dwarf." 

We  find  the  Secretary  of  State  disclosing  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States  (July  24th)  information  which  he  evidently 
regarded  as  important ;  and  he  at  all  events  followed  up  the 
communication  with  a  suggestion  important  to  some  of  the  par 
ties  concerned.  He  had  obtained  information  which  led  him  very 
strongly  to  suspect  that  William  Duanc,  editor  of  the  Aurora, 
was  not,  as  he  pretended,  a  native  born  citizen  of  the  United 
States.  That  individual's  dangerous  proceedings,  and  the  pro 
posed  corrective,  are  thus  set  forth  : 

i  Adams  to  Pickering ;  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  7.  It  would  appear  from  this  lettei 
that  Pickering  proposed  to  deprive  Mr.  Gerry  of  his  salary  for  the  period  he  remained 
in  France  after  receiving  Pickering's  letter  by  Mr.  Humphreys;  that  he  proposed  to 
charge  him  with  a  part  of  his  ship  stores  as  unnecessary,  etc.  etc. !  Mr.  Adams's 
biographer  says,  "Mr.  Adams's  interference  was  necessary  tw  check  the  petty  vexations 
to  which  Mr.  Pickering's  hostility  was  subjecting  Mr.  Gerry.  It  was  not,  however, 
effective  until  Mr.  Marshall  came  into  office  "  (ib.  p.  8 — note).  See  also  Austin's  Life 
of  Gerry,  vol.  ii.  p.  277 — note. 

a  We  wish,  in  all  cases,  to  be  understood  as  limiting  this  class  of  remarks  to  the 
majority  of  the  Cabinet — the  responsible  Cabinet — unless  the  contrary  is  expressly 
specified.  And  it  will  not  be  specified,  because,  although  we  think  both  Stoddert  and 
Lee  gave  highly  erroneous  votes  on  some  occasions,  we  have  found  no  fact  which 
fairly  impeaches  their  integrity  as  men,  or  their  fidelity  to  their  official  principal. 
Neither  of  them  were  Hamiltonians,  we  apprehend.  Stoddert  certainly  was  not,  as 
appears  in  the  following  passage  of  a  letter  which  will  be  found  quoted  in  Adams's 
Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  301 — note  : 

u  As  to  General  Hamilton,  I  scarcely  knew  him ;  and  perhaps  my  crime  as  to  him 
was,  that  though  believing  highly  of  the  brilliancy  of  his  talents,  and  of  his  sincere 
patriotism  and  honorable  principles,  I  never  entertained  a  very  exalted  opinion  of  hia 
discretion  or  the  solidity  of  his  judgment,  and  always  thought  it  an  unfortunate  circum 
stance  for  the  Federal  party,  and,  of  course,  for  the  country  (for  I  believe  the  views  of 
that  party  have  always  been  directed  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country),  tha  +he 
opinions  of  this  gentleman  were  deemed  so  oracular." 


CHAP,   x.]          PRIESTLEY'S  BANISHMENT  URGED.  503 

"  I  presume,  therefore,  that  he  is  really  a  British  subject,  and  as  an  alien  liable 
to  be  banished  from  the  United  States.  He  has  lately  set  himself  up  to  be  the  cap 
tain  of  a  company  of  volunteers,  whose  distinguishing  badges  are  a  plume  of  COCK- 
neck  feathers  and  a  small  black  cockade  with  a  large  eagle.  He  is  doubtless  a 
United  Irishman,  and  the  company  is  probably  formed  to  oppose  the  authority  of 
the  Government ;  and  in  case  of  war  and  invasion  by  the  French,  to  join  them."  1 

We  have  adhered  to  the  original  italicization  of  this  grave 
document. 

It  was  just  a  week  after,  that  Pickering  communicated  the 
long  surveillance  he  had  kept  over  Collot  (a  prisoner  to  the 
English)  and  Schweitzer,  while  liming  twigs  to  catch  the  sup 
posed  General  Surrurier  "'  in  disguise."  And  he  had  scented 
another  dangerous  alien.  He  said: 

"  Dr.  Priestley  was  at  the  Democratic  assembly  on  the  4th  of  July,  at  Northum/ 
berland.  But  what  is  of  more  consequence,  and  demonstrates  the  doctor's  want  of 
decency,  being  an  alien,  his  discontented  and  turbulent  spirit,  that  will  never  be 
quiet  under  the  freest  government  on  earth,  is  his  '  industry  in  getting  Mr. 
Cooper's  address  printed  in  handbills  and  distributed.'  'This,'  Mr.  Hall  [Pickering's 
informer]  adds,  '  is  a  circumstance  capable  of  the  fullest  proof.'  Cooper  has  taken 
care  to  get  himself  admitted  to  citizenship.  I  am  sorry  for  it ;  for  those  who  are 
desirous  of  maintaining  our  internal  tranquillity  must  wish  them  both  removed  from 
the  United  States."  2 

He  at  the  same  time  informed  the  President  that  he  had 
directed  a  prosecution  to  be  instituted  against  Duane  for  a 
printed  libel  on  the  President,  and  that  he  had  desired  Mr. 
Eawle  (Attorney  of  the  United  States)  "  to  examine  his  news 
paper  and  to  institute  new  prosecutions  as  often  as  he  offends." 

Mr.  Adams,  in  reply,  rages  :  "  He  disdains  to  attempt  a  vindi 
cation  of  himself  against  any  lies  of  the  Aurora,"  but  "if  Mr. 
Rawle  does  not  think  this  paper  libellous,  and  "if  he  does  not 
prosecute  it,  he  will  not  do  his  duty."  After  this  broad  hint, 
proceeding  as  it  did  from  the  appointing  power,  Mr.  Adams 
proceeds  to  say  that  he  is  also  "  very  willing  to  try  the 
strength "  of  the  Alien  Law  upon  the  martial  editor,  whose 
plume  and  cockade  gave  such  dangerous  evidence  of  his  design 
to  oppose  the  authority  of  the  Government,  by  arms,  in  any 
event,  and  of  his  determination  to  join  the  French  in  case  of 
invasion  ! 8  Two  weeks  afterwards  Mr.  Adams  admits  that  he 
fears  the  Alien  Law  is  unconstitutional.4 

T  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  4.  »  Ib.  p.  5. 

'  Tb.  p.  6.  «  Ib.  p.  14. 


504  FKIES'S    INSURRECTION.  [CHAP.     X 

He  was  willing  "  to  try  "  the  law,  too,  in  case  of  Collot. 
He  bad  in  fact  authorized  his  and  Schweitzer's  banishment  a 
year  earlier.  "  He  did  not  think  it  wise  to  execute  the  Alien 
Law  against  poor  Priestley  at  present.  He  was  as  weak  as  water, 
as  unstable  as  Reuben  or  the  wind.  His  influence  was  not  an 
atom  in  the  world,"  J  etc.,  etc. 

This  "  unstable  Eeuben  "  had  received  strong  professions  of 
Mr.  Adams's  admiration  before  this,  and  he  was  to  receive 
them  as  warmly  again.  Mr.  Adams  attempting  to  execute  an 
unconstitutional  law  against  such  a  man  as  Doctor  Priestley 
would  have  scarcely  presented  as  humiliating  a  spectacle  as  his 
stooping  to  render  such  an  excuse  to  a  subordinate  for  sparing 
him ! 

It  is  pitiful  between  the  President's  paroxysms  of  manly  feel 
ing  to  find  him  more  than  half  the  time  ready  to  hunt  in  couples 
with  his  tormentors — either  to  chime  in  with,  or  pretend  to 
chime  in  with,  their  worst  acts  and  feelings.  The  less  degrading 
hypothesis  is  that  he  was  in  earnest ;  and  it  is  probably  the  true 
one.  In  spite  of  that  knowledge  of  their  real  character  which 
was  breaking  in  upon  him,  his  passions  where  there  was  an 
opportunity  to  work  upon  them  kept  him  the  easy  instrument  of 
his  secretaries.  The  boy  does  not  more  readily  lash  his  top  into 
motion  than  they,  under  the  conditions  named,  lashed  him 
into  the  course  of  action  they  desired. 

His  administration,  like  his  predecessor's,  was  to  have  its 
u  insurrection  "' and  its  "State  trials."  An  attempt  to  enforce 
the  window  tax  led  to  a  violent  fermentation  in  the  counties  ot' 
Northampton.  Bucks  and  Montgomery,2  in  Pennsylvania.  Mobs 
collected  in  the  first  named  county  and  drove  away  the  govern 
ment  measurers.  Warrants  were  issued  and  about  thirty  of  the 
rioters  were  arrested.  At  the  village  of  Bethlehem,  a  party,  a  por 
tion  of  whom  were  armed,  rescued  the  prisoners  from  the  marshal. 
The  President  issued  his  proclamation,  and  a  detachment  of 
United  States  troops  and  Pennsylvania  militia  marched  forth 
with  to  the  scene  of  disturbance.  No  resistance  was  made  ;  and 
Fries,  the  ringleader  of  the  rescuing  party,  and  about  thirty 
other  persons,  were  arrested.  Fries  was  indicted  for  "  treason,'" 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  14. 

*  Counties  lying  on  the  Delaware,  and  not  in  the  seat  of  the  former  insuriection,  as 
apparently  hinted  by  a  writer  under  our  eye. 


CUAP.     X.]  BEHAVIOR   OF  THE   TKOOPS.  fc  505 

(Judge  Chase  presiding)  and  found  guilty ;  but  a  new  trial  waa 
granted.  He  was  ultimately  again  found  guilty,  as  were  two  of 
the  other  prisoners,  on  a  ruling  of  the  court  which  brought  their 
offence  within  the  definition  of  treason.  Mr.  Adams  dissented 
from  this  opinion  ;  and,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  entire  Cabi 
net,  pardoned  the  three  convicts.1  His  official  correspondence 
shows  him  to  have  been  cautious  and  humane  in  permitting  the 
shedding  of  human  blood  by  the  decision  of  federal  courts, 
civil  or  military.  And  he  probably  never  exercised  that  discre 
tion  more  wisely  than  in  the  present  instance. 

Several  Kepublican  editors  charged  great  cruelties  on  the 
troops  that  inarched  to  quell  "  Fries's  Insurrection."  They  ac 
cused  them  of  living  at  free  quarters  on  the  people — of  put 
ting  heavy  chain  shackles  so  closely  on  the  wrists  of  some  old 
men  whom  they  captured,  as  to  cut  or  wear  them  to  the  bone 
— of  maltreating  women,  and  other  enormities.  It  is  probable 
great  exaggerations  entered  into  these  statements ;  but  it  is,  per 
haps,  quite  as  probable  that  the  troops  behaved  as  government 
troops  are  very  apt  to  do,  when  called  out  against  u  insurgents." 

A  party  of  the  officers  seized  and  severely  beat  an  editor,  at 
Reading,  for  his  strictures  on  their  conduct ;  and  two  or  three  of 
them  fell  upon  Duane,  of  the  Aurora  (on  his  own  premises  we 
believe),  and  inflicted  a  similar  chastisement  on  him.  As  no 
official  notice  was  taken  of  these  acts,  the  Republican  press 
claimed  that  they  were  the  foretaste  of  what  the  people  and  a 
free  press  had  to  expect  from  an  army,  raised  to  fight  no  foreign 
foe.3 

The  Pennsylvania  State  elections  were  to  take  place  the 
same  summer.  The  Presidential  election  was  approaching,  and 
the  preceding  would  measurably  foretell,  if  not  pave  the  way  for, 
its  result.  Pennsylvania  would,  in  all  probability,  turn  the  scale. 


1  His  questions  to  the  Cabinet,  showing  that  dissent,  their  reply,  and  his  final  deter 
mination  "to  take  on  himself  alone  the  responsibility  of  one  more  appeal  to  the  humane 
and  generous  natures  of  the  American  people,"  will  be  found  in  his  Works,  vol.  ix. 
pp.  57-60.  The  pardon  of  Fries  (who  subsequently  set  up  a  tin  store  in  Philadelphia, 
and  lived  and  died  a  peaceaoie  and  respectable  man),  was  one  of  Mr.  Adams's  "  dere 
lictions"  of  the  "  friends  of  the  Government,"  of  which  General  Hamilton  complained  in 
his  pamphlet  of  1800 ! 

Wolcott  (who  voted  against  the  pardon)  wrote  Hamilton,  April  1,  1799:  "General 
McPherson,  it  is  said,  will  march  on  Wednesday.  I  am  grieved  when  I  think  of  the 
situation  of  the  Government.  An  affair  which  ought  to  have  been  settled  at  once,  will 
cost  much  time,  and  perhaps  be  so  managed  as  to  encourage  other  £.nd  formidable 
rebellions." — Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  406. 

3  See  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  pp.  5,  7. 


506  PENNSYLVANIA  ELECTIONS.  [CHAP.    X, 

If  she  went  with  the  Federalists  of  the  North,  the  Republicans 
would  be  hopelessly  crushed.  If  she  went  with  the  Repub 
licans  of  the  South,  they  might  be  beaten,  but  they  would  at 
least  remain  a  formidable  and  nearly  balancing  minority ;  and 
the  Union  could  not  be  torn  asunder  by  geographical  parties. 
Jefferson  had  truly  said,  as  long  as  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania 
clung  together,  the  Union  was  safe  and  the  cause  of  Repub 
licanism  was  safe. 

It  was  not  unfortunate,  therefore,  that  the  practical  working 
of  the  political  system  of  the  party  in  power  exhibited  itself  in 
broad  and  deep  channels  in  the  latter  State,  pending  so  impor 
tant  an  election. 

The  candidates  selected  by  the  respective  parties  for  Gov 
ernor,  presented  the  issue  in  as  distinctive  a  form.  The  Repub 
lican  nominee  was  Chief-Justice  McKean,  whose  inflexible 
hostility  and  bold  judicial  opposition  to  the  encroachments  of 
the  federal  Government,  had  been  most  conspicuously  signal 
ized.1  James  Ross,  the  Federal  candidate,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  supported  every  strong  measure  of  the  Government.8  On 
these  issues  the  parties  met,  and  McKean  was  triumphantly 
elected. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  domestic  history,  during  the  summer  of  1799, 
presents  nothing  of  particular  interest. 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  AT  MONT  BLANCO,  NEAR  PETERSBURG. 

MONTICELLO,  Mar.  8,  '99. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

I  am  this  moment  arrived  here,  and  the  post  being  about  to  depart,  I  sit 
down  to  inform  you  of  it.  Your  sister  came  over  with  me  from  Belmont,  where 
we  left  all  well.  The  family  will  move  over  the  day  after  to-morrow.  They  give 
up  the  house  there  about  a  week  hence.  We  want  nothing  now  to  fill  up  our  happi- 

J  Wolcott  wrote  Hamilton,  April  1st : 

"  In  this  State  [Pennsylvania]  affairs  bear  an  unpleasant  aspect.  The  Governor  is 
habitually  intoxicated  every  day,  and  most  commonly  every  forenoon.  Dallas  and  Judge 
McKean  possess  the  efficient  powers  of  the  Government.  The  former  has  written  to 
several  magistrates  that  setting  up  liberty  posts,  as  they  are  called,  is  no  crime  if  done 
peaceably.  The  judge  is  in  pretty  open  collision  with  the  mayor,  who  is  a  good  man.  On 
Saturday  night,  Brown,  etc.,  were  attacked  in  a  most  violent  and  cruel  manner  in  their 
houses.  The  mayor  ordered  the  men  to  prison,  but  on  Saturday  morning  they  were 
enlarged  by  Judge  McKean.  In  short,  McKean  and  Dallas  mean  to  have  it  understood 
that  they  are  determined  to  support  all  the  turbulent  and  flagitious  of  the  community.  I 
am  not  without  hopes  this  violent  conduct  will  open  the  eyes  of  the  people.  If  it  does 
not,  we  soon  shall  have  serious  trouble  in  Pennsylvania." — Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi. 
p.  406. 

*  We  find  his  vote  recorded  on  neither  side  on  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  Our 
impression  is,  that  he  was  not  a  very  steady  attendant  on  his  senatorial  duties.  But,  at 
any  rate,  he  neither  claimed  nor  received  the  distinction  of  differing  from  his  most  ultra 
Federal  associates,  or  dissenting  from  any  of  their  measures. 


CHAP.    X.]  LETTERS    TO   MES.    EPPES.  507 

ness  but  to  have  you  and  Mr.  Eppes  here.  Scarcely  a  stroke  has  been  done  towards 
covering  the  house  since  I  went  away,  so  that  it  has  remained  open  at  the  north 
end  another  winter.  It  seems  as  if  I  should  never  get  it  inhabitable.  I  have  pro 
posed  to  your  sister  a  flying  trip  when  the  roads  get  fine  to  see  you.  She  comes 
into  it  with  pleasure ;  but  whether  I  shall  be  able  to  leave  this  for  a  few  days  is  a 
question  which  I  have  not  yet  seen  enough  of  the  state  of  things  to  determine.  I 
think  it  very  doubtful.  It  is  to  your  return  therefore  that  I  look  with  impatience, 
and  shall  expect  as  soon  as  Mr.  Eppes's  affairs  will  permit.  We  are  not  without 
hopes  he  will  take  a  trip  up  soon  to  see  about  his  affairs  here,  of  which  I  yet  know 
nothing.  I  hope  you  are  enjoying  good  health,  and  that  it  will  not  be  long  before 
we  shall  be  again  united  in  some  way  or  other.  Continue  to  love  me,  my  dear,  as 
I  do  you  most  tenderly.  Present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Epoes,  and  be  assured  of 
my  constant  and  warmest  love.  Adieu,  my  ever  dear  Maria. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

MONTICELLO,  April  18,  '99. 

Your  letter,  my  dear  Maria,  of  March  13th  came  safely  to  hand,  and  gave  us-  the 
information,  always  the  subject  of  anxiety,  and  therefore  always  welcome,  that 
yourself  and  Mr.  Eppes  were  well.  It  would  yet  have  been  better  that  we  could 
all  have  been  well  together,  as  the  health  we  enjoy  separately  would  be  more 
enjoyed  together.  Whether  we  can  visit  you  is  still  uncertain.  My  presence  here 
is  so  constantly  called  for  when  all  our  works  are  going  on.  However,  I  have  not 
altogether  abandoned  the  idea ;  still,  let  it  not  retard  your  movements  towards  us. 
Let  us  all  pray  the  fish  to  get  into  motion  soon,  that  Mr.  Eppes  may  be  done  with 
them.  His  affairs  here  are  going  on  well.  Page  has  made  a  noble  clearing  of 
a,bout  eighty  thousand  of  the  richest  tobacco  land,  and  is  in  good  forwardness  with 
it.  I  have  provided  the  place  with  corn  till  harvest.  Our  spring  has  been  remark 
ably  backward.  I  presume  we  shall  have  asparagus  to-morrow  for  the  first  time. 
The  peach  trees  blossomed  about  a  week  ago.  The  cherries  are  just  now  (this  day) 
blossoming.  I  suppose  you  have  heard  before  that  Peter  Carr  had  a  son,  and  Sain 
a  daughter.  Sam  and  his  wife  are  daily  expected  from  Maryland.  Dr.  Bache  is 
now  with  us  at  Monticello ;  his  furniture  is  arrived  at  Richmond  He  goes  back  to 
Philadelphia  to  bring  on  Mrs.  Bache.  I  expect  he  will  buy  James  Keg's  land ;  but 
what  he  will  do  for  a  house  this  summer  is  uncertain.  Champe  Carter  is  endeavor 
ing  to  move  into  our  neighborhood,  and  we  expect  Dupont  de  Nemours  (my  old 
friend)  every  day  to  settle  here  also.  Baynham  is  not  quite  decided.  Ellen  gives 
her  love  to  you.  She  always  counts  you  as  the  object  of  affection  after  her  mamma 
and  "uckin  Juba."  1  All  else  join  in  love  to  you  and  Mr.  Eppes.  Add  mine  to  the 
family  at  Eppington,  and  continue  me  your  most  tender  affections  so  necessary  to 
my  happiness,  and  be  assured  of  mine  for  ever.  Adieu,  my  ever  dear  Maria. 

The  family  were  reunited ;  and  the  summer  wore  pleasantly 
away.  We  will  merely  add  a  word  in  relation  to  farm  matters. 
Mr.  Jefferson  had  abandoned  his  exclusive  tobacco  culture  on 
his'Albermarle  estate,  and  returned  to  his  old  rotation,  which 

i  Baby-talk  for  "  uncle  Juba,"  the  name  of  a  favorite  old  African  servant. 


508  COMMON   LAW  JURISDICTION  IN  U.  8.  COURTS.          [CHAP.    X. 

included  cereal  crops.  The  farm  book  shows  that  the  season  was 
an  unpropitious  one. 

His  correspondence  was  as  limited  as  usual  during  the  sum 
mer  of  1799.  From  the  adjournment  of  the  last  Congress  until 
the  meeting  of  the  following  one,  a  period  of  nine  months,  he 
wrote  but  five  letters,  which  are  preserved  in  his  Works. 

In  one  to  T.  Lomax,  written  soon  after  his  return  borne 
(March  12th)  he  expresses  his  usual  perfect  confidence  in  the 
Republicanism  of  the  people,  and  bis  usual  cheerful  hopeful- 
ness  that  all  political  clouds  will  soon  break  away. 

His  next  hitherto  published  letter  was  addressed  (August 
18th)  to  his  former  colleague,  Edmund  Randolph.  This  gentle 
man  had  been  writing  some  newspaper  articles  to  attack  a  doc 
trine  which  was  beginning  to  be  broached,  that  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  possessed  a  general  common  law  jurisdiction  : 
and  lie  inclosed  them  to  Jefferson.  The  answer  contained  some 
too  important  fundamental  principles  in  the  political  system  of 
the  latter,  separately  and  clearly  enounced,  to  be  passed  over 
without  record  in  the  history  of  his  life.  He  thus  spoke  of  the 
claim  set  up  for  the  Supreme  Court: 

"  Of  all  the  doctrines  which  have  ever  been  broached  by  the  federal  Govern 
ment,  the  novel  one,,  of  the  common  law  being  in  force  and  cognizable  as  an 
existing  law  in  their  courts,  is  to  me  the  most  formidable.  All  their  other  assump 
tions  of  ungiven  powers  have  been  in  the  detail.  The  bank  law,  the  treaty  doctrine, 
the  sedition  act,  alien  act,  the  undertaking  to  change  the  State  laws  of  evidence  in 
the  State  courts  by  certain  parts  of  the  stamp  act,  etc.,  etc.,  have  been  solitary, 
unconsequential,  timid  things,  in  comparison  with  the  audacious,  barefaced  and 
sweeping  pretension  to  a  system  of  law  for  the  United  States,  without  the  adoption 
of  their  Legislature,  and  so  infinitely  beyond  their  power  to  adopt.  If  this  assump 
tion  be  yielded  to,  the  State  courts  may  be  shut  up,  as  there  will  then  be  nothing  to 
hinder  citizens  of  the  same  State  suing  each  other  in  the  federal  courts  in  every 
case,  as  on  a  bond  for  instance,  because  the  common  law  obliges  payment  of  it,  and 
the  common  law  they  say  is  their  law."  l 

1  The  following  are  other  important  passages  from  the  letter : 

"  The  whole  body  of  the  nation  is  the  sovereign  legislative,  judiciary  and  executive 
power  for  itself.  The  inconvenience  of  meeting  to  exercise  these  powers  in  person,  and 
their  inaptitude  to  exercise  them,  induce  them  to  appoint  special  organs  to  declare  their 
legislative  will,  to  judge  and  to  execute  it.  It  is  the  will  ol  the  nation  which  makes  the 
law  obligatory ;  it  is  their  will  which  creates  or  annihilates  the  organ  which  is  to  declare 
and  announce  it.  They  may  do  it  by  a  single  person,  as  an  Emperor  of  Russia  (consti 
tuting  Ms  declarations  evidence  of  their  will),  or  by  a  few  persons,  as  the  aristocracy  of 
Venice,  or  by  a  complication  of  councils,  as  in  our  tormer  regal  Government,  or  our  pre 
sent  Republican  one.  The  law  being  law  because  it  is  the  will  of  the  nation,  is  not 
changed  by  their  changing  the  organ  through  which  they  choose  to  announce  their 
future  will ;  no  more  than  the  acts  I  have  done  by  one  attojney  lose  their  obligation  by 
my  changing  or  discontinuing  that  attorney. 

*****  **** 

"  Before  the  Revolution,  the  nation  of  Virginia  had,  by  the  organs  they  then  thouglil 


CHAP.     X.]       ACTION   OF   VIRGINIA   AND    KENTUCKY,  1799.  500 

Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  "Wilson  C.  Nicholas  (August  26th  and 
September  5th)  expressing  the  opinion  that  it  was  "essentially 
necessary  "  that  something  be  said  by  the  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky  Legislatures,  at  their  approaching  sessions,  "in  order  to 
avoid  the  inference  of  acquiescence  "  in  the  counter  doctrines 
which  their  Resolutions  of  1793  had  called  out  from  other 
States  and  from  Congress,  and  suggesting  the  following  outline 
of  the  proposed  paper  : 

"  1.  Answering  the  reasonings  of  such  of  the  States  as  have  ventured  into  the 
field  of  reason,  and  that  of  the  committee  of  Congress,  taking  some  notice,  too,  of 
those  States  who  have  either  not  answered  at  all,  or  answered  without  reasoning. 
2.  Making  firm  protestation  against  the  precedent  and  principle,  and  reserving  the 
right  to  make  this  palpable  violation  of  the  federal  compact  the  ground  of  doing  in 
future  whatever  we  might  now  rightfully  do,  should  repetitions  of  these  and  other 
violations  of  the  compact  render  it  expedient.  3.  Expressing  in  affectionate  and 
conciliatory  language  our  warm  attachment  to  union  with  our  sister  States,  and  to 
the  instrument  and  principles  by  which  we  are  united ;  that  we  are  willing  to  sacri 
fice  to  this  everything  but  the  rights  of  self-government  in  those  important  points 
which  we  have  never  yielded,  and  in  which  alone  we  see  liberty,  safety,  and  happi 
ness  ;  that  not  at  all  disposed  to  make  every  measure  of  error  or  of  wrong  a  cause 
of  scission,  we  are  willing  to  look  on  with  indulgence,  and  to  wait  with  patience  till 
those  passions  and  delusions  shall  have  passed  over,  which  the  federal  Government 
have  artfully  excited  to  cover  its  own  abuses  and  conceal  its  designs,  fully  confident 
that  the  good  sense  of  the  American  people,  and  their  attachment  to  those  very 

proper  to  constitute,  established  a  system  of  laws,  which  they  divided  into  three  denomi 
nations  of,  1.  common  law;  2.  statute  law;  3.  chancery:  or  if  you  please,  into  two  only 
of,  1.  common  law ;  2.  chancery.  When  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  they  chose 
to  abolish  their  former  organs  of  declaring  their  will,  the  acts  of  will  already  formally 
and  constitutionally  declared,  remained  untouched.  For  the  nation  was  not  dissolved, 
was  not  annihilated  ;  its  will,  therefore,  Vemained  in  full  vigor :  and  on  the  establishing 
the  new  organs,  first  of  a  convention,  and  afterwards  a  more  complicated  legislature,  the 
old  acts  of  national  will  continued  in  force,  until  the  nation  should,  by  its  new  organs, 
declare  its  will  changed.  The  common  law,  therefore,  which  was  not  in  force  when  we 
landed  here,  nor  till  we  had  formed  ourselves  into  a  nation,  and  had  manifested  by  the 
organs  we  constituted  that  the  common  law  was  to  be  our  law,  continued  to  be  our  law, 
because  the  nation  continued  in  being,  and  because  though  it  changed  the  organs  for  the 
future  declarations  of  its  will,  yet  it  did  not  change  its  former  declarations  that  the  com 
mon  law  was  its  law.  Apply  these  principles  to  the  present  case.  Before  the  Revolu 
tion,  there  existed  no  such  nation  as  the  United  States :  they  then  first  associated  as  a 
nation,  but  for  special  purposes  only.  They  had  all  their  laws  to  make,  as  Virginia  had 
on  her  first  establishment  as  a  nation.  But  they  did  not,  as  Virginia  had  done,  proceed 
to  adopt  a  whole  system  of  laws  ready  made  to  their  hand.  As  their  association  as  a 
nation  was  only  for  special  purposes,  to  wit,  for  the  management  of  their  concerns  with 
one  another  and  with  foreign  nations,  and  the  States  composing  the  association  chose  to 
give  it  powers  for  those  purposes  and  no  others,  they  could  not  adopt  any  general  sys 
tem,  because  it  would  have  embraced  objects  on  which  this  association  had  no  right' to 
form  or  declare  a  will.  It  was  not  the  organ  for  declaring  a  national  will  in  these  cases. 
In  the  cases  confided  to  them,  they  were  free  to  declare  the  will  of  the  nation,  the  law, 
but  till  it  was  declared,  there  could  be  no  law.  So  that  the  common  law  did  not  become, 
ipso  facto,  law  on  the  new  association ;  it  could  only  become  so  by  a  positive  adoption, 
and  so  far  only  as  they  were  authorized  to  adopt. 

****  ***** 

•'  Bat,  great  heavens  !  Who  could  have  conceived,  in  1789,  that  within  ten  years  we 
nbniild  have  to  combat  such  windmills." 


510  ACTION    OF   VIRGINIA    AND    KENTUCKY,  1799.     [CHAP.     X. 

rights  which  we  are  now  vindicating,  will,  before  it  shall  be  too  late,  rally  with  ug 
round  the  true  principles  of  our  federal  compact.'' 

"This,"  he  said,  "  was  only  meant  to  give  a  general  idea  of 
the  complexion  and  topics  of  such  an  instrument."  To  them 
"  should  be  added  animadversions  on  the  new  pretensions  to  a 
common  law  of  the  United  States." 

He  had  contemplated  a  meeting  with  Madison  and  Nicholas 
at  Monticello,  to  confer  on  this  subject,  but  it  failed.  Madison 
came,  and  the  above  outline  was  presented  to  him.  He  did  not 
concur  in  the  reservation  expressed  under  the  second  head. 
This  took  place  before  Jefferson  wrote  Nicholas,  and  after 
mentioning  these  facts  to  the  latter,  Jefferson  continued :  "  from 
this  [the  reservation]  I  recede  readily,  not  only  in  deference  to 
his  judgment,  but  because,  as  we  should  never  think  of  sepa 
ration  but  for  repeated  and  enormous  violations,  so  these,  when 
they  occur,  will  be  cause  enough  of  themselves." 

Kentucky  and  Virginia,  at  the  ensuing  sessions  of  their  legis 
latures,  renewed  their  protests  against  the  constitutionality  of  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  That  of  Kentucky  was  drawn  up  by 
the  able  John  Breckenridge,  who  succeeded  to  the  Republican 
leadership  in  that  State  on  thar. death  of  George  Nicholas,  and 
who  was  to  be  one  of  the  most  efficient  and  trusted  future  sup 
porters  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  a  member  of  his  Cabinet. 

Madison's  long  and  powerfully  written  report  in  the  Legis 
lature  of  Virginia,  "  answered  the  reasoning  of  such  of  the  States 
as  had  ventured  into  the  field  of  reason,"  and  it  declared  the 
resolutions  of  the  preceding  year  u  founded  in  truth,  consonant 
with  the  Constitution  and  conducive  to  its  preservation."  This 
was  adopted,  and,  as  if  more  decisively  to  mark  the  attitude  of 
the  State  in  regard  to  parties  and  in  regard  to  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  country,  the  Legislature  elected  the  u  disgraced  minister," 
as  Mr.  Adams  termed  Colonel  Monroe,  governor  of  the  State. 

Jefferson  wrote  Madison  (November  22d)  that  he  had  just 
given  up  a  visit  to  him,  being  dissuaded  by  Monroe,  on  account 
of  "  the  espionage  of  the  little  #**in****  who 
would  make  it  a  subject  of  some  political  slander."  l  He  informed 
Madison  also,  that  he  must  expect  nothing  from  him  of  a  con- 

1  Probably  the  individual  who  occupied  himself  so  industriously  in  looking  up  "John 
Langhorne'" 


CHAP,  x.]          PRESIDENT'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  SPEECH.  511 

fidential  character  by  mail  during  the  next  session  of  Congress, 
lie  being  satisfied  that  "  for  the  ensuing  twelve  months "  the 
post-offices  "  would  lend  their  inquisitorial  aid  to  furnish  matter 
for  newspapers." 

He  recommended  to  his  correspondent  to  procure  the  res 
toration  of  juries  in  the  court  of  Chancery,  not  long  since 
abolished  by  the  Yirginia  Legislature.  He  said  very  perti 
nently,  if  the  reason  assigned — tnat  they  were  "  troublesome 
and  expensive  " — was  a  good  one,  they  should  also  be  abolished 
in  other  courts. 

He  left  Monticello  for  the  seat  of  Government  on  the  21st  day 
of  December. 

The  President's  third  annual  speech  was  calm,  sensible  and 
dignified  in  its  tone.  It  alluded  to  the  prosperity  of  our  com 
merce  "  notwithstanding  interruptions  occasioned  by  the  belli 
gerent  state  of  a  great  part  of  the  world ;"  to  the  Pennsylva 
nia  insurrection;  and  recommended  a  revision  of  the  federal 
judiciary  system,  to  render  it  more  effective.  It  stated  briefly 
that  in  consequence  of  the  assurances  required  of  the  French 
Government  having  been  received,  the  Envoys  appointed  to 
that  country  had  been  sent,  and  while  it  hinted  that  the  action 
of  the  Envoys  would  require  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  it  declared 
that  their  characters  were  "  sure  pledges  to  their  country  that 
nothing  incompatible  with  its  honor  or  interest,  nothing  incon 
sistent  with  our  obligations  of  good  faith  or  friendship  to  any 
other  nation,  would  be  stipulated."  It  alluded  to  the  opening 
intercourse  with  St.  Domingo ;  to  the  rupture  in  the  British  and 
American  Commission  (under  the  treaty  of  London)  for  settling 
claims ;  and  expressed  a  determination  to  seek  a  reopening  of 
the  latter,  and  to  carry  out  with  punctuality  and  good  faith  the 
engagements  of  the  United  States.  In  conclusion,  it  stated  that 
the  spirt  of  war  was  prevalent  throughout  the  world  ;  that  tho 
"  result  of  the  mission  to  France  was  uncertain  ;"  and  that  how 
ever  it  might  terminate,  "  a  steady  perseverance  in  a  system  of 
•national  defence  commensurate  with  our  resources  and  the  situ 
ation  of  our  country  was  an  obvious  dictate  of  wisdom." 

This  speech  was  not,  of  course,  to  the  taste  of  the  parties  to 
the  Miranda  scheme.  Wolcott  wrote  Ames  that  the  Federal 
ists  were  divided  in  their  feelings — that  there  were  waverers 
Prom  ihe  South — that  Marshall,  who  would  be  likely  to  control 


512  STATE   OF   THE   FEDERAL    PARTY.  [CHAP.     X-. 

these,  "  would  think  much  of  the  State  of  Virginia."  He  was 
"  too  much  disposed  to  govern  the  world  according  to  rules  of 
logic  " — "  to  read  and  expound  the  Constitution  as  though  it 
were  a  penal  statute." l  Some  believed  the  President  "  had 
acted  wisely,  others  considered  it  impolitic  and  unjust  to  with 
draw  their  support."  "  The  Northern  members  could  do  nothing 
of  themselves,  and  circumstances  imposed  upon  them  the  neces 
sity  of  reserve."  The  President's  mind  was  in  a  state  which 
rendered  it  difficult  for  those  about  him  to  know  what  to  do. 
He  considered  Pickering,  McHenry  and  the  writer  (Wolcott) 
"  his  enemies ;"  his  resentment  against  Hamilton  was  excessive  ; 
he  "  declared  his  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  British  faction  in 
the  United  States,"  etc. 

The  fear  of  a  coalition  between  the  moderate  men  of  both 
parties  seems  to  have  revived  at  this  period.  Wolcott,  with 
admirable  coolness,  considering  his  own  and  his  colleagues'  daily 
practices  towards  the  President,  proceeds : 

"This  state  of  things  has  greatly  impaired  the  confidence  which  subsisted  among 
men  of  a  certain  class  in  society.  No  one  knows  how  soon  his  own  character  may 
be  assailed.  Spies  and  informers  carry  tales  to  the  President  with  the  hope  of  pro 
ducing  changes  in  the  Administration.  Mr.  Otis  ...  is  suspected  of  aspiring 
to  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.  Cunning  half  Jacobins  assure  the  President 
that  he  can  combine  the  virtuous  and  moderate  men  of  both  parties,  and  that  all 
our  difficulties  are  owing  to  an  oligarchy  which  it  is  in  his  power  to  crush,  and  thus 
acquire  the  general  support  of  the  nation." 

After  saying  that  it  was  "  necessary  and  proper "  that  the 
answer  to  the  President's  speech  should  be  prepared  by  Mar 
shall,  he  continues: 

"  He  [Marshall]  had  a  hard  task  to  perform.  .  .  .  The  object  was  to  meet 
all  opinions,  at  least  of  the  Federalists.  It  was,  of  course,  necessary  to  appear  to 
approve  the  mission,  and  yet  to  express  the  approbation  in  such  terms  as,  when 
critically  analyzed,  should  amount  to  no  approbation  at  all.  No  one  individual  was 
really  satisfied,  but  all  were  unwilling  to  encounter  the  danger  and  heat  which 
a  debate  would  produce,  and  the  address  passed  with  silent  dissent. 

*******#» 

"  The  steady  men  in  Congress  will  attempt  to  extend  the  judicial  department, 

1  Wolcott' s  estimate,  given  in  this  letter  of  another  Virginian,  General  Henry  Lee,  and 
his  suspicions  of  him,  are  curious : 

"  General  Lee  is  a  man  of  talents,  address,  and  ambition ;  he  is  not  entirely  pleased 
with  having  been  appointed  a  Provisional  General ;  but  he  can  and  will  dissemble  his 
resentments,  when  the  expression  of  them  will  not  promote  his  interests  ;  he  will  play  a 
part,  and  will  have,  or  I  am  mistaken,  some  projects,  in  which  he  will  be  joined  by  some 
of  the  anti-Federalists." 


CHAP.    X.]  ENGINES    OF    GOVERNMENT,  ETC. 

and  I  hope  that  their  measures  will  be  very  decided.  It  is  impossible  in  this 
country  to  render  an  army  an  engine  of  government;  and  there  is  no  way  to  com 
bat  the  State  opposition,  but  by  an  efficient  and  extended  organization  of  judges, 
magistrates,  and  other  civil  officers."  1 

Mr.  Ames's  reply  is  especially  noticeable.  He  believed  in 
the  old-fashioned  "  engine  of  government  "  for  putting  down 
"  opposition."  He  wrote  : 

"  This  dismal  state  of  things  seems  to  discourage  the  hope  of  doing  much  with 
effect,  or  of  preparing  anything  without  incurring  the  risk  of  its  being  seized  and 
converted  into  a  weapon  for  annoyance  by  the  foe.  But  though  this  is  a  serious 
danger  of  the  army  ;  though,  you  justly  remark,  it  is  no  engine  of  the  Government, 
the  civil  magistrate  and  the  process  are  better  ordinary  means  of  self-defence,  yet  I 
hesitate  to  admit  that,  therefore,  the  army  must  not  be  levied  and  relied  on.  It  is 
certainly  a  subject  of  great  nicety,  requiring  the  soundest  judgment,  to  decide  on 
the  means  of  self-preservation  in  the  crisis  which  is  near,  as  my  belief  is,  that  the 
appeal  will  be  made  to  arms.  I  would  have  in  preparation  the  force  to  decide  the 
issue  in  favor  of  Government." 

Another  passage  in  the  same  letter  goes  to  show  that  Mr. 
Ames  considered  Jefferson  a  "fool  in  earnest"  in  his  demo 
cracy  : 

"  The  false  notions  of  liberty  are  pretty  general  among  those  who  read,  and  are 
thought  to  understand,  so  that  over  and  above  the  error  into  which  the  multitude 
is  prone  to  fall  from  passion  and  prejudice,  is  that  which  is  imposed  upon  them  by 
authority.  The  guides  they  take  are  not  fools,  but  fanatics.  Political  fanaticism 
has  its  run  in  Virginia.  I  give  them  credit  for  being  fools  in  earnest,  as  to  Demo 
cracy Jefferson,  in  1789,  wrote  some  such  stuff  about  the  will  of 

majorities,  as  a  New  Englander  would  lose  his  rank  among  men  of  sense  to 
avow."  a 

AVolcott's  correspondence  with  Mr.  King  appears  to  show  on 
what  familiar  terms  of  understanding  the  former  was  with  the 
British  Premier  at  this  period.  King  wrote  Wolcott  December 
31st :  "  I  took  an  early  occasion,  after  the  receipt  of  your  letter 
of  the  4th  of  October,  to  mention  its  contents  to  Mr.  Pitt,  who 
appears  to  think  that  your  views  in  the  main  agreed  with  his, 
and  desired  me  to  give  him  the  earliest  information  of  the  result 
of  such  propositions  as  you  should  make  to  Congress."*  The 
last  clause  of  the  sentence  forbids  the  idea  that  the  Miranda 
scheme  was  the  subject  of  Wolcott's  prior  communication.  The 

1  For  letter  entire,  see  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  313. 

8  For  this  letter  (January  12.  1800)  entire,  see  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  318. 

"  For  letter  entire,  ace  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  324. 

VOL.   II.— 33 


514:  FEDERAL   PLANS    AND    DISSENSIONS  [CHAP.     X. 

context  of  the  letter  we  have  quoted  pertains  to  financial  ques 
tions,  commercial  duties,  etc.  It  would  be  difficult  to  assign 
any  reason  for  this  consultation  with  Mr.  Pitt,  in  regard  to  mat 
ters  thereafter  to  be  submitted  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  Congress,  unless  for  the  purpose  of  giving  him  information  in 
advance,  or  of  obtaining  his  views  and  wishes  in  respect  to  them 
in  advance.  In  any  possible  light,  it  would,  without  further 
explanation  (and  Mr.  Wolcott's  biographer  renders  none),  appear 
to  be  a  very  extraordinary  procedure  on  the  part  of  a  Cabinet 
officer,  and  especially  so  if  acting  without  explicit  instructions 
from  his  principal.  We  venture  to  assume  that  no  such  instruc 
tions  will  be  found  hinted  at  among  the  papers  of  Mr.  Adams. 
His  follies  and  errors  did  not  lie  in  the  direction  of  fawning 
secretly  on  foreign  cabinets.  The  Miranda  scheme  had  opened 
and  established  a  channel  of  mutual  understanding  between  the 
British  Cabinet  and  a  portion  of  ours,  which  would  probably 
present  a  curious  page  of  secret  history  could  all  the  facts  be 
laid  open. 

Hamilton  had  written  General  Washington,  Oct.  21,  1799, 
after  the  President's  determination  to  send  off  the  Envoys  to 
France : 

"  All  my  calculations  lead  me  to  regret  the  measure.  I  hope  that  it  may  not  in 
its  consequences  involve  the  United  States  in  a  war  on  the  side  of  France  with  her 
enemies.  My  trust  in  Providence,  which  has  often  interposed  in  our  favor,  is  my 
only  consolation." 

He  wrote  to  King,  January  5th,  1800 : 

"  If  the  projected  cipher  was  established,  I  should  now  have  very  much  to  say 
to  you.  But  for  this  the  arrangement  is  not  yet  mature.  Soon,  however,  I  hope  to 
make  it  so,  by  forwarding  to  you  the  counterpart,  which  is  in  preparation.  I  must, 
however,  give  you  some  sketch  of  our  affairs. 

"  At  home,  everything  is  in  the  main  well ;  except  as  to  the  perverseness  and 
capriciousness  of  one  l  and  the  spirit  of  faction  of  many. 

"Our  measures  from  the  first  cause  are  too  much  the  effect  of  momentary 
impulse.  Vanity  and  jealousy  exclude  all  counsel.  Passion  wrests  the  helm  from 
reason. 

"  The  irreparable  loss  of  an  inestimable  man  removes  a  control  which  was  felt, 
and  was  very  salutary.2 

"  The  leading  friends  of  the  Government  are  in  a  sad  dilemma.  Shall  they  risk 
a  serious  schism  by  an  attempt  to  change?  Or  shall  they  annihilate  themselves  and 

1  The  President. 

a  General  Washington.  This  remark  deserves  particular  notice  in  the  \ight  of  state 
ments  we  have  hitherto  made. 


CHAP.     X.]  FEDERAL    PLANS    AND    DISSENSIONS.  515 

hazard  their  cause  by  continuing  to  uphold  those  who  suspect  and  hate  them,  and 
who  are  likely  to  pursue  a  course  for  no  better  reason  than  because  it  is  contrary 
to  that  which  they  approve. 

"  The  spirit  of  faction  is  abated  nowhere.  In  Virginia  it  is  more  violent  than 
ever.  It  seems  demonstrated  that  the  leaders  there,  who  possess  completely  all  the 
powers  of  the  local  government,  are  resolved  to  possess  those  of  the  national,  by 
the  most  dangerous  combinations ;  and,  if  they  cannot  effect  this,  to  resort  to  the 
employment  of  physical  force.  The  want  of  disposition  in  the  people  to  second 
them,  will  be  the  only  preventive.  It  is  believed'that  it  will  be  an  eifectual  one. 

"  In  the  two  houses  of  Congress  we  have  a  decided  majority.  But  the  dread 
of  unpopularity  is  likely  to  paralyze  it,  and  to  prevent  the  erection  of  additional 
buttresses  to  the  Constitution,  a  fabric  which  can  scarcely  be  stationary,  and  which 
will  retrograde  if  it  cannot  be  made  to  advance.1 

***** 

"  In  our  councils  there  is  no  fixed  plan  Some  are  for  preserving  and  invigo 
rating  the  navy  and  destroying  the  army.  Some  among  the  friends  of  Government 
for  diminishing  both  on  pecuniary  considerations. 

"  My  plan  is  to  complete  the  navy  to  the  contemplated  extent ;  say  six  ships  of 
the  line,  twelve  frigates,  and  twenty-four  sloops-of-war ;  to  make  no  alteration  for 
the  present  as  to  the  military  force ;  and,  finally,  to  preserve  the  organs  of  the 
existing  force,  reducing  them  to  a  very  moderate  number.  For  this  plan  there  are 
various  reasons  that  appear  to  me  solid.  I  must  doubt,  however,  that  it  will  finally 
prevail."  2 

Then  follows  the  complaint  of  "  the  recent  depredations  of 
British  cruisers,"  which  produced  a  "perplexing  conflict  of  sen 
sations,"  etc.,  already  quoted. 

The  intelligent  observer,  comparing  all  these  expressions  of 
the  leaders  of  a  party,  who  had  just  ostensibly  won  a  great 
peaceful  victory  over  their  opponents  at  the  ballot-box,  and 
were  thus  continued  in  the  possession  of  every  branch  of  the 
Government — the  avowed  necessity  at  such  a  moment  of  a  new 
"  engine  of  government " — the  rival  theories  of  Wolcott  and 
Ames,  whether  that  engine  should  be  a  very  decided  extension 
of  the  judicial  establishment  or  a  standing  army — Ames's  nearly 
naked  proposition  to  appeal  to  force — Wolcott's  friendly  private 
intercommunications  with  Mr.  Pitt — Hamilton's  hints  to  force, 
while  conceding  that  his  opponents  are  likely  to  be  effectually 
prevented  from  resorting  to  it  by  "  the  want  of  disposition  in  the 
people  " — his  objections  to  any  present  reduction  of  the  regular 
army — his  ominous  declaration  that  the  Constitution  must  retro 
grade  or  advance — we  say,  the  observer  who  compares  and 
weighs  these  facts,  will  be  enabled  to  judge  of  the  spirit  and 

1  Ttalicization  ours.       a  For  the  letter  entire,  see  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  415. 


516  DEATH   OF    WASHINGTON.  [CHAP.     X. 

designs  which  the  Federalists  were  prepared  to  carry  into  the 
legislation  of  the  sixth  Congress. 

The  Hamiltonians  had  already  determined  to  set  aside  Mr. 
Adams  for  the  Presidential  succession.  To  make  sure,  as  they 
believed,  of  crushing  both  him  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  they  resolved 
again  to  bring  forward  General  Washington  as  a  candidate. 
After  a  conference  among  the  leaders  at  New  York,  Governeur 
Morris  wrote  a  letter  announcing  their  feelings  and  those  of 
"leading  characters  "  in  New  England  to  General  Washington, 
and  strongly  urged  his  acquiescence.1  Whether  this  was  wise 
or  kind  in  these  pretended  exclusive  friends  of  the  retired  states 
man,  we  are  not  called  upon  to  say ;  but  Morris's  appeal  was 
addressed  to  the  "  dull  cold  ear  of  death." 

The  great  captain  had  fought  his  last  battle ;  the  pure  states 
man  had  done  his  last  deed  for  his  country.  When  Morris's 
letter  reached  Mount  Yernon,  Washington  was  no  more.3 

He  died  on  the  14th  of  December,  after  an  illness  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  of  an  inflammatory  affection  of  the  windpipe,  con 
tracted  by  reason  of  exposure  to  a  light  rain  while  superintend 
ing  some  improvements  upon  his  estate  the  preceding  day. 

The  event  was  communicated  to  Congress  by  an  Executive 
message,  and  the  most  solemn  demonstrations  of  respect  were 
unanimously  agreed  upon  by  that  body.  The  voice  of  a  nation's 
wail  rolled  unbroken  throughout  the  entire  land  ;  and  there  was 
not  probably  a  citizen's  mansion,  a  pioneer's  cabin,  or  a  slave's 
hut  between  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Altamaha  which  did  not 
witness  some  manifestation  of  genuine  sorrow.  For  long 
years  the  simple  rural  population  hushed  their  children  to  sleep, 
and  when  they  met  together  at  rustic  gatherings,  duteously 
joined  their  voices  singing  rude  laments,  the  burden  of 
which  was  that  the  "  friend,  protector,  strength  and  trust  "  of 
his  country 

"  Laid  low  mouldering  in  the  dust."  * 

1  Sparks's  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Governeur  Morris,  vol.  iii.  p.  123. 

a  The  letter  was  dated  December  9th.  1799.  It  could  have  only,  says  Mr.  Sparks, 
reached  Mount  Vernon  the  day  before  the  General's  death;  but  it  was  the  custom  of  the 
latter  to  send  but  twice  a  week  to  Alexandria  for  his  letters.  The  endorsement  of  name 
and  date  on  the  back  of  the  letter,  as  found  among  General  Washington's  papers,  was  not 
in  his  handwriting.  Sparks's  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Morris,  vol.  iii.  p.  125 — note 

8  Before  us  lies  a  little  pamphlet,  written  by  a  worthy  man  we  know  well — entitled, 
"Historic  Sketch  of  the  Town  of  Virgil  [N.  Y.],  by  Nathan  Bouton."  Mr.  Bouton  has 
given  as  faithful  if  not  as  artistic  a  picture  of  the  rude  wilderness  life  of  the  early  settlors, 
as  the  Poet  Crabbe  could  have  done.  There  is  more  than  a  Flemish  fidelity  and  detail  in 
bringing  together  the  rough,  jagged,  wild  accessories!  We  cannot  stop  to  rehearse 


CHAP.  X.J  PARTISANS    BORROWING    HIS    MANTLE.  517 

When  the  news  reached  Europe,  it  was  received  with  becom 
ing  demonstrations  by  the  Government  of  France.  The  Consul 
Bonaparte  made  it  the  subject  of  an  appropriate  order  of  the 
day  to  the  French  armies  ;  and  an  oration,  in  memory  of  Wash 
ington,  was  pronounced  before  the  principal  dignitaries  of  the 
nation,  accompanied  with  solemn  ceremonies.  It  was  said  that 
the  English  channel  fleet,  in  Torbay,  lowered  its  flags  to  half- 
mast,  on  receiving  the  intelligence.  Beyond  this,  the  Govern 
ment  and  nation,  which  had  latterly  expressed  so  much  admira 
tion  of  Washington,  "  had  not  even  the  appearance  of  knowing 
he  was  dead."1 

Cabot  wrote  Wolcott,  January  16th,  1800:  u  Mr.  Ames 
passed  last  evening  with  me.  He  is  to  pronounce  the  eulogy  of 
Washington  before  our  State  Legislature,  three  weeks  hence. 
I  hope  he  will  weave  into  it  as  much  as  possible  of  his  own 
politics.  They  are  such  as  Washington  approved,  and  I  hardly 
know  what  greater  praise  can  be  given  him,  than  a  display  of 
this  fact."  3 

This  hint  was  followed  up  by  the  political  orators  and  eulo- 
gizers  of  the  same  party  generally ;  though  we  think  before  popu 
lar  assemblies  few  spoke  of  the  supposed  resemblance  between 
Washington's  and  Ames's  "  politics,"  in  a  manner  which  led  to 
the  inference  that  they  considered  the  coincidence  more  cre 
ditable  to  the  former  than  the  latter  ! 

them,  but  one  incident  especially  struck  our  attention.  When  the  solitary  cow,  the  yoke 
of  oxen  and  the  few  sheep  were  folded  at  night,  close  to  the  log-house  in  the  little  forest 
clearing,  when  the  "  young  children,  of  which  the  number  was  considerable  in  propor 
tion  to  the  population,"  were  put  to  bed,  the  little  ones  "  soothed  to  rest  in  sap-troughs 
and  hollow  logs  for  cradles  " — when  the  dismal  howl  of  the  marauding  wolf  broke  round 
the  dwelling,  and  the  rifle  and  axe  hung  within  the  hand's  grasp  for  instant  action,  the 
lullaby  of  the  infant  foresters  was  a  lament  for  Washington  !  When  little  parties  of  the 
people  met  together  "  who  could  sing,"  they  sung  the  Lament  for  Washington!  Our 
author  gives  a  stanza  of  the  rude,  but  plaintive  wail : 

"  Where  shall  our  country  turn  its  eye  ? 
What  help  remains  beneath  the  sky  ? 
Our  friend,  protector,  strength  and  trust, 
Lies  low  mouldering  in  the  dust." 

This  brave  generation  has  passed  away.  The  log-cabins  have  disappeared  on  the 
hills,  which  are  nearly  as  familiar  to  our  eyes  as  to  Mr.  Bouton's. 

Such  were  the  men  who,  according  to  the  theory  of  one  of  the  parties  of  that  day, 
were  ready  to  imitate  the  excesses  of  the  rabble  of  Paris,  or,  at  the  blast  of  a  French 
horn,  become  traitors  to  their  country  ! 

1  So  said  Governeur  Morris  in  a  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  June  3,  1800  ;  and  he 
characteristically  added  :  "  The  fact  is  that,  in  that  country,  they  have  always  the  good 
sense  to  wish  to  catch  flies  with  vinegar  ('  on  a  toujours  le  bon  esprit  de  vouloir  prendre 
ies  mouches  avec  du  vinaigre')." — Morris's  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  127. 

Messrs.  Jay's  and  King's  accounts  of  General  Washington's  popularity  in  England  had 
been  fervid.  The  last  had  writteu  home  that  next  to  George  III.  he  was  the  most 
popular  person  in  England  ! 

3  For  the  letter,  sec  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  321. 


518  WASHINGTON   BELONGS    TO    NO    PARTY.  [CHAP.  X. 

The  hint  was  diligently  followed  up  in  the  newspapers — in 
the  pulpit — in  biographies — in  history.  Washington's  name 
has  been  used  from  that  day  to  this  as  an  gegis  over  the  memory 
of  a  condemned  and  overthrown  party — as  a  weapon  of  offence 
against  the  principles  and  character  of  the  early  Republican 
party — as  an  instrument  to  attack  personal  reputation  because 
our  masculine  forefathers,  had  (like  their  degenerate  descendants) 
human  feelings,  human  differences,  and  in  turn  felt  angry  and  felt 
pleased,  in  turn  found  fault  and  praised,  very  much  as  purely 
unrnythical,  e very-day  humanity  does  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Without  following  Washington's  political  history  into  detail, 
we  have  endeavored  to  give  a  fair  coup  (Tml  of  that  history 
from  his  accession  to  the  Presidency  to  the  close  of  his  life.  We 
have  given  some  specimens  of  Mr.  Ames's  views  at  different 
periods.  'It  would  be  an  insult  to  the  feeblest  understanding  to 
attempt  to  impose  on  it  the  idea  that  there  was  any  general  or 
substantial  sameness  in  the  political  theories  of  the  two  men.  It 
wTould  also  be  an  insult  to  the  memory  of  one  or  the  other  of  the 
deceased  statesmen  themselves,  because  their  own  repeated 
recorded  assertions,  if  sincere,  place  them  in  an  attitude  of  cardi 
nal  antagonism. 

The  difference  in  the  views,  principles,  and  designs  of  Ha 
milton  and  Washington  were  full  as  broadly  marked.  We  have 
in  repeated  specific  instances  pointed  out  those  differences. 
These  are  met  by  the  assertion  that  Washington  apparently  had 
unbounded  confidence  in  Hamilton,  that  he  among  the  later 
acts  of  his  life  placed  him  next  to  himself  in  the  army,  and 
finally,  that  he  acted  with  the  Federalists  whom  Hamilton 
headed  as  a  party  for  two  or  three  years  preceding  his 
death. 

We  have  nowhere  attempted  to  show  that  the  first  Presi 
dent  ever  embraced  the  democratic  theories  of  Jefferson.  We 
have  aimed  fairly  to  trace  the  causes  which  forced  him  reluc 
tantly  from  middle  ground  into  a  personal  connection  with  the 
Federalists.  We  have  not  sought  to  conceal  the  fact  that  he 
partook  in  the  alarms  of  that  party  in  regard  to  the  conse 
quences  of  a  purely  popular  rule  in  our  Government,  and  in 
regard  to  the  motives  of  the  democratic  leaders. 

But  we  have  contended  that  he  was  intentionally  and  sys 
tematically  deceived  by  those  who  surrounded  him.  The  in- 


JHAP.  X.]  WASHINGTON   BELONGS    TO    NO    PAKTY.  519 

stances  cited  rest  on  the  testimony  of  records  whose  authenticity 
is  undenied.  All  will  judge  whether  the  facts  support  the  alle 
gations.  One  instance  we  have  not  yet  cited. 

In  the  year  1798  the  cry  of  a  coming  invasion  was  sounded 
throughout  our  land.  Armies  and  navies  were  called  for  to 
meet  it.  Iron  laws  were  passed,  under  the  prevailing  excite 
ment,  to  banish,  imprison  and  confiscate,  for  merely  (as  the  prac 
tical  result  proved)  daring  boldly  to  attack  the  measures  of  the 
ruling  party.  Taxes  were  inflicted  which  led  to  "  insurrection." 
Washington  was  called  from  his  retreat  to  command  in  the 
expected  death  struggle  against  the  gigantic  and  world  threaten 
ing  power  of  France. 

Time  has  rent  chasms  in  the  concealing  drapery.  We  peer 
through  and  find  the  principal  actors,  who  on  the  public  stage 
play  the  parts  of  indignant  patriots  vehemently  rousing  their 
countrymen  to  arms,  privately  informing  each  other,  there  will 
be  no  war,  privately  lamenting  and  deprecating  the  prospect  of 
pacification,  privately  hinting  that  pacification  must  be  guarded 
against  as  fatal  to  their  plans. 

The  motives  for  this  conduct  also  stand  revealed.  We  are 
presented  with  a  band  of  schemers  in  secret  correspondence 
with  the  British  Cabinet.  A  grand  project  of  foreign  invasion 
and  revolution  is  maturing  between  these  British  and  American 
confederates.  American  parties  propose  terms  and  ask  com 
mand,  and  British  parties  assent.  The  British  Government 
makes  the  actual  preparations  on  its  side.  The  American  con- 
federates  have  not  perfected  their  arrangements,  but  things  are 
"  ripening  fast."  For  them  to  ripen  completely,  it  was  necessary 
to  raise  an  army  on  a  fictitious  pretence,  and  to  force  on  a  war 
with  France,  to  obtain  an  excuse  to  attack  a  power  with  which 
we  were  on  terms  of  entire  peace.  The  nation  would  not  for  a 
moment  endure  so  flagrant  a  departure  from  good  faith,  so 
flagrant  a  departure  from  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  neutrality 
between  other  nations,  without  some  covering  excuse  completely 
to  blind  it  to  the  facts. 

The  next  scene  in  the  drama  draws  on.  We  have  the  stipu 
lated  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Miranda  project,  breaking  his 
designs  to  the  chairmen  of  the  military  committees  in  Con 
gress — calling  for  great  armies — and  under  the  thinnest  pretences 
avowing  their  object  in  part  to  be  an  attack  on  the  Spanish  pos- 


520  WASHINGTON'S  FAME  is  NATIONAL.  [CHAP.  x. 

sessions.  And  he  calls,  at  the  same  time,  for  preparations  ior  a 
radical  change  in  our  own  institutions. 

This  is  not  the  last  act,  but  it  is  the  one  which  brings  us 
down  to  the  death  of  Washington  ;  and  is  all,  therefore,  which 
bears  on  the  questions  which  we  are  about  to  ask. 

Is  it  probable  that  Washington  was  informed  by  any  of  the 
Miranda  projectors  of  their  scheme  ?  Is  it  probable  that  any  of 
them  told  him  that  he  "had  been  called  to  command  armies 
raised  on  hypocritical  pretences,  and  designed,  ultimately,  for  the 
violation  of  that  great  maxim  of  his  administration — neutrality  ? 
Is  it  probable  that  this  pure  chief  entered  into  intrigues  with 
foreign  governments  without  the  knowledge  of  his  own,  for  the 
purpose  of  building  up  new  dynasties,  "agreeable  to  both  the 
cooperators,"  on  the  ruins  of  a  friendly  power?  Is  it  probable 
that  Washington  would  have  so  far  violated  all  the  maxims,  and 
the  repeated  decisions  of  his  administration,  as  to  have  favored 
a  defensive  alliance  with  England  for  the  objects  last  named,  or 
for  any  other  object  ?  Probably  there  is  not  a  man  in  the 
United  States  who  would  answer  one  of  these  questions  in  the 
affirmative. 

Was  not  his  whole  official  action,  then,  in  1798  and  1799, 
founded  on  partial  information,  where  the  more  important  and 
controlling  facts  were  "intentionally  and  systematically  "  kept 
from  his  knowledge  ? 

Washington's  coaction  with  partisan  federalism  was  incidental, 
and  did  not  make  him  a  Federalist.  His  true  position  in  prin 
ciple  we  have  already  attempted  to  exhibit.  It  was  a  middle  one 
between  parties.  He  was  a  conservative  republican — represent 
ing  that  class  of  our  population  in  both  parties  which  most  nearly 
approached  each  other,  and  which  was,  respectively,  farthest 
removed  from  absolute  monarchism  and  absolute  democracy. 

In  politics  as  in  war,  in  peace,  in  all  things,  Washington 
belongs  to  no  faction  or  party.  He  belongs  to  his  whole 
country.  His  principles  were  national ;  his  heart  was  national  ; 
his  fame  is  purely  national. 

Jefferson's  political  correspondence,  during  the  session  of 
1799-1800,  that  is  to  say,  his  hitherto  customary  allusion  to 
particular  political  events,  is  unusually  meagre.  His  position 
as  a  formal  candidate  for  the  Presidency  imposed  some  reserve 
on  a  person  so  particularly  modest  where  his  own  direct  inte- 


.  x.]        JEFFERSON'S  POLITICAL  CORRESPONDENCE  521 

rests  were  in  question ;  and  his  repeated  declarations,  and  exhi 
bitions  of  care,  in  sending  important  letters  by  private  con 
veyance,  show  that  he,  as  well  as,  doubtless,  his  leading  friends, 
was  under  the  strong  impression  that  letters  were  subject  to 
the  tamperings  of  post-office  agents. 

Jefferson  wrote  Governor  Monroe  by  a  private  hand,  January 
12th,  that  "  all  agreed  an  election  "  of  Presidential  electors  "  by 
districts  would  be  best,  if  it  could  be  general ;  but  while  ten 
States  chose  either  by  their  legislatures  or  by  a  general  ticket, 
it  would  be  folly,  and  worse  than  folly,  for  the  other  six  not  to 
do  it."  He  said : 

"  In  these  ten  States  the  minority  is  certainly  unrepresented ;  and  their  majo 
rities  not  only  have  the  weight  of  their  whole  State  in  their  scale,  but  have  the 
benefit  of  so  much  of  our  minorities  as  can  succeed  at  a  district  election.  This  is, 
in  fact,  ensuring  to  our  minorities  the  appointment  of  the  Government.  To  state 
it  in  another  form  ;  It  is  merely  a  question  whether  we  will  divide  the  United  States 
into  sixteen  or  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  districts.  The  latter  being  more 
chequered,  and  representing  the  people  in  smaller  sections,  would  be  more  likely  to 
be  an  exact  representation  of  their  diversified  sentiments.  But  a  representation 
of  a  part  by  great,  and  part  by  small  sections,  would  give  a  result  very  different 
from  what  would  be  the  sentiment  of  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States,  were 
they  assembled  together." 

He  mentions  that  there  is  a  very  strong  probability  of  the 
Republicans  carrying  the  Legislatures  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey,  and  that,  consequently,  they  are  in  favor  of  choosing 
electors  by  the  Legislature;  that  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylva 
nia  will  necessarily  do  the  same,  as  the  present  one  will  adjourn 
without  agreeing  to  any  election  law,  and  another  one  cannot 
pass  such  a  law  (providing  for  an  election  by  the  people)  in  time 
to  be  acted  upon.  He  added  : 

"  Perhaps  it  will  be  thought  I  ought  in  delicacy  to  be  silent  on  this  subject. 
But  you,  who  know  me,  know  that  my  private  gratifications  would  be  most  indulged 
by  that  issue  which  should  leave  me  most  at  home.  If  anything  supersedes  this 
propensity,  it  is  merely  the  desire  to  see  this  Government  brought  back  to  its 
republican  principles." 

So,  it  appears,  this  time,  it  was  not  his  choice  to  see  his  oppo 
nent  elected ! 

On  the  18th  of  the  same  month,  he  wrote  Dr.  Priestley,  thank 
ing  him  for  some  pamphlets.  He  considered  uthe  papers  .of 
political  arithmetic,"  both  in  Priestley's  arid  Cooper's  pamphlets. 


522  JEFFERSON   TO    PKIESTLEY.  [CHAP.  X. 

u  the  most  precious  gifts  that  could  be  made  to  us ;  for  we  were 
running  navigation  mad,  and  commerce  mad,  and  navy  mad, 
which  was  worst  of  all."  He  expressed  his  chagrin  and  morti 
fication  "  at  the  persecutions  which  fanaticism  and  monarchy 
had  excited  against "  his  correspondent.  In  allusion  to  the 
prosecution  of  Cooper  for  a  libel  on  the  Government,  he  said : 

"  How  sincerely  have  I  regretted  that  your  friend,  before  he  fixed  his  choice  of 
a  position,  did  not  visit  the  valleys  on  each  side  of  the  ridge  in  Virginia,  as  Mr. 
Madison  and  myself  so  much  wished.  You  would  have  found  there  equal  soil,  the 
finest  climate  and  most  healthy  one  on  the  earth,  the  homage  of  universal  rever 
ence  and  love,  and  the  power  of  the  country  spread  over  you  as  a  shield." * 

1  He  informed  Priestley  that  there  was  a  design  of  establishing  a  central  State  Univer 
sity  in  Virginia,  "  on  a  plan  so  broad  and  liberal  and  modern,  as  to  be  worth  patronizing 
with  the  public  support,  and  be  a  temptation  to  the  youth  of  other  States  to  come  and 
drink  the  cup  of  knowledge  and  fraternize  with  us."  *  "  In  an  institution  meant  chiefly  for 
use,  some  branches  of  science,  formerly  esteemed,  might  now,"  he  thought,  "  be  omit 
ted  :  so  might  others  now  valued  in  Europe,  but  useless  to  us  for  ages  to  come.''  As  an 
example  of  the  former  he  names  Oriental  learning ;  of  the  latter,  "  almost  the  whole  of 
the  institution  proposed  to  Congress  by  the  Secretary  of  War's  report  of  the  5th  instant " 
[U.  S.  Military  Academy].  He  believed  there  was  u  no  one  in  the  world"  so  competent 
as  his  correspondent  to  draw  up  a  plan  of  ^such  an  institution  adapted  to  the  wants  of  our 
country,  arid  he  urgently  solicited  him  to  undertake  it. 

In  conclusion,  his  usual  sanguine  expectations  show  themselves  in  an  allusion  to  the 
Presidential  election  : 

"  Will  not  the  arrival  of  Dupont  tempt  you  to  make  a  visit  to  this  quarter?  I  have 
no  doubt  the  alarmists  are  already  whetting  their  shafts  for  him  also,  but  their  glass  is 
nearly  run  out,  and  the  day  I  believe  is  approaching  when  we  shall  be  as  free  to  pursue 
what  is  true  wisdom  as  the  effects  of  their  follies  will  permit ;  for  some  of  them  we  shall 
be  forced  to  wade  through,  because  we  are  emerged  [merged?]  in  them." 

This  entire  letter  (published  in  Jefferson's  Works,  Cong,  ed.,  vol.  iv.  p.  311),  and  another 
one  immediately  to  be  noticed,  will  be  read  with  interest  by  those  who  are  interested  in 
the  question  of  what  should  comprise  a  "  modern  "  curriculum  of  education.  Mr.  Jefferson 
enumerates  among  the  proper  sciences,  botany,  chemistry,  zoology,  anatomy,  surgery, 
medicine,  natural  philosophy,  agriculture,  mathematics,  astronomy,  geography,  politics, 
commerce,  history,  ethics,  law,  arts,  fine  arts.  He  says  this  list  is  imperfect,  because  he 
makes  it  hastily,  while  >k  holding  his  pen." 

On  the  27th,  he  wrote  Dr.  Priestley  again,  to  say  that  in  his  previous  letter  he  had 
omitted  to  mention  the  languages  as  part  of  the  course  of  study  in  the  proposed  Univer 
sity,  and  that  he  considered  them  decidedly  important.  It  would  be  unpardonable  to 
omit  this  passage : 

"  It  [the  omission]  was  not  that  I  think,  as  some  do,  that  they  are  useless.  I  am  of 
a  very  different  opinion.  I  do  not  think  them  very  essential  to  the  obtaining  eminent 
degrees  of  science  :  but  I  think  them  very  useful  towards  it.  I  suppose  there  is  a  por 
tion  of  life  during  which  our  faculties  are  ripe  enough  for  this,  and  for  nothing  more  useful. 
I  think  the  Greeks  and  Romans  have  left  us  the  [best?]  present  models  which  exist  of  fine 
composition,  whether  we  examine  them  as  works  of  reason,  or  of  style  and  fancy;  and 
to  them  we  probably  owe  these  characteristics  of  modern  composition.  1  know  of  no 
composition  of  any  other  ancient  people,  which  merits  the  least  regard  as  a  model  for  its 
matter  or  style.  To  all  this  I  add,  that  to  read  the  Latin  and  Greek  authors  in  their 
original,  is  a  sublime  luxury  ;  and  I  deem  luxury  in  science  to  be  at  least  as  justifiable  as  in 
architecture,  painting,  gardening,  or  the  other  arts.  I  enjoy  Homer  in  his  own  language 
infinitely  beyond  Pope's  translation  of  him,  and  both  beyond  the  dull  narrative  of  the  same 
events  by  Dares  Phrygius  ;  and  it  is  an  innocent  enjoyment.  I  thank  on  my  knees,  him 
who  directed  my  early  education,  for  having  put  into  my  possession  this  rich  source  of 
delight :  and  I  would  not  exchange  it  for  anything  which  I  could  then  have  acquired,  and 
have  not  since  acquired.  Wilh  this  regard  for  those  languages,  you  will  acquit  me  of 
meaning  to  omit  them." 

The  grateful  allusion  to  his  father  for  directing  him  to  be  so  carefully  educated  in  the 
classics,  has  been  given  by  one  of  his  family  in  very  similar  language,  in  an  earlier  part 
of  this  work,  as  a  customary  saying  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 

He  mentiono'l  that  he  had  received  a  letter  from  "Dupont "  (de  Nemours)  dated  tho 


CHAP.  X.J         BONAPAKTE OUR  BONAPAKTE.  523 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Innes,  of  January  23d,  he  indulged  in  some 
speculations  on  the  news  just  received  from  Europe,  of  another 
revolution  in  the  government  of  France.  He  thought  "  if 
Bonaparte  declared  for  royalty,  either  in  his  own  person  or  of 
Louis  XVIII. ,  he  had  but  a  few  days  to  live."  "  In  a  nation  of 
so  much  enthusiasm  there  must  be,"  he  said,  "  a  million  of 
Brutuses,  who  would  devote  themselves  to  death  to  destroy  him." 
"  Without  much  faith  in  Bonaparte's  heart,  he  had  so  much  in 
his  head  as  to  indulge  another  train  of  reflection."  "In  every 
case  it  was  to  be  feared  and  deplored  that  that  nation  had  yet 
to  wade  through  half  a  century  of  disorder  and  convulsions." 

He  wrote  N.  B- ,'  February  2d,  the  following  criticism  on 

the  talents  thus  far  disclosed  by  Bonaparte,  as  a  legislator : 

"  Should  it  be  really  true  that  Bonaparte  has  usurped  the  government  with  an 
intention  of  making  it  a  free  one,  whatever  his  talents  may  be  for  war,  we  have  no 
proofs  that  he  is  skilled  in  forming  governments  friendly  to  the  people.  Wherever 
he  has  meddled,  we  have  seen  nothing  but  fragments  of  the  old  Roman  govern 
ments  stuck  into  materials  with  which  they  can  form  no  cohesion :  we  see  the 
bigotry  of  an  Italian  to  the  ancient  splendor  of  his  country,  but  nothing  which 
bespeaks  a  luminous  view  of  the  organization  of  rational  government.  Perhaps, 
however,  this  may  end  better  than  we  augur  ;  and  it  certainly  will  if  his  head  is 
equal  to  true  and  solid  calculations  of  glory." 

The  letter  contains  the  following  remarkable  passage  : 

u  We  have  great  need  for  the  ensuing  twelve  months  to  be  left  to  ourselves. 
The  enemies  of  our  Constitution  are  preparing  a  fearful  operation,  and  the  dissen 
sions  in  this  State  are  too  likely  to  bring  things  to  the  situation  they  wish,  when 
our  Bonaparte,  surrounded  by  his  comrades  in  arms,  may  step  in  to  give  us  politi 
cal  salvation  in  his  way.  It  behoves  our  citizens  to  be  on  their  guard,  to  be  firm  in 
their  principles,  and  full  of  confidence  in  themselves.  We  are  able  to  preserve  our 
self-government  if  we  will  but  think  so." 

20th,  and  that  he  would  be  in  Philadelphia  about  a  fortnight  from  that  time.  He  invited 
Priestley  to  make  him  a  visit  at  the  same  period,  expressing  the  satisfaction  the  meeting 
would  give  him.  were  it  but  to  show  "two  such  eminent  forfticrners  embracing  each 
other  in  his  country,  as  the  asylum  for  whatever  is  great  and  good" — for  "tne  tempo 
rary  delirium  which  has  been  excited,"  "  was  fciat  passing  away."  He  added,  in  a  vein 
which  we  shall  find  more  strongly  developed  hereafter  : 

"  The  Gothic  idea  that  we  are  to  look  backwards  instead  of  forwards  for  the  improve 
ment  of  the  human  mind,  and  to  recur  to  the  annals  of  our  ancestors  for  what  is  most 
perfect  in  government,  in  religion,  and  in  learning,  is  worthy  of  those  bigots  in  religion 
and  government  by  whom  it  has  been  recommended,  and  whose  purposes  it  would  an 
swer.  '  But  it  is  not  an  idea  which  this  country  will  endure  ;  and  the  moment  of  their 
showing  it  is  fast  ripening  ;  and  the  signs  of  it  will  be  their  respect  for  you,  and  growing 
detestation  of  those  who  have  hishonored  our  country  by  endeavors  to  disturb  your* 
tranquillity  in  it." 

1  These  initials  occur  here,  and  again  where  it  would  seem  that  the  letters  must  have 
been  addressed  to  his  son-in-law,  Colonel  T.  M.  Randolph. 

*  Misprinted  "  our  "  iu  Cong,  edition. 


524  POLITICAL    CORRESPONDENCE — CONGRESS.  [CHAP.  X. 

There  cannot  be  any  doubt  but  that  by  "our  Bonaparte"  he 
referred  to  the  ther.  senior  commander  of  the  United  States 
army,  General  Hami.ton. 

On  the  26th  of  February,  Jefferson  wrote  an  affectionate 
letter  to  Samuel  Adams,  in  answer  to  one  of  the  same  tenor 
received  from  his  venerable  Revolutionary  friend  after  twenty- 
three  years  of  separation.  The  following  remark  shows  how 
forcibly  and  ominously  Bonaparte's  proceedings  in  France  had 
impressed  his  mind  : 

"  1  fear  our  friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  laboring  in  the  same  cause, 
have  yet  a  great  deal  of  crime  and  misery  to  wade  through.  My  confidence  has 
been  placed  in  the  head,  not  in  the  Leart  of  Bonaparte.  I  hoped  he  would  calculate 
truly  the  difference  between  the  fame  of  a  Washington  and  a  Cromwell.  Whatever 
his  views  may  be.  he  has  at  least  transferred  the  destinies  of  the  republic  from  the 
civil  to  the  military  arm.  Some  will  use  this  as  a  lesson  against  the  practicability 
of  republican  government.  I  read  it  as  a  lesson  against  the  danger  of  standing 


Expecting  a  speedy  opportunity  of  forwarding  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Madison,  by  the  hand  of  a  friend,  he  commenced  one  to  him 
on  the  fourth  of  March,  in  which  we  get  some  of  the  old  inside 
glimpses  of  Congress.  He  writes  iliat  Bingharn's  amendment 
(in  the  Senate)  to  the  election  law  had  been  lost  by  the  "  usual 
majority  of  two  to  one ;  that  a  different  one  would  be  proposed, 
"  containing  the  true  sense  of  the  minority,  viz.,  that  the  two 
Houses,  voting  by  heads,  shall  decide  such  questions  as  the 
Constitution  authorizes  to  be  raised,"  and  that  this  might, 
probably,  be  taken  up  under  better  auspices  in  the  lower  House, 
"for  though  the  Federali&ts  have  a  great  majority  there,  yet  they 
are  of  a  more  moderate  temper  than  for  some  time  past ;"  but  that 
the  Senate  "  seemed  determined  to  yield  to  nothing  which  would 
give  the  other  House  greater  weight  in  the  decisions  on  elec 
tions  than  they  have."  He  writes  that  by  putting  off  the  build 
ing  of  the  seventy-fours  and  stopping  enlistments,  the  loan  will 
be  reduced  to  three  and  a  half  millions — but  he  thinks  even  that 
cannot  be  obtained.  He  says  that  "  Robbins's  affair"  has  been 
under  agitation  some  days;  that  "Livingston  made  an  able 
speech  of  two  and  a  half  hours  yesterday  ;"  that  the  advocates  of 
the  measure  "  felt  its  pressure  heavily  ;"  that,  "  though  they  might 
be  able  to  repel  Livingston's  motion  of  censure,  he  did  not  be 
lieve  they  could  carry  Bayard's  of  approbation:"  that  '-the 


CHAP.  X.]  POLITICAL    ARITHMETIC.  5'J5 

landing  of  our  Envoys  at  Lisbon,  would  risk  a  very  dangerous 
consequence,  inasmuch  as -the  news  of  Truxton's  aggression 
would,  perhaps,  arrive  at  Paris  before  our  Commissioners 
would ;"  that,  "  had  they  gone  directly  there,  they  might  have 
been  two  months  ahead  of  that  news." 

He  continued  the  same  letter  March  8th,  mentioning  that 
Livingston's  motion  respecting  Bobbins  had  been  voted  down 
that  day,  thirty-five  yeas  to  sixty  nays  ;  that  Livingston,  "  Nicho 
las  and  Gallatin  distinguished  themselves  on  one  side,  and  J. 
Marshall  greatly  on  the  other,"  but  still,  it  was  believed,  they 
would  not  push  Bayard's  motion  of  approbation  ;  that  the 
Senate  had  decided  the  same  day  "on  the  motion  for  overhaul 
ing  the  editor  of  the  Aurora  "  by  the  usual  vote  of  about  two  to 
one — one  or  two  senators  going  with  them  who  floated  about, 
and  who  were  "  perfectly  at  market."  The  letter  closes  with 
the  following  specimen  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  sagacity  in  party  cal 
dilations  and  party  arithmetic  : 

"  As  the  conveyance  is  confidential,  I  can  say  something  on  a  subject  which,  to 
those  who  do  not  know  my  real  dispositions  respecting  it,  might  seem  indelicate. 
The  Federalists  begin  to  be  very  seriously  alarmed  about  their  election  next  fall. 
Their  speeches  in  private,  as  well  as  their  public  and  private  demeanor  to  me,  indi 
cate  it  strongly.  This  seems  to  be  the  prospect.  Keep  out  Pennsylvania,  Jersey, 
and  New  York,  and  the  rest  of  the  States  are  about  equally  divided ;  and  in  this 
estimate  it  is  supposed  that  North  Carolina  and  Maryland  added  together  are  equally 
divided.  Then  the  event  depends  on  the  three  middle  States  before  mentioned.  As 
to  them,  Pennsylvania  passes  no  law  for  an  election  at  the  present  session.  They  con 
fide  that  the  next  election  gives  a  decided  majority  in  the  two  houses,  when  joined 
together.  M'Kean,  therefore,  intends  to  call  the  Legislature  to  meet  immediately 
after  the  new  election,  to  appoint  electors  themselves.  Still  you  may  be  sensible  there 
may  arise  a  difficulty  between  the  two  houses  about  voting  by  heads  or  by  houses. 
The  Republican  members  here  from  Jersey  are  entirely  confident  that  their  two  houses 
joined  together,  have  a  majority  of  Republicans  ;  their  Council  being  Republican 
by  six  or  eight  votes,  and  the  lower  House  Federal  by  only  one  or  two ;  and  they 
have  no  doubt  the  approaching  election  will  be  in  favor  of  the  Republicans.  They 
appoint  electors  by  the  two  houses  voting  together.  In  New  York  all  depends  on 
the  success  of  the  city  election,  which  is  of  twelve  members,  and  of  course  makes  a 
difference  of  twenty-four,  which  is  sufficient  to  make  the  two  houses,  joined  toge 
ther,  Republican  in  their  vote.  Governor  Clinton.  General  Gates,  find  some  other 
old  revolutionary  characters  have  been  put  on  the  Republican  ticket.  Burr,  Living 
ston,  etc.,  entertain  no  doubt  on  the  event  of  that  election.  Still  these  are  the 
ideas  of  the  Republicans  only  in  these  three  States,  and  we  must  make  great  allow 
ance  for  their  sanguine  views.  Upon  the  whole,  I  consider  it  as  rather  more  doubt 
ful  than  the  last  election,  in  which  I  was  not  deceived  in  more  than  a  vote  or  two. 
If  Pennsylvania  votes,  then  either  Jersey  or  New  York  giving  a  Republican  vote, 
dccules  tho  election.  If  Pennsylvania  does  not  vote,  then  New  York  determines 


526  CORRESPONDENCE — CONGRESS.  [CHAP.  X. 

the  election.  In  any  event,  we  may  say  that  if  the  city  election  of  New  York  is  in 
favor  of  the  Republican  ticket,  the  issue  will  be  Republican  ;  if  the  Federal  ticket 
for  the  city  of  New  York  prevails,  the  probabilities  will  be  in  favor  of  a  Federal 
issue,  because  it  would  then  require  a  Republican  vote  both  from  Jersey  and  Penn 
sylvania  to  preponderate  against  New  York,  on  which  we  could  not  count  with  any 
confidence.  The  election  of  New  York  being  in  April,  it  becomes  an  early  and 
interesting  object.  It  is  probable  the  landing  of  our  Envoys  in  Lisbon  will  add  a 
month  to  our  session ;  because  all  that  the  eastern  men  are  anxious  about,  is  to  get 
away  before  the  possibility  of  a  treaty's  coming  in  upon  us." 

Before  adding  the  explanations  requisite  to  make  some  parts 
of  the  preceding  letter  intelligible,  we  will  connect  with  it  a  few 
more,  and  all  the  other  important  expression's  made  by  him 
during  the  session. 

He  wrote  to  P.  N".  Nicholas/  April  7th : 

"It  is  too  early  to  think  of  a  declaratory  act  as  yet,  but  the  time  is  approaching 
and  not  distant.  Two  elections  more  will  give  us  a  solid  majority  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  a  sufficient  one  in  the  Senate.  As  soon  as  it  can  be  depended 
on,  we  must  have  "  a  Declaration  of  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,"  in  nature 
of  a  Declaration  of  Rights,  in  all  the  points  in  which  it  has  been  violated.  The  peo 
ple  in  the  middle  States  are  almost  rallied  to  Virginia  already;  and  the  eastern 
States  are  commencing  the  vibration  which  has  been  checked  by  XYZ.  North 
Carolina  is  at  present  in  the  most  dangerous  state." 2 

He  wrote  Edward  Livingston,  April  30th.  expressing  the 
same  absolute  confidence  that  one  or  two  more  elections  would 
strip  the  Federalists  of  the  great  body  of  the  people — "  the  peo 
ple  through  all  the  States  "  being  "  for  republican  forms,  repub 
lican  principles,  simplicity,  economy,  religious  and  civil  free 
dom."  He  added : 

"  I  have  nothing  to  offer  you  but  Congressional  news.  The  Judiciary  Bill  is 
postponed  to  the  next  session  ;  so  the  Militia;  so  the  Military  Academy.  The  bill 
for  the  election  of  the  President  and  Vice-President  has  undergone  much  revolution. 
Marshall  made  a  dexterous  manoeuvre ;  he  declares  against  the  constitutionality  of 
the  Senate's  bill,  and  proposed  that  the  right  of  decision  of  their  grand  committee 
should  be  controllable  by  the  concurrent  votes  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress ;  but 
to  stand  good  if  not  rejected  by  a  concurrent  vote.  You  will  readily  estimate  the 
amount  of  this  sort  of  control.  The  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
however,  took  from  the  Committee  the  right  of  giving  any  opinion,  requiring  them 
to  report  facts  only,  and  that  the  votes  returned  by  the  States  should  be  counted, 

i  Philip  Norborne  Nicholas,  a  most  promising  member  of  the  Richmond  bar. 

3  The  reason  assigned  for  this,  is  that  "the  lawyers  [are]  all  Tories,  the  people  sub 
stantially  republican,  but  uninformed  and  deceived  by  the  lawyers,  who  arc  elected  of 
necessity,  because  [there  are]  few  other  candidates." 


CHAP.  X.]  CORRESPONDENCE — CONGRESS.  527 

unless  reported  by  a  concurrent  vote  of  both  Houses.     In  what  form  it  will  pass 
them  or  us,  cannot  be  foreseen." 

The  following,  in  the  same  letter,  is  a  clever  hit  at  construc 
tive  powers : 

"  The  House  of  Representatives  sent  us  yesterday  a  bill  for  incorporating  a  com 
pany  to  work  Roosewell's  copper  mines  in  New  Jersey.  I  do  not  know  whether  it 
is  understood  that  the  Legislature  of  Jersey  was  incompetent  to  this,  or  merely  that 
we  have  concurrent  legislation  under  the  sweeping  clause.  Congress  are  authorized 
to  defend  the  nation.  Ships  are  necessary  for  defence ;  copper  is  necessary  for 
ships  ;  mines  are  necessary  for  copper ;  a  company  necessary  to  work  mines ;  and 
who  can  doubt  this  reasoning  who  has  ever  played  at  "  This  is  the  House  that  Jack 
built?"  Under  such  a  process  of  filiation  of  necessities  the  sweeping  clause  makes 
clean  work  " 

He  wrote  to  Madison,  May  12th,  thus  summing  up  the  ac 
tion  of  both  houses  of  Congress  during  the  session : 

"Congress  will  rise  to-day  or  to-morrow.  Mr.  Nicholas  proposing  to  call  on  you, 
you  will  get  from  him  the  Congressional  news.  On  the  whole,  the  Federalists 
have  not  been  able  to  carry  a  single  strong  measure  in  the  lower  house  the  whole 
session.  When  they  met,  it  was  believed  they  had  a  majority  of  twenty;  but  many 
of  these  were  new  and  moderate  men,  and  soon  saw  the  true  character  of  the  party 
to  which  they  had  been  well  disposed  while  at  a  distance.  The  tide,  too,  of  public 
opinion  sets  so  strongly  against  the  Federal  proceedings,  that  this  melted  off  their 
majority,  and  dismayed  the  heroes  of  the  party.  The  Senate  alone  remained  undis 
mayed  to  the  last.  Firm  to  their  purposes,  regardless  of  public  opinion,, and  more 
disposed  to  coerce  than  to  court  it,  not  a  man  of  their  majority  gave  way  in  the 
least ;  and  on  the  Election  Bill  they  adhered  to  John  Marshall's  amendment,  by 
their  whole  number  ;  and  if  there  had  been  a  full  Senate,  there  would  have  been  but 
eleven  votes  against  it." 

The  Election  Law  of  this  session  alluded  to,  which  the  Senate 
passed,  putting  down  all  amendments  by  a  vote  of  two  to  one, 
was  introduced  by  Senator  Ross,  the  recently  defeated  Federal 
candidate  for  Governor  in  Pennsylvania  ;  and  it  provided  that 
in  elections  of  President  and  Vice-President  a  joint  committee 
of  both  houses  should  be  chosen  by  ballot,  with  power  to  de 
cide  on  the  validity  of  objections  to  any  of  the  electoral  votes. 
This,  of  course,  would  practically  give  the  committee  power  to 
choose  the  President — and  the  bill  had  a  peculiar  significance 
from  the  following  facts. 

Pennsylvania  had  hitherto  chosen  her  Presidential  electors 
b}T  a  popular  vote  and  by  general  ticket,  but  the  law  had  ex 
pired,  and  the  State  Senate,  in  which  there  was  a  majority  of 


528  CONGRESS — RANDOLPH'S  AFFAIR.  ["CHAP.  x. 


Federalists,  refused  to  concur  in  its  renewal,  as  it  was  now 
doubted  by  no  one  that  the  State  was  strongly  Republican,  and 
that  were  the  people  permitted  to  chose  electors  as  heretofore, 
Mr.  Jefferson's  election  would  be  rendered  certain.  A  new 
legislature  was  to  be  chosen  before  the  Presidential  election, 
and  it  was  morally  certain  that  at  least  in  joint  ballot  the  Re 
publicans  would  have  a  majority.  It  was  supposed,  of  course, 
that  Governor  McKean  (as  Jefferson  wrote  Madison,  March  8th) 
would  convene  the  Legislature,  and  that  this  body  would  imme 
diately  pass  an  electoral  law  giving  the  choice  of  electors  to 
itself.  There  would  be  certainly  nothing  unjust  in  this,  as  vari 
ous  other  States  chose  by  their  Legislatures,  and  as  there  was 
no  other  way  of  preventing  the  State  from  losing  its  Presidential 
vote.  The  Republicans  generally  believed  that  it  was  to  enable 
the  Federal  majority  in  Congress,  through  a  committee,  to  reject 
the  Pennsylvania  vote,  in  this  event,  as  irregular,  that  Ross's 
bill  was  introduced.  Duane  so  charged  in  the  Aurora,  and  that 
this  course  had  been  agreed  upon  in  a  secret  caucus  of  the 
Federal  senators.  The  consequences  of  his  making  this  state 
ment  will  presently  be  related  But  the  Senate's  bill  was  too 
flagrant  for  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  wishes  of  the 
Republican  minority,  Marshall's  "dexterous  manoauvre,"  and 
some  other  subsequent  action,  have  been  stated  in  the  preceding 
letters.  The  houses  did  not  agree  ;  and  no  bill  was  passed. 

Nicholas,  on  the  7th  day  of  January,  moved  a  resolution  to 
repeal  the  act  passed  January  16th,  1798,  entitled,  "An  act  to 
augment  the  army  of  the  United  States."  After  an  animated 
debate  of  several  days,  the  motion  was  lost  by  about  twenty 
majority. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  John  Randolph  made  his  first 
speech  in  the  House,  and  during  it,  applied  the  epithet  of  "  raga 
muffins"  and  "  mercenaries"  to  the  army.  In  consequence  of 
this,  on  the  next  day,  a  Captain  McKnight  and  a  Lieutenant 
Reynolds,  officers  in  the  army,  jostled  and  otherwise  insulted  Mr. 
Randolph  in  the  theatre.  The  latter  addressed  a  haughty  commu 
nication  to  the  President,  in  which  he  stated  that  "  the  indepen 
dence  of  the  Legislature  had  been  attacked  "  in  his  person,  and  he 
demanded  "  that  a  provision  commensurate  with  the  evil  be  made, 
and  which  w^ould  be  calculated  to  deter  others  from  any  future 
attempt  to  introduce  the  reign  of  terror  into  our  country."  The 


CHAP.  X.]  CONGRESS — ARMY ROBBINS    AFFAIR.  529 

President  sent  the  communication  to  the  House,  as  pertaining  to 
a  matter  more  appropriately  within  its  jurisdiction  ;  and  a  com 
mittee  of  that  body  reported  a  resolution  "  that  sufficient  cause 
did  not  appear  for  the  interposition  of  this  House,  on  the  ground 
of  a  breach  of  its  privileges."  Amendments  to  this,  censuring 
the  two  officers,  were  rejected  by  a  majority  of  fourteen,  and 
then  the  resolution  was  itself  rejected  by  a  majority  of  twelve. 
The  Speaker  ruled1  a  separate  resolution  of  censure  to  be  out  of 
order,  and  after  this  ruling  was  sustained,  on  appeal,  by  a  vote 
of  fifty-six  to  forty-two,  the  affair  was  dropped.2 

An  act.  passed  (February  20,  1800)  suspending  all  further  en 
listments  under  the  second  section  of  the  law  to  augment  the  army, 
etc.,  unless  "war  should  break  out  between  the  United  States  and 
the  French  Republic,  or  imminent  danger  of  invasion  of  their 
territory  by  the  said  Republic,  should,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  be  discovered  to  exist."  But  the 
non-intercourse  act  with  France,  and  that  authorizing  the  arm 
ing  of  merchant  vessels,  were  continued.  The  President  was 
authorized  to  borrow  three  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars.  A 
general  bankrupt  law  was  passed.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
session  (May  14th,  1800),  the  President  was  authorized  to  sus 
pend  further  military  appointments,  and  on  or  before  the  15th 
of  June  ensuing,  to  discharge  (with  three  months'  extra  pay)  the 
officers  and  privates  of  the  army,  except  the  engineers,  inspec 
tor  of  artillery,  and  inspector  of  fortifications,  providing  nothing 
in  the  act  "should  be  construed  to  authorize  any  reduction  of 
the  first  four  regiments  of  infantry,  the  two  regiments  of  artille 
rists  and  engineers,  the  two  troops  of  light  dragoons,  or  the  gene 
ral  and  other  staff  authorized  by  the  several  laws  for  the  estab 
lishing  and  organizing  of  the  aforesaid  corps."8 

The  Robbins  affair  alluded  to  by  Jefferson,  and  which  made 
BO  much  noise  in  its  day,  was  as  follows  :  A  person  calling 
himself  Jonathan  Robbins  was  arrested  in  Charleston,  at  the  in 
stance  of  the  British  Consul,  in  pursuance  of  the  provision  in  the 
treaty  of  London  for  the  rendition  of  murderers  and  forgers. 
He  was  charged  with  being  one  Thomas  Nash,  boatswain  of  a 
British  frigate,  and  one  of  a  party  of  mutineers  who,  in  1797, 
had  slain  the  officers  of  the  frigate  and  then  carried  it  into  La 

1  Annals  of  Congress,  1799-1801,  p.  505.       a  See  Jefferson  to  his  daughter  preaentlv. 
'  U.  8.  Statutes  at  Large,  vol.  ii.  p.  85. 

VOL.  ii. — 34 


530  BOBBINS    AFFAIR — TKUXTON's    AGGRESSION.  [CHAP.  X. 

Guayra  and  sold  it.  Application  being  made  to  the  President, 
he  directed  the  district  judge  to  give  up  the  prisoner  on  such 
testimony  as  would  justify  his  apprehension  and  commitment 
for  trial,  had  the  offence  been  perpetrated  within  the  United 
States.  Bobbins,  or  Nash,  presented  an  affidavit  that  he  was 
born  in  Danbary,  Connecticut,  also  a  notarial  certificate  granted 
him  in  ISTew  York  several  years  before  as  Jonathan  Robbing  ; 
and  he  made  oath  that  he  had  two  years  before  been  impressed 
into  the  British  service.  He  was  however  given  up,  tried  by 
court  martial  at  Halifax,  and  hanged.1 

The  President  was  severely  censured  for  surrendering  this 
man  under  such  circumstances — a  feeling  not  confined  entirely 
to  the  Republicans.  It  was  very  warmly  participated  in  by 
Mr.  Pinckney,  a  Federal  senator  from  South  Carolina.  It  is 
true  he  had  acted  as  counsel  for  the  prisoner,  but  if  he  was  a 
conscientious  and  honorable  man,  this  should  only  entitle  his 
opinion  to  the  more  weight,  for  it  would  certainly  better  enable 
him  to  judge  of  the  identity,  and  also  of  the  guilt  or  innocence  of 
his  client.  Livingston's  resolutions  charged  the  President  with 
a  dangerous  interference  with  the  rights  and  duties  of  the* judi 
ciary.  The  speakers  mentioned  by  Jefferson  took  part  in  the 
debate  on  these ;  and  also  Bayard,  Otis,  Harper,  and  Dana. 
As  he  remarks,  Marshall  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  oppo 
sition  to  the  resolutions — the  question  being  one  well  adapted  to 
his  powerful  but  dry  and  lawyer-like  tone  of  thought.3 

The  resolutions  were  defeated  by  about  the  usual  party  vote, 
but  the  majority  was  glad  to  get  rid  of  the  question  by  dis 
charging  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  from  the  further  considera 
tion  of  the  subject,  without  attempting  to  press  Bayard's 
resolutions  of  approbation. 

"  Truxton's  aggression,"  mentioned  by  Mr.  Jefferson  as  likely 
to  endanger  our  relations  with  France,  while  our  Envoys  were 
making  a  slow  land  journey  across  Spain,  consisted  in  his  two 
days'  pursuit  in  the  Constellation,  of  the  French  national  vessel 
La  Yengeance,  his  attacking  and  so  injuring  her  that  notwith 
standing  she  escaped,  she  only  reached  Curacoa  dismasted,  and 

1  It  was  said  that  Admiral  Parker  wrote  Mr.  Listen,  the  British  Minister  in  the  United 
States,  that  before  his  execution,  the  condemned  man  confessed  that  he  was  an  \nshman 

2  In  Mr.  Justice  Story's  Discourse  on  Chief-Justice  Marshall,  he  says  of  this  speech 
that  it  '•  silenced  opposition  and  settled  then  end  forever  the  points  of  national  law  upoc 
which  the  controversy  hinged." 


CUAP.  X.]  OVEKHAULING   DTJANE.  531 

in  so  damaged  a  condition  that  she  was  condemned  as  unfit  for 
further  service.1 

Truxton  was  not  assuredly  in*  fault  if  he  was  obeying  the 
orders  of  his  Government;  and  the  achievement,  in  a  military 
point  of  view,  was  a  gallant  one. 

The  "  overhauling  of  the  editor  of  the  Aurora  "  took  place  in 
this  wise :  It  has  been  mentioned  that  on  the  introduction  of 
Ross's  election  bill,  Duane  publicly  charged  (as  the  Republicans 
generally  believed)  that  it  was  intended  to  exclude  the  vote  of 
Pennsylvania;  and  he  further  asserted  that  the  matter  had  been 
agreed  on  in  a  caucus  of  the  Federal  senators.  This  publica 
tion  was  taken  up  in  the  Senate,  and  referred  to  a  committee  of 
privileges.  On  their  report,  the  Senate  resolved  that  Duane's 
"  assertions  and  pretended  information  respecting  the  Senate 
and  their  proceedings "  were  "  false,  defamatory,  scandalous, 
and  malicious,  tending  to  defame  the  Senate,  and  to  bring  them 
into  contempt  and  disrepute,"  and  "  that  the  said  publication 
was  a  high  breach  of  the  privileges  of  the  Senate."  Duane 
being  summoned  to  appear  at  the  bar,  asked  permission  to  be 
assisted  by  counsel.  This  was  granted,  but  with  the  proviso 
that  his  counsel  should  only  be  heard  on  questions  of  fact,  or  in 
extenuation  of  his  offence ;  which  would  preclude  all  question 
ing  of  the  propriety  or  constitutionality  of  the  Senate's  proceed 
ings.  Duane  did  not  appear  at  the  appointed  time,  but  sent  a 
correspondence  between  himself  and  his  counsel  Dallas  and 
Thomas  Cooper,  in  which  both  of  the  latter  refused  to  act  under 
the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  Senate ;  and  Duane  declared 
that  under  these  circumstances,  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  decline  any 
further  voluntary  attendance,  and  he  left  the  Senate  "  to  pursue 
such  measures  .  .  .  as  in  their  wisdom  they  might  deem 
meet." 

i  Truxton,  while  cruising  off  Guadaloupe,  discovered  the  latter  and  gave  chase.  The 
Vengeance  was  loaded  so  heavily  with  valuable  goods  that  she  lay  very  deep  in  the 
water ;  and  she  had  a  large  quantity  of  specie  on  board.  She  attempted  to  escape,  but 
after  two  days  chase,  the  Constellation  brought  her  into  an  action,  which  lasted  several 
hours,  when  the  ships  separated,  the  Vengeance  having  fifty  men  killed  and  one  hundred 
and  ten  wounded,  and  being  reduced  to  the  condition  mentioned  in  the  text.  The  main 
mast  of  the  Constellation  having  gone  by  the  board,  she  was  unable  to  follow.  The  ar 
mament  of  the  Constellation  consisted  of  twenty-eight  eighteens  and  ten  twenty-four 
pound  carronades,  with  three  hundred  and  ten  men.  The  force  of  La  Vengeance  was 
twenty-eight  eighteens,  sixteen  twelves,  and  eight  forty-two  pound  carronades,  with  a 
crew  variously  stated  to  have  been  between  four  and  five  hundred  men.  Midshipman 
Jarvis  was  in  command  aloft,  and  in  the  hope  of  securing  the  damaged  main  mast,  refused 
to  abandon  his  post,  and  with  all  the  top-men  went  over  the  side  with  the  falling  spars. 
Jarvis  and  all  but  one  of  the  men  were  lost ;  and  Congress  passed  a  solemn  resolution 
>D  approval  of  his  gallantry.  (See  Cooper's  Naval  History.) 


532  MACON'S  RESOLUTION — A  PAETY  MANOEUVRE.     [CHAP  i. 

To  add  to  the  offence  of  the  audacious  captain  of  volunteers, 
who  had  worn  a  plume  of  "  cock's  neck  feathers,'1  the  word 
"  wisdom  "  was  underscored,  and  this  was  construed  to  imply  a 
sneer.  The  Senate  voted  him  guilty  of  a  contempt,  and  a  war 
rant  was  issued  directing  the  sergeant- at-arms  to  arrest  and  hold 
him  in  custody  until  further  orders.  Duane  kept  out  of  the 
way,  and  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  by  petitions  to 
induce  the  Senate  to  suspend  their  order.  On  the  day  of 
adjournment  they  passed  a  resolution  requesting  the  President 
to  order  his  prosecution  for  a  libel  on  the  Senate. 

One  or  two  other  noteworthy  circumstances  occurred  during 
the  first  session  of  the  sixth  Congress,  not  alluded  to  by  Mr. 
Jefferson. 

Macon  (January  23)  moved  the  repeal  of  that  part  of  the 
Sedition  Law  which  related  to  seditious  libels.  He  expected  to 
carry  the  vote  of  the  House  by  the  aid  of  a  body  of  southern 
Federalists,  who,  prior  to  their  election,  had  expressed  them 
selves  opposed  to  this  part  of  the  law,  and  some  of  whom  were 
formally  pledged  to  vote  for  its  repeal.  In  one  or  both  of  these 
categories  was  understood  to  stand  the  late  Minister  to  France, 
John  Marshall.  Mr.  Bayard  of  Delaware  moved  to  amend 
Macon's  resolution  by  adding:  "  and  the  offences  therein  speci 
fied  shall  remain  punishable  as  at  common  law;  provided,  that 
upon  any  prosecution  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  defendant  to  give 
in  his  defence  the  truth  of  the  matters  charged  as  a  libel." 

The  effect  of  this  would  be  to  substitute  for  the  repealed  law 
a  vastly  more  sweeping  one,  except  in  a  particular  where  the 
modification,  in  its  practical  effect,  would  prove  rather  ostensi 
ble  than  real ;  and  besides,  it  would  be  a  broad  entering  wedge 
to  investing  the  Supreme  Court  with  that  general  common  law 
jurisdiction  which  the  Republicans  and  all  friends  of  State 
rights  dreaded  more  than  any  or  all  the  preceding  high-handed 
measures  of  their  opponents  put  together. 

The  question  was  taken  on  the  first  part  of  the  resolution 
(for  the  repeal),  and  it  passed  yeas  fifty,  nays  forty-eight.  The 
amendment  was  also  passed,  yeas  fifty-one,  nays  forty-seven. 
The  amended  resolution  was  then  lost,  yeas  eleven,  nays  eighty- 
four. 

Four  Southern  Federalists  voted  for  both  the  resolution  and 
the  amendment.  They  might  have  been  influenced  purely  by  a 


CHA.P.  X.]  CONGRESSIONAL    CATJCVSE8.  533 

desire  to  repeal  the  existing  law  in  order  to  substitute  one  which 
left  punishment  at  the  -discretion  of  the  courts.  They  might 
have  been  only  redeeming  pledges  to  the  ear  to  break  them 
to  the  hope.  They  at  least,  after  assisting  to  carry  Macon's 
resolution,  more  than  turned  the  scale  in  favor  of  Bayard's 
amendment.  And,  practically,  they  certainly  enabled  the 
pledged  Southern  Federalists  to  vote  harmlessly  for  an  anti- 
administration  measure,  by  rendering  its  defeat  certain. at  the 
hands  of  both  parties.  This,  at  the  time,  was  believed  to  be  the 
object  of  the  amendment  and  of  the  vote  of  at  least  three  out  of 
the  four  Federalists  whose  action  would  hardly  be  reasonably 
explainable  on  any  other  hypothesis.1 

During  this  session,  congressional  caucuses  were  held  by 
both  parties  to  nominate  their  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
and  Vice-Presidency.  The  "Republicans  unanimously  nominated 
Mr.  Jefferson  for  the  first  office,  and  Aaron  Burr  of  New  York 
received  a  majority  of  votes  for  the  second. 

The  Federalists  nominated  the  incumbent,  and  General 
Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  the  ex-Minis 
ter  to  France,  and  one  of  the  major-generals  of  the  provisional 
army.  The  caucus  recommended  both  candidates  to  an  equal 
support. 

Congress  adjourned  on  the  14th  of  May,  1800. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  correspondence  with  his  daughters  during 
the  session  will  be  found  seasoned  with  a  new  infusion  of  politi 
cal  matter. 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Jan.  17, 1800. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA: 

I  received  at  Monticello  two  letters  from  you,  and  meant  to  have  answered 
them  a  little  before  my  departure  for  this  place  ;  but  business  so  crowded  upon  me 
at  that  moment  that  it  was  not  in  my  power.  I  left  home  on  the  21st,  and  arrived 
here  on  the  28th  of  December,  after  a  pleasant  journey  of  fine  weather  and  good 
roads,  and  without  having  experienced  any  inconvenience.  The  Senate  had  not  yet 
entered  into  business,  and  I  may  say  they  have  not  yet  entered  into  it ;  for  we  have 
not  occupation  for  half  an  hour  a  day.  Indeed  it  is  so  apparent  that  we  have 
nothing  to  do  but  to  raise  money  to  fill  the  deficit  of  five  millions  of  dollars,  that  it 
rs  proposed  we  shall  rise  about  the  middle  of  March ;  and  as  the  proposition  comes 
from  the  Eastern  members,  who  have  always  been  for  sitting  permanently,  while 
the  Southern  are  constantly  for  early  adjournment,  I  presume  we  shall  rise  then. 

1  The  four  individuals  referred  to  were  Benjamin  Huger  and  Abraham  Nott  of  South 
Carolina,  and  Josiah  Parker  and  Edwin  Gray  of  Virginia. 


534:  JEFFEBSON    TO  HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.  X, 

In  the  meauwh'le,  they  are  about  to  renew  the  bill  suspending  intercourse  with 
France,  which  is  in  fact  a  bill  to  prohibit  the  exportation  of  tobacco,  and  to  reduce 
the  tobacco  States  to  passive  obedience  by  poverty.  J.  Randolph  has  entered  into 
debate  with  great  splendor  and  approbation.  He  used  an  unguarded  word  in  his 
first  speech,  applying  the  word  ragamuffin  to  the  common  soldiery.  He  took  it 
back  of  his  own  accord,  and  very  handsomely,  the  next  day  when  he  had  occasion 
to  reply.  Still,  in  the  evening  of  the  second  day,  he  was  jostled,  and  his  coat 
pulled  at  the  theatre  by  two  officers  of  the  navy,  who  repeated  the  word  ragamuffin. 
His  friends  present  supported  him  spiritedly,  so  that  nothing  further  followed.  Con 
ceiving,  and,  as  I  think,  justly,  that  the  House  of  Representatives  (not  having 
passed  a  law  on  the  subject)  could  not  punish  the  offenders,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
President,  who  laid  it  before  the  House,  where  it  is  still  depending.  He  has  con 
ducted  himself  with  great  propriety,  and  I  have  no  doubt  will  come  out  with 
increase  of  reputation,  being  determined  himself  to  oppose  the  interposition  of  the 
House  when  they  have  no  law  for  it.  M.  du  Pont,  his  wife  and  family,  are 
arrived  at  New  York,  after  a  voyage  of  three  months  and  five  days.  I  suppose 
after  he  is  a  little  recruited  from  his  voyage  we  shall  see  him  here.  His  son  is  with 
him,  as  is  also  his  son-in-law  Bureau  Pusy,  the  companion  and  fellow-sufferer  of 
Lafayette.  I  have  a  letter  from  Lafayette  of  April ;  he  then  expected  to  sail  for 
America  in  July,  but  I  suspect  he  awaits  the  effect  of  the  mission  of  our  ministers. 
I  presume  Madame  de  Lafayette  is  to  come  with  him,  and  that  they  mean  to  settle 
in  America.  The  prospect  of  returning  early  to  Monticello  is  to  me  a  most  charm 
ing  one.  I  hope  the  Fishery  will  not  prevent  your  joining  us  early  in  the  spring. 
However,  on  this  subject  we  can  speak  together,  as  I  will  endeavor,  if  possible,  to 
take  Mont  Blanco  and  Eppington  in  my  way.  A  letter  from  Dr.  Carr,  of  December 
id7,  informed  me  he  had  just  left  you  well  I  become  daily  more  anxious  to  hear 
from  you,  and  to  know  that  you  continue  well,  your  present  state  being  one  which 
is  most  interesting  to  a  parent,  and  its  issue  I  hope  will  be  such  as  to  give  you 
experience  what  a  parent's  anxiety  may  be.  I  employ  my  leisure  moments  in 
repassing  often  in  my  mind  our  happy  domestic  society  when  together  at  Monticello, 
and  looking  forward  to  the  renewal  of  it.  No  other  society  gives  me  now  any  satis 
faction,  as  no  other  is  founded  in  sincere  affection.  Take  care  of  yourself,  my  dear 
Maria,  for  my  sake,  and  cherish  your  affections  for  me,  as  my  happiness  rests  solely 
on  yours  and  on  that  of  your  sisters  and  your  dear  connections.  Present  me  affec 
tionately  to  Mr.  Eppes,  to  whom  I  inclosed  some  pamphlets  some  time  ago  without 
any  letter  ;  as  I  shall  write  no  letters  the  ensuing  year  for  political  reasons  which  I 
explained  to  him.  Present  my  affections  also  to  Mrs.  and  Mr.  Eppes,  sen.,  and  all 
the  family,  for  whom  I  feel  every  interest  that  I  do  for  my  own.  Be  assured  your 
self,  my  dear,  of  my  most  tender  and  constant  love.  Adieu. 

Yours  affectionately  and  for  ever, 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  Jan.  21, 1800. 

I  am  made  happy  by  a  letter  from  Mr  Eppes,  informing  me  that  Maria  was 
become  a  mother,  and  was  well.  It  was  written  the  day  after  the  event.  These 
circumstances  are  balm  to  the  painful  sensations  of  this  place.  I  look  forward  with 
hope  to  the  moment  when  we  are  all  to  be  reunited  again I  inclose 


CHAP.  X.]  LETTERS    TO   HIS    DAUGHTERS.  535 

a  little  tale  for  Anne.  To  Ellen  you  must  make  big  promises,  which  I  know  a 
bit  of  gingerbread  will  pay  off.  Kiss  them  all  for  me.  My  affectionate  saluta 
tions  to  Mr.  Randolph,  and  tender  and  increasing  love  to  yourself.  Adieu,  my  dear 
Martha,  affectionately. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  Feb.  llth,  1800. 

A  person  here  has  invented  the  prettiest  improvement  in  the  forte  piano  I  have 
ever  seen.  It  has  tempted  me  to  engage  one  for  Monticello ;  partly  for  its  excel 
lence  and  convenience,  partly  to  assist  a  very  ingenious,  modest,  and  poor  young 
man,  who  ought  to  make  a  fortune  by  his  invention.  His  strings  are  perpendicular, 

so  that He  contrives  within  that  height  to  give  his  strings 

the  same  length  as  in  the  grand  forte  piano,  and  fixes  his  three  unisons  to  the  same 
screw,  which  screw  is  in  the  direction  of  the  strings,  and  therefore  never  yields.  It 
scarcely  gets  out  of  tune  at  all,  and  then,  for  the  most  part,  the  three  unisons  are 

tuned  at  once The  House  of  Representatives  have  sent  a 

resolution  to  the  Senate  to  adjourn  on  the  first  Monday  of  April.  The  Eastern  men 
being,  for  the  first  time,  eager  to  get  away,  for  political  reasons,  I  think  it  proba 
ble  we  shall  adjourn  about  that  time.  There  is  really  no  business  which  ought  to 
keep  us  one  fortnight.  I  am  therefore  looking  forward  with  anticipation  of  the  joy 
of  seeing  you  again  ere  long,  and  tasting  true  happiness  in  the  midst  of  my  family. 
My  absence  from  you  teaches  me  how  essential  your  society  is  to  my  happiness. 
Politics  are  such  a  torment  that  I  would  advise  every  one  I  love  not  to  mix  with 
them.  I  have  changed  my  circle  here  according  to  my  wish,  abandoning  the  rich, 
and  declining  their  dinners  and  parties,  and  associating  entirely  with  the  class  of 
science,  of  whom  there  is  a  valuable  society  here.  Still  my  wish  is  to  be  in  the 

midst  of  our  own  families  at  home Kiss  all  the  dear  little  ones 

for  me ;  do  not  let  Ellen  forget  me ;  and  continue  to  me  your  love  in  return  for  the 
constant  and  tender  attachment  of 

Yours  affectionately. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Feb.  12, 1800. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA: 

Mr.  Eppes's  letter  of  January  17  had  filled  me  with  anxiety  for  your  little 
one,  and  that  of  the  25th  announced  what  I  had  feared.  How-  deeply  I  feel  it  in  all 
its  bearings  I  shall  not  say — nor  attempt  consolation  when  I  know  that  time  and 
silence  are  the  only  medicines.  I  shall  only  observe,  as  a  source  of  hope  to  us  all, 
that  you  are  young,  and  will  not  fail  to  possess  enough  of  these  dear  pledges  which 
bind  us  to  one  another  and  to*  life  itself.  I  am  almost  hopeless  in  writing  to  you, 
from  observing  that  at  the  date  of  Mr.  Eppes's  letter  of  January  25th,  three  which  I 
had  written  to  him  and  one  to  you  had  not  been  received.  That  to  you  was  Janu 
ary  17th,  and  to  him  December  21,  January  22,  and  one  which  only  covered  some 
pamphlets.  That  of  December  21st  was  on  the  subject  of  Powell,  and  would  erf 
course  give  occasion  for  an  answer.  I  have  always  directed  to  Petersburg;  perhap* 


536  JEFFERSON   TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  [CHAP.  X. 

Mr.  Eppes  does  not  have  inquiries  made  at  the  post-office  there.  His  of  Januarj 
1,  12,  17,  25,  have  come  safely,  though  tardily.  One  from  the  Hundred  never  came. 
I  will  inclose  this  to  the  care  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 

The  Representatives  have  proposed  to  the  Senate  to  adjourn  on  the  7th  of  April, 
and  as  the  motion  comes  from  the  Eastern  quarter,  and  the  members  from  thence 
are  anxious,  for  political  reasons,  to  separate,  I  expect  we  shall  adjourn  about  that 
time.  I  fully  propose,  if  nothing  intervenes  to  prevent  it,  to  take  Chesterfield  in  my 
way  home.  1  am  not  without  hopes  you  will  be  ready  to  go  on  with  me,  but  at  any 
rate  that  you  will  soon  follow.  I  know  no  happiness  but  when  we  are  all  together. 
You  have,  perhaps,  heard  of  the  loss  of  Jupiter.  With  all  his  defects,  he  leaves  a 
void  in  my  domestic  arrangements  which  cannot  be  filled.  Mr.  Eppes's  last  letter 
informed  me  how  much  you  had  suffered  from  your  breasts;  but  that  they  had 
then  suppurated,  and  the  inflammation  and  consequent  fever  abated.  I  am  .anxious 
to  hear  again  from  you,  and  hope  the  next  letter  will  announce  your  reestablish- 
ment.  It  is  necessary  for  my  tranquillity  that  I  should  hear  from  you  often ;  for  I 
feel  inexpressibly  whatever  affects  your  health  or  happiness.  My  attachments  to  the 
world,  and  whatever  it  can  offer,  are  daily  wearing  off,  but  you  are  one  of  the  links 
which  hold  to  my  existence,  and  can  only  break  off  with  that.  You  have  never,  by 
a  word  or  deed,  given  me  one  moment's  uneasiness ;  on  the  contrary,  I  have  felt 
perpetual  gratitude  to  Heaven  for  having  given  me  in  you  a  source  of  so  much  pure 
and  unmixed  happiness ;  go  on  then,  my  dear,  as  you  have  done,  in  deserving  the 
love  of  every  body;  you  will  reap  the  rich  reward  of  their  esteem,  and  will  find 
that  we  are  working  for  ourselves  while  we  do  good  to  others.  I  had  a  letter  from 
you  sister  yesterday.  They  were  all  well.  One  from  Mr.  Randolph  had  before 
informed  me  they  had  got  to  Edgehill,  and  were  in  the  midst  of  mud,  smoke,  and 
the  uncomfortableness  of  a  cold  house.  Mr.  Trist  is  here  alone,  and  will  return 
soon.  Present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Eppes,  and  tell  him  when  you  cannot  write 
he  must;  as  also  to  the  good  family  at  Eppington,  to  whom  I  wish  every  earthly 
good.  To  yourself,  my  dear  Maria,  I  cannot  find  expressions  for  my  love.  You 
must  measure  it  by  the  feelings  of  a  warm  heart.  Adieu. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  6, 1800. 

I  have  at  length,  my  ever  dear  Maria,  received  by  Mr.  Eppes's  letter  of  March 
24,  the  welcome  news  of  your  recovery — welcome,  indeed,  to  me,  who  have  passed 
a  long  season  of  inexpressible  anxiety  for  you;  and  the  more  so  as  written  accounts 
can  hardly  give  one  an  exact  idea  of  the  situation  of  a  sick  person.  I  wish  I  were 
able  to  leave  this  place  and  join  you,  but  we  do  not  count  on  rising  till  the  first  or 
second  week  of  May.  I  shall  certainly  see  you  as  soon  after  that  as  possible,  at 
Mont  Blanco  or  Eppington,  at  whichever  you  may  be,  and  shall  expect  you  to  go 
up  with  me,  according  to  the  promise  in  Mr.  Eppes's  letter.  I  shall  send  orders  for 
my  horses  to  be  with  you,  and  wait  for  me  if  they  arrive  before  me.  I  must  ask 
Mr.  Eppes  to  write  me  a  line  immediately  by  post  to  inform  me  at  which  place  you 
will  be  during  the  first  and  second  weeks  of  May,  and  what  is  the  nearest  point  or 
the  road  from  Richmond,  where  I  can  quit  the  stage,  and  borrow  a  horse  to  go  on 
to  you.  If  written  immediately,  I  may  receive  it  here  before  my  departure.  Mr. 
Eppes's  letter  informs  me  your  sister  was  with  you  at  that  date ;  but  from  Mr.  Ran 


C11AP.  X.]  DISSENSIONS    AMONG    THE    FEDERALISTS.  537 

dolph  I  learn  she  was  to  go  up  this  month.  The  uncertainty  where  she  was,  pre 
vented  my  writing  to  her  for  a  long  time.  If  she  is  still  with  you,  express  to  her  all 
my  love  and  tenderness  for  her.  Your  tables  have  been  ready  some  time,  and  will 
go  in  a  vessel  which  sails  for  Richmond  this  week.  They  are  packed  in  a  box 
marked  J.  W.  E  ,  and  will  be  delivered  to  Mr.  Jefferson  probably  about  the  latter 
part  of  this  month. 

I  write  no  news  for  Mr.  Eppes  because  my  letters  are  so  slow  in  getting  to  you 
that  he  will  see  everything  first  in  the  newspapers.  Assure  him  of  my  sincere  affec 
tions,  and  present  the  same  to  the  family  of  Eppington  if  you  are  together.  Cherish 
your  own  health  for  the  sake  of  so  many  to  whom  you  are  so  dear,  and  especially 
for  one  who  loves  you  with  unspeakable  tenderness.  Adieu,  my  dearest  Maria. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARTHA  JEFFERSON  RANDOLPH. 

(Extract.) 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  22, 1800. 

Mr.  Eppes  informs  me  that  Maria  was  so  near  well  that  they  expected  in  a  few 
days  to  go  to  Mont  Blanco.  Your  departure  gives  me  a  hope  her  cure  was  at 
length  established.  A  long  and  painful  case  it  has  been,  and  not  the  most  so  to 
herself  or  those  about  her;  my  anxieties  have  been  excessive.  I  shall  go  by  Mont 

Blanco  to  take  her  home  with  me I  long  once  more  to  get  all 

together  again ;  and  still  hope,  notwithstanding  your  present  establishment,  you  will 
pass  a  great  deal  of  the  summer  with  us.  I  wish  to  urge  it  just  so  far  as  not  to 
break  in  on  your  and  Mr.  Randolph's  desires  and  convenience.  Our  scenes  here 
can  never  be  pleasant;  but  they  have  been  less  stormy,  less  painful,  than  during  the 
XYZ  paroxysms. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  general  characterization  of  the  late  session  of 
Congress  was  most  accurate.  The  Hamiltonians  in  the  Senate 
were  ready  to  brave  public  sentiment  to  any  extent ;  but  the 
House  faltered.  Any  vehement  action  pending  the  new  French 
negotiations  would  call  forth  universal  reprobation.  Mr.  Adams 
had  his  Federal  enemies  at  his  mercy  as  he  would  have  had 
them  nearly  a  year  earlier  had  he  done  his  duty  to  his  country 
and  to  himself.  Hamilton's  rod  of  power  was  broken.  When 
he  no  longer  had  General  Washington's  "  aegis  "  1  as  a  cover  for 
plans  of  which  Washington  knew  as  little  as  any  man  in  the 
nation,  the  moderate  Federalists  rallied.  Some  of  them  resented 
the  dictation  they  had  endured  ;  some  of  them  suspected  and 
repudiated  Hamilton's  designs.  We  shall  have  clear  proof  of 
this  before  the  final  adjournment  of  this  Congress. 

We  do  not  find  his  customary  programme  drawn  up  for  this 
session,  any  farther  than  it  is  hinted  in  a  letter  we  have  quoted 

1  See  Hamilton  to  Colonel  Lear,  Jan.  2d,  1800.    Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  4lfi. 


538  HAMILTON'S  PROSPECTS  AXD  MOTIVES.  [CHAP.  x. 

to  Mr.  King.1  There  was  manifestly  a  degree  of  confusion  and 
hesitation  in  the  Federal  ranks.  Hamilton's  published  corres 
pondence  contains  but  five  letters  written  by  him  during  the 
session.  One  to  Sedgwick  contains  the  only  direct  allusions  to 
the  writer's  interference  in  Congressional  affairs.  "We  give  it 
entire : 

NEW  YOBK,  February  2T,  1800. 
DEAR  SIR: 

When  will  Congress  probably  adjourn  ?  Will  anything  be  settled  as  to  a 
certain  election?  Will  my  presence  be  requisite  as  to  this  or  any  other  purpose, 
and  when  ?  I  observe,  more  and  more,  that  by  the  jealousy  and  envy  of  some,  the 
miserliness  of  others,  and  the  concurring  influence  of  all  foreign  powers,  America, 
if  she  attains  to  greatness,  must  creep  to  it.  Will  it  be  so?  Slow  and  sure  is  no 
bad  maxim.  Snails  are  a  wise  generation. 

P.  S.  Unless  for  indispensable  reasons,  I  had  rather  not  come.2 

The  italicization  of  the  original  is  preserved.    This  brief  note 
is  significant  of  both  the  plans  and  feelings  of  the  writer. 
General  Henry  Lee  wrote  to  Hamilton,  March  5th : 

*  *  *  *  "  It  gives  me  pain  to  find  you  so  despondent.  Certainly 
you  cannot  regard  the  calumnies  of  your  enemies.  This  to  them  would  be  high 
gratification.  Nor  ought  you  to  despond  of  your  country.  We  have  heretofore 
prospered  when  surrounded  by  infinitely  greater  difficulties,  in  contributing  to  which 
prosperity  no  man  alive  has  done  more  than  yourself.  Be  then  more  like  yourself 
and  resist  to  victory  all  your  foes."  3 

In  reply,  Hamilton  informed  his  correspondent  that  he  felt 
"  no  despondency  of  any  sort ;"  that  the  country  could  not  be 
"quacked  out  of  its  political  health  ;"  that  "as  to  himself,  he 
felt  that  he  stood  on  ground  which  sooner  or  later  would  insure 
him  a  triumph  over  all  his  enemies  ;"  that  he  was  insensible  "  in 
the  meantime"  to  the  injustice  to  which  "he  was  at  that 
moment  the  victim;"  that  perhaps  "  his  sensibility  was  the  effect 
of  an  exaggerated  estimate  of  his  services  to  the  United  States," 
etc.4 

Mr.  Adams,  on  receiving  the  proposals  of  Miranda — which 
first  broke  the  great  South  American  project  to  him — had 
addressed  a  note  of  seven'  lines  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr. 
Pickering.  He  said  :  "  We  are  friends  with  Spain.  If  we  were 
enemies  would  the  project  be  useful  to  us?  It  will  not  be  in 

»  See  ante,  page  468.       a  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  429.        »  Ibid.  p.  130. 
4  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  431. 


CHAP,  x.]          HAMILTON'S  PROSPECTS  AND  MOTIVES.  531* 

character  for  me  to  answer  the  letter.  "Will  any  notice  of  it  in 
any  manner  be  proper  ?"  l 

General  Hamilton  had  never  contemplated  taking  part  in 
the  scheme,  but  as  the  commander  of  an  army.  The  United 
States  must  furnish  the  land  forces  to  entitle  him  to  the  com 
mand.  Individuals  could  not  muster  such  an  army  and  its  sup 
plies  for  want  of  funds ;  and  the  attempt  openly  to  enlist  and 
organize  in  the  United  States  a  large  force  against  a  friendly 
power  would  certainly  bring  its  projectors  in  conflict  with  our 
neutrality  laws.  And  were  all  these  obstacles  overcome,  indi 
viduals  could  not  give  that  national  guaranty  which  was  one  of 
the  main  features  of  the  plan.  England  would  not  be  at  all 
likely  to  enter  into  quasi-international  stipulations  and  measures 
with  a  band  of  private  adventurers.  The  United  States  Govern 
ment  must  assume  the  undertaking,  or  the  American  branch  of 
it  must  wholly  fail.  There  could  be  no  rational  hope  that  the 
American  Government  would  embark  in  it  directly,  or  by  any 
roundabout  course,  against  the  recommendations  of  the  Execu 
tive.  Were  it  otherwise,  the  command  of  the  expedition  would 
depend  upon  the  Executive  will. 

Mr.  Adams's  dry  and  peculiar  answer  to  Miranda's  proposal, 
and  his  subsequent  conduct  in  respect  to  France,  gave  no  hope 
that  he  could  be  persuaded  or  dragged  into  the  scheme.  Not 
another  word  appears  to  have  been  said  to  him  on  the  subject. 
When  the  death  of  General  Washington  left  Hamilton  without 
any  adventitious  protection  from  the  man  on  whom  he  had  in 
flicted  so  many  injuries  and  humiliations,  Mr.  Adams  evidently 
only  awaited  an  opportunity  to  settle  up  scores  with  him.  The 
approaching  Presidential  election  imposed  restraints;  but  his 
angry  mutterings  against  the  "  British  party  in  the  United 
States  "  could  not  be  wholly  suppressed. 

Hamilton  stood  indeed  in  a  discouraging  position,  in  the 
winter  and  spring  of  1800.  He  knew  that  "a  large  proportion  " 
of  the  Federalists  "still  retained  the  attachment"  for  Mr. 
Adams  "  which  was  once  a  common  sentiment "  among  them.2 
He  could  not  prevent  his  renomination.  If  he  was  elected  the 
Miranda  scheme  was  as  much  past  subsequent  resuscitation  as  it 
would  be  in  the  event  of  Jefferson's  success.  Mr.  Adams  had 

1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  viii.  p.  600. 
( ;   See  his  letter  on  the  conduct,  etc.,  of  Mr.  Adams,  1800.    Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  725. 


540  THE    MIRANDA    SCHEME    IN    1800.  [CHAP.   X. 

but  to  ascertain  Hamilton's  complicity  in  it,  and  his  hopes  con 
nected  with  it,  to  become  its  vehement  foe,  and  perhaps  pub 
licly  to  expose  the  concealed  negotiations  with  England.1  And 
if  Mr.  Adams  was  reflected,  Hamilton  had  every  reason  to  ex 
pect  that  not  only  his  gorgeous  South  American  visions  would 
all  fade  into  utter  impossibilities,  but  that  he  would  be  com 
pelled  henceforth  to  face  the  hatred  and  fears  of  the  Republicans, 
reinforced  by  the  hostility  of  that  large  majority  of  Federalists 
which  he  conceded  was  led  by  Mr.  Adams. 

Is  it  asked  why  we  continue  to  place  the  Miranda  scheme 
among  the  causes  which  were  likely  to  form  motives  to  Hamil 
ton's  conduct  in  1800?  It  is  generally  understood  that  Mr. 
Adams's  refusal  to  entertain  the  project  in  October,  1798,  gave 
it  its  death-blow.  This  in  reality  was  the  fact.  But  it  gave  no 
death-blow  to  Hamilton's  hopes  or  efforts.  It  w&s  in  1799  that 
he  made  his  disclosures  to  Gunn,  Otis,  and  others  in  Congress, 
and  called  for  great  military  preparations  for  this  confidentially 
avowed  object.  He  expected  to  bring  to  bear  circumstances 
which  would  force  Mr.  Adams  into  acquiescence.  In  1800,  he 
had  despaired  of  the  latter  ;  but  had  he  yet  given  up  hopes  of 
his  scheme?  If  so,  what  mean  his  declarations  to  King,  Janu 
ary  5th,  1800,  that  "  if  the  projected  cipher  was  established,  he 
should  then  have  very  much  to  say  to  him  " — that  "  the  arrange 
ment  is  not  yet  mature  " — that  he  soon  u  hopes  to  make  it  so,  by 
forwarding"  to  his  correspondent  "the  counterpart  which  was 
in  preparation  " — that  "  everything  was  in  the  main  well,"  ex 
cept  from  the  perverseness  of  "'  one."  etc.  ? 

After  studying  their  previous  correspondence,  these  myste 
rious  references  will  be  seen  to  point  as  unmistakably  to  the 
Miranda  scheme,  as  if  it  had  been  named. 

Something  besides  personal  hostility  and  partisan  interest, 
therefore,  conspired  to  urge  Hamilton  to  look  with  disfavor  on  Mr. 
Adams's  election.  He  resolved  to  defeat  it ;  and  the  means  and 
their  results  will  hereafter  appear. 

1  If  the  authority  for  our  hypothesis  of  Hamilton's  feelings  in  respect  to  Mr.  Adams  is 
asked  for.  we  refer  the  reader  back  to  the  already  quoted  letter  of  Hamilton  to  King, 
January  5,  1800.  We  will  repeat  a  paragraph  : 

"  The  leading  friends  of  the  Government  are  in  a  sad  dilemma.  Shall  they  risk  a 
serious  schism  by  an  attempt  to  change  ?  Or  shall  they  annihilate  themselves  and  hazard 
their  cause  by  continuing  to  uphold  those  who  suspect  or  hate  them,  and  who  are  likely 
to  pnrsue  a  course  for  no  better  reason  than  because  it  is  contrary  to  that  which  tbev 
approve  ?" 


CHAPTER    XI. 

1800—1801. 

Removal  of  Seat  of  Government  to  Washington — Wolcott's,  Morris's  and  Mrs.  Adams's 
Descriptions  of  the  New  Capital — Presidential  Canvass  in  1800 — Hamilton's  Plan  tc 
defeat  Mr.  Adams — Result  of  New  York  Election — Adams  removes  McHenry  and 
Pickering— Wolcott's  Retention,  and  the  Vacancies  filled— Effect  of  the  Change— The 
Legislative  Electron  in  New  York  decides  the  choice  of  Electors  in  that  State— Hamilton 
solicits  Governor  Jay  to  practically  set  aside  that  Decision — Jay's  marked  Condemna 
tion  of  the  Proposal — That  Proposal  a  part  of  a  larger  Scheme  to  prevent  a  fail- 
Election — Some  of  Hamilton's  Assertions  to  Jay  considered — The  adoption  of  his  Plans 
would  have  led  to  Civil  War — Did  he  contemplate  that  Result? — His  Tuur  through  New 
England — Calls  on  Wolcott  for  Materials  for  a  Secret  Attack  on  the  President — Wolcott 
promises  his  Aid — The  ex-Secretaries  join  in  this — Other  Confederates — Posture  of 
these  men  as  described  by  themselves — Hamilton's  Attack  printed  for  private  circula 
tion — Obtained  by  Burr  and  published — Some  of  Hamilton's  remarkable  Statements 
in  it  examined — The  Effect  of  the  Paper — Comments  of  Carroll  and  Cabot — Comments 
of  Republican  Press— Hamilton  meditates  a  Reply— Wisely  desists— Jefferson  in  the 
Summer  of  1800 — His  Journeyings — Family  Census — Farm  Matters— Election  Expenses 
— His  Correspondence — Attack  on  him  by  New  England  and  New  York  Clergy — Rev. 
Dr.  John  M.  Mason's  Pamphlet — Causes  to  which  Jefferson  imputed  these  Attacks — 
Result  of  Legislative  Election  in  Pennsylvania — Result  in  Maryland — Second  Session  of 
Sixth  Congress — President's  Speech — Wolcott's  Retirement — Jefferson  to  R.  R.  Living 
ston  and  to  Burr — How  far  Burr  contributed  to  the  Republican  Success  in  New  York — 
Burr  suspected  of  Intriguing  in  New  York  for  the  Presidency — Accused  of  it  on  strong 
Evidence  in  New  Jersey — His  Instruments  approach  a  Member  of  Congress — Jeffer 
son  to  Political  and  Scientific  Correspondents — House  of  Representatives  agree  on 
Rules  of  Election — The  Electoral  Votes  counted  in  the  Senate — M.  L.  Davis's  Fabrica 
tions  concerning  the  Georgia  Return? — The  Result  a  Tie  between  Jefferson  and  Burr — 
The  prior  Arrangements  of  the  Federalists  for  such  a  Contingency — Hamilton  to  Bay 
ard  and  Wolcott — Proposes  to  start  Burr  "for  the  Plate,"  but  objects  to  the  Federal 
ists  supporting  him — Pronounces  him  the  Catiline  of  America,  etc. — Further  Corres 
pondence  on  this  Subject — Positions  of  Cabot,  Otis  and  Sedgwick — Morris's  important 
Disclosures — Marshall's  and  Bayard's  Positions — Sedgwick  changes  Ground — Hamil 
ton's  final  Appeal — Adams  to  Gerry — The  Opinions  of  Jefferson  disclosed  by  preceding 
Correspondence — Hamilton's  unfortunate  Position  to  produce  any  Effect — Federal 
Caucus  de.cide  to  support  Burr — The  Conduct  of  the  Party  considered — Jefferson  to  his 
Daughter — Incidents  of  House  of  Representatives  meeting  to  Ballot  for  President — 
Result  of  the  Ballot— Political  Complexion  of  the  Vote— The  continued  Ballotings— 
Randolph's  and  Dana's  Bulletins — Jefferson  to  Dr.  Barton,  Monroe,  Mrs.  Eppes,  etc.— 
Entries  in  the  Ana — The  Struggle  terminated — Jefferson's  Obligations  to  Federalists 
considered — The  entire  Advantage  of  the  Republicans  if  Force  was  resorted  to — The 
Arbitration  of  Arms  expected  by  both  parties  in  case  of  Usurpation  or  Anarchy- 
Burr's  reprehensible  Conduct  during  the  Struggle  in  the  House — His  probable  resort 
to  all  safe  Means  to  procure  an  Election. 

THE  removal  of  the  seat  of  Q-overnment  to  Washington  took 
place  in  June,  1800.     Though  this  spot  had  been  for  twelve 

641 


542  THE   NEW    CAPITAL.  [CHAP.  XL 

years  designated  for  the  future  and  permanent  capital,  it  still 
remained  in  a  very  primitive  state.  Wolcott  gave  a  general 
description  of  the  town,  the  public  buildings,  etc.,  in  a  letter  to 
his  wife  on  the  4th  of  July,  from  which  the  following  is  taken  : 

"  The  capitol  is  situated  on  an  eminence,  which  I  should  suppose  was  near  the 
ccutre  of  the  immense  country  here  called  the  city.  It  is  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
the  President's  house,  arid  three  miles  on  a  straight  line  from  Georgetown.  There 
is  one  good  tavern,  about  forty  rods  from  the  capitol,  and  several  other  houses  are 
built  or  erecting ;  but  I  do  not  see  how  the  members  of  Congress  can  possibly 
secure  lodgings,  unless  they  will  consent  to  live  like  scholars  in  a  college,  or  monks 
in  a  monastery,  crowded  ten  or  twenty  in  one  house,  and  utterly  secluded  from 
society.  The  only  resource  for  such  as  wish  to  live  comfortably  will  be  found  in 
Georgetown,  three  miles  distant,  over  as  bad  a  road  in  winter  as  the  clay  grounds 
near  Hartford.  I  have  made  every  exertion  to  secure  good  lodgings  near  the  office, 
but  shall  be  compelled  to  take  them  at  the  distance  of  more  than  half  a  mile. 
There  are,  in  fact,  but  few  houses  in  any  one  place,  and  most  of  them  small,  miser 
able  huts,  which  present  an  awful  contrast  to  the  public  buildings.  The  people  are 
poor,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  they  live  like  fishes,  by  eating  each  other.  .  .  . 
You  may  look  in  almost  any  direction,  over  an  extent  of  ground  nearly  as  large  aa 
the  city  of  New  York,  without  seeing  a  fence  or  any  object  except  brick-kilns  and 

temporary  huts  for  laborers All  the  lands  which  I   have  described  are 

valued  at  fourteen  to  twenty-five  cents  the  superficial  foot.  There  appears  to  be  a 
confident  expectation  that  this  place  will  soon  exceed  any  city  in  the  world."  J 

Governeur  Morris  wrote  a  female  acquaintance  in  Europe, 
after  the  assembling  of  Congress,  a  few  months  later  : 

"  We  want  nothing  here  but  houses,  cellars,  kitchens,  well-informed  men,  ami- 
ble  women,  and  other  little  trifles  of  this  kind  to  make  our  city  perfect ;  for  we  can 
walk  here  as  if  in  the  fields  and  woods,  and,  considering  the  hard  frost,  the  air  of 
the  city  is  very  pure.  I  enjoy  more  of  it  than  any  one  else,  for  my  room  is  filled  with 
smoke  whenever  the  door  is  shut.  If,  then,  you  are  desirous  of  coming  to  live  at 
Washington,  in  order  to  confirm  you  in  so  fine  a  prospect,  I  hasten  to  assure  you, 
that  freestone  is  very  abundant  here;  that  excellent  bricks  can  be  burned  here;  that 
there  is  no  want  of  sites  for  magnificent  hotels;  that  .contemplated  canals  can  bring 
a  vast  commerce  to  this  place;  that  the  wealth,  which  is  its  natural  cor  sequence, 
must  attract  the  fine  arts  hither;  in  short,  that  it  is  the  very  best  city  in  the  world 
for  a  future  residence." 2 

Not  far  from  the  same  period, Mrs.  Adams,  in  a  letter  to  her 
daughter,  gave  a  still  livelier  picture  of  the  nascent  capital : 

"I  arrived  here  on  Sunday  last,  and  without  meeting  with  any  accident  worth 
noticing,  except  losing  ourselves  when  we  left  Baltimore,  and  going  eight  or  nine 
miles  on  the  Frederic  road,  by  which  means  we  were  obliged  to  go  the  other  eight 

1  Gibbs's  Administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams,  vol.  ii.  p.  377. 
a  Morris  to  the  Princess  de  la  Tour  et  Taxis,  Dec.  14th,  1800.    Sparks's  Morris,  vol.  iii. 
p.  129 


CHAP.  XI.  J  THE    NLW    CAPITAL.  54:3 

through  woods,  where  we  wandered  two  hours  without  finding  a  guide,  or  the 
path.  Fortunately  a  straggling  black  came  up  with  us,  and  we  engaged  him  as  a 
guide  to  extricate  us  out  of  our  difficulty ;  but  woods  are  all  you  see  from  Balti 
more  until  you  reach  the  city,  which  is  only  so  in  name.  Here  and  there  is  a  small 
cot,  without  a  glass  window  interspersed  amongst  the  forests,  through  which  you 
travel  miles  without  seeing  any  human  being.  In  the  city  there  are  buildings 
enough,  if  they  were  compact  and  finished,  to  accommodate  Congress  and  those 
attached  to  it;  but  as  they  are,  and  scattered  as  they  are,  I  see  no  great  comfort 
for  them.  The  river,  which  runs  up  to  Alexandria,  is  in  full  view  of  my  window, 
and  I  see  the  vessels  as  they  pass  and  repass.  The  house  is  upon  a  grand  and  superb 
scale,  requiring  about  thirty  servants  to  attend  and  keep  the  apartments  in  proper 
order,  and  perform  the  ordinary  business  of  the  house  and  stables ;  an  establish 
ment  very  well  proportioned  to  the  President's  salary.  The  lighting  the  apartments 
from  the  kitchen  to  parlors  and  chambers  is  a  tax  indeed,  and  the  fires  we  are 
obliged  to  keep  to  secure  us  from  daily  agues  is  another  very  cheering  comfort. 
To  assist  us  in  this  great  castle,  and  render  less  attendance  necessary,  bells  are 
wholly  wanting,  not  one  single  one  being  hung  through  the  whole  house,  and  promises 
are  all  you  can  obtain.  This  is  so  great  an  inconvenience,  that  I  know  not  what  to 
do,  or  how  to  do.  The  ladies  fr.om  Georgetown  and  in  the  city  have  many  of  them 
visited  me.  Yesterday  I  returned  fifteen  visits — but  such  a  place  as  Georgetown 
appears — why  our  Milton  is  beautiful.  But  no  comparisons; — if  they  will  put  me  up 
some  bells,  and  let  me  have  wood  enough  to  keep  fires,  I  design  to  be  pleased. 
I  could  content  myself  almost  anywhere  three  months;  but,  surrounded  with  forests, 
can  you  believe  that  wood  is  not  to  be  had,  because  people  cannot  be  found  to  cut 
and  cart  it !  Briesler  entered  into  a  contract  with  a  man  to  supply  him  with  wood. 
A  small  part,  a  few  cords  only,  has  he  been  able  to  get.  Most  of  that  was  ex 
pended  to  dry  the  walls  of  the  house  before  we  came  in,  and  yesterday  the  man 
told  him  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  procure  it  to  be  cut  and  carted.  He  haa 
had  recourse  to  coals ;  but  we  cannot  get  grates  made  and  set.  We  have,  indeed, 
come  into  a  new  country. 

"  You  must  keep  all  this  to  yourself,  and  when  asked  how  I  like  it,  say  that  I 
write  you  the  situation  is  beautiful,  which  is  true.  The  house  is  made  habitable, 
but  there  is  not  a  single  apartment  finished,  and  all  withio.side,  except  the  plaster 
ing,  has  been  done  since  Briesler  came.  We  have  not  the  least  fence,  yard,  or 
other  convenience,  without,  and  the  great  unfinished  audience  room  I  make  a  dry 
ing-room  of  to  hang  up  the  clothes  in.  The  principal  stairs  are  not  up,  and  will 
not  be  this  winter.  Six  chambers  are  made  comfortable ;  two  are  occupied  by  the 
President  and  Mr.  Shaw  ;  two  lower  rooms,  one  for  a  common  parlor,  and  one  for 
a  levee-room.  Up-stairs  there  is  the  oval  room,  which  is  designed  for  the  drawing- 
room,  and  has  the  crimson  furniture  in  it.  It  is  a  very  handsome  room  now ;  but, 
when  completed,  it  will  be  beautiful.  If  the  twelve  years,  in  which  this  place  has 
been  considered  as  the  future  seat  of  Government,  had  been  improved,  as  they 
would  h-ave  been  if  in  New  England,  very  many  of  the  present  inconveniences 
would  have  been  removed.  It  is  a  beautiful  spot,  capable  of  every  improvement, 
and  the  more  I  view  it,  the  more  I  am  delighted  with  it."  1 

The  Presidential  canvass  opened  warmly  in  the  summei 
of  1800. 

1  Mrs.  Adams's  Letters,  vol.  ii.  p,  230. 


54:4:  NEW    YORK    ELECTION,  ETC.  [CHAP.   XI. 

We  have  stated  that  Hamilton  determined  to  prevent  the 
reelection  of  President  Adams.  He  proposed  to  effect  this  by 
enforcing  an  equal  vote  for  the  Federal  Yice-Presidential  candi 
date,  Mr.  Pinckney,  in  the  North  ;  and  as  it  was  known  the  latter 
would  receive  most  votes  South,  he  would,  under  the  mode  of 
election  then  prevailing,  be  chosen  to  the  Presidency,  while  Mr. 
Adams  would  be  reduced  to  the  second  place.  Hamilton  dis 
tinctly  declared  to  Sedgwick,  that  "New  York,  if  Federal, 
would  not  go  for  Mr.  Adams,  unless  there  should  be  as  firm  a 
pledge  as  the  nature  of  the  thing  would  admit,  that  Mr.  Pinck- 
•ney  would  be  equally  supported  in  the  Northern  States."  ' 

This  letter  was  written  on  the  8th  of  May.  The  New  York 
legislative  election  had  taken  place  in  April.  The  first  accounts 
were  unfavorable  to  the  Federalists,  but  when  Hamilton  wrote, 
news  had  come  from  the  "  northward "  which,  he  said,  gave 
them  hope  "of  still  having  a  majority  in  the  legislature."2  Two 
more  days  had  probably  dissipated  this  hope,  arid  Hamilton 
again  wrote  to  Sedgwick : 

"  For  my  individual  part  my  mind  is  made  up.  I  will  never  more  be  responsible 
for  him  [Adams]  by  my  direct  support,  even  though  the  consequence  should  be  the 
election  of  Jefferson.  If  we  must  have  an  enemy  at  the  head  of  the  Government,  let 
it  be  one  whom  we  can  oppose,  and  for  whom  we  are  not  responsible,  who  will  not 
involve  our  party  in  the  disgrace  of  his  foolish  and  bad  measures.  Under  Adams,  as 

under  Jefferson,  the  Government  will  sink 'Tis  a  notable  expedient  for 

keeping  the  Federal  party  together,  to  have  at  the  head  of  it  a  man  who  hates  and 
is  despised  by  those  men  of  it  who,  in  time  past,  have  been  its  most  efficient  sup 
porters.  If  the  cause  is  to  be  sacrificed  to  a  weak  and  perverse  man,  I  withdraw 
from  the  party,  and  act  upon  my  own  ground,  never  certainly  against  my  princi 
ples,  but  in  pursuance  of  them  my  own  way.  I  am  mistaken  if  others  will  not  do 
the  same." 8 

The  result  of  the  New  York  election  took  from  Mr.  Adams  a 
galling  restraint.  He  did  not  know  the  extent  of  the  personal 
and  official  treachery  by  which  he  had  been  surrounded.  lie 
did  not  even  suspect  Wolcott,  the  least,  honorable  because  the 
least  open  and  most  trusted  of  the  plotters.  But  he  had  dis 
covered  that  a  majority  of  his  Cabinet  were  controlled  by 
Hamilton.  He  had  some  inklings  of  the  official  infidelity  of 
Pickering  and  McHenry.  He  had  suppressed  his  resentments 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  440.  3  See  Ib.  '  Tb.  p.  441. 


CHAP.   XI.]          REMOVAL    OF    Md HENRY    AJX'D    PICKERING.  545 

out  of  fear  of  the  consequences  of  a  rupture  with  Hamilton, 
pending  the  election  in  New  York. 

The  intelligence  of  the  success  of  the  Republicans  in  New 
York  city,  satisfied  Mr.  Adams  that  all  was  lost  in  that  State. 
The  personal  enemy  who  had  so  arrogantly  dictated  to  him  and 
to  the  Federal  party,  had  been  beaten  at  home,  and  was  conse 
quently  powerless  there  for  good  or  for  evil. 

Mr.  Adams  determined  immediately  to  make  a  victim.  He 
sent  for  McHemy,  whose  frankness  had  made  his  misconduct  a 
little  more  apparent  than  that  of  his  colleagues,  and  told  him  he 
"  must  resign."  Instead  of  dismissing  his  subordinate  with  dig 
nity,  he  stormed  and  railed  *  until  the  withered  Secretary  bent 
like  a  reed  before  the  blast.  The  latter  sent  in  his  resignation 
next  morning  (May  6th),  offering  to  stay  until  the  1st  of  June  to 
explain  the  business  of  the  department  to  his  successor.  The 
offer  was  accepted. 

Mr.  Adams  took  breath,  and  perhaps  another  look  towards 
New  York.  The  disaster  there  was  confirmed.  On  the  10th,  he 
addressed  a  note  to  Pickering,  informing  him  that  he  (the  Presi 
dent)  "  perceived  a  necessity  of  introducing  a  change  in  the 
administration  of  the  office  of  State,"  and  that  he  communicated 
it  "  to  the  present  Secretary  of  State,  that  he  might,  have  an 
opportunity  of  resigning,  if  he  chose."  "  He  should  wish  the 
day  on  which  his  resignation  was  to  take  place  to  be  named  by 
himself." 2  "  After  deliberately  reflecting  on  the  overture  "  the 
President  "  had  been  pleased  to  make  to  him,"  Mr.  Pickering 
informed  him,  he  "  did  not  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to  resign." 

The  first  supposition  would  naturally  be  that  the  Secretary 
meant  thus  merely  to  throw  the  responsibility  of  a  direct 
removal  on  his  superior,  but  an  examination  of  the  whole  letter 
leads  us  to  an  opposite  conclusion.  There  is  a  tone  of  resolution 
about  it  (perhaps  designed  to  be  construed  into  defiance,  if  he  was 
removed) ;  but  there  is  also  a  statement  of  his  poverty,  of  the 
situation  of  his  family,  of  the  hope  he  had  entertained  by  staying 
a  few  months  longer  to  save  means  "  for  transporting  them  into 
the  woods,"  altogether  misplaced,  if  he  was  not  struggling  t? 
retain  his  situation  by  moving  the  President's  compassion.8 

1  See  James  to  John  McHenry,  May  20th.    Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  348. 

2  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  53. 

8  At  least  this  is  our  interpretation  of  the  letter.    The  reader  will  find  it  entire  ik 
A.dam*'s  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  54. 

VOL.  ii. — 35 


54:6  PICKERING'S  CLAIM  TO  COMPASSION.  [CHAP.  XT. 

There  would  be  something  touching  in  his  letter  under 
any  ordinary  circumstances.  There  is  no  aspect  of  human  mis 
fortune  so  moving  as  that  of  a  stout  hearted  and  an  old  man, 
bent  in  humiliation,  for  the  sake  of  his  family.  ~No  common 
injuries  would  excuse  deafness  to  such  an  appeal.  But  Picker 
ing's  wranton,  deliberate  and  long  protracted  injuries  on  Mr. 
Adams  were  not  common  ones,  or  provoked  by  causes  which 
commonly  reap  such  a  reward.  Let  the  matter  be  scanned  as 
closely  as  it  may  be,  and  no  serious  aggression  on  Pickering's 
rights  or  feelings  can  be  traced  to  the  President.  If  the 
subordinate  disagreed  with  his  principal,  he  was  at  liberty 
to  oppose  his  views.  If  he  could  not  acquiesce  in  the  deter 
minations  or  acts  of  his  principal,  the  door  of  resignation  was 
open  to  him,  and  he  could  thus  wash  his  hands  of  all  responsi 
bility. 

But  instead  of  this  he  held  a,  post  under  Mr.  Adams  to  act 
systematically  and  continuously  as  an  informer  and  agent  for 
his  unrelenting  foe.  He  was  even  in  the  plot  to  supplant  his 
principal  and  elect  Mr.  Pinckney  over  his  head.  All  this  had 
been  done  as  stealthily,  and  under  as  smooth  a  concealment  as 
the  austerity  and  pugnacity  of  his  temper  admitted.  To  the 
moment  when  Mr.  Adams  intimated  a  wish  that  he  resign,  he 
was  weaving  plots  around  him,  and  running  mines  of  treachery 
under  his  feet.  If  such  a  man  stooped  to  plead  for  compassion 
to  a  person  thus  outraged,  and  plead  what  he  had  imputed  to 
Colonel  Smith  as  a  kind  of  disqualification  for  office,  we  may 
pity  his  situation  ;  but  we  must  additionally  loathe  the  cringing 
disposition  which,  after  inflicting  such  injuries,  had  not  the  poor 
merit  of  "  dying  game." 

Mr.  Pickering's  conduct  toward  Mr.  Adarns  has  been  justi 
fied,  or  tacitly  assumed  as  justifiable,  by  several  writers,  on  the 
plea  that  he  was  impelled  to  all  these  acts  by  a  sense  of  patri 
otic  duty.  His  secret  complicity  in  the  Miranda  project,  and  in 
Hamilton's  "  Thorough,"  gives  us  the  gauge  of  his  extraordinary 
sensibility  in  this  direction.  But  were  the  facts  infinitely  other 
wise,  the  idea  of  a  just  patriotism  founded  on  a  disregard  of  all 
the  obligations  of  private  right  and  manly  honor,  would  be 
worthier  of  some  Roman  parasite  in  the  reign  of  Commodns, 
than  of  any  civilized  man  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

On  receiving  Pickering's  answer,  the  President  instantlj.  by 


CHAP.  XI.  j  THE    VACANCIES    FILLED.  547 

letter,  "  discharged  him  from  any  farther  service  as  Secretary 
of  State." 

That  Mr.  Adams's  action  did  not  arise  from  any  merely  nar 
row  personal  motive,  would  seem  to  be  proved  by  his  retention 
of  Wolcott,  whom  he  knew  to  be  a  Harniltonian.1  But  not  then, 
nor  to  the  end  of  his  administration,  if  ever,  had  he  the  least  idea 
of  the  duplicity  practised  upon  him  by  this  subtler  intriguer. 
Indeed,  the  extent  to  which  any  of  his  Cabinet  carried  their  hos 
tile  practices,  was  never  known  to  him.  It  required  the  pos 
thumous  exposure  of  their  letters  to  bring  these  facts  faithfully 
to  light. 

The  retention  of  Wolcott,  however,  may  have  been  in  part 
owing  to  a  desire  to  signify  to  the  Hamiltoriians  that  they  were 
not  to  be  utterly  prescribed  in  the  event  of  Mr.  Adams's  reelec 
tion  ;  a  prudent  idea  to  throw  out  at  the  time,  to  prevent  a 
resort  to  desperate  extremities  by  that  faction. 

The  places  of  the  dismissed  secretaries  were  filled  by  John 
Marshall  of  Virginia  in  the  State,  and  Samuel  Dexter  of  Massa 
chusetts,  in  the  War  Department.  These  were  nominations 
which  it  would  not  do  for  the  Senate  to  cavil  upon,  had  they 
felt  any  disposition  in  that  direction.  With  good  business 
habits,  both  gentlemen  were  infinitely  abler  men  than  their  pre 
decessors.  Marshall  was  preeminently  the  leader  of  the  South 
ern  Federalists  ;  and  Dexter  was,  perhaps,  second  in  talents  to 
no  man  in  New  England. 

Under  the  firm  and  steady  lead  of  these  officers,  the  Govern 
ment  soon  acquired  an  order,  system  and  character  which  it 
never  had  before  possessed.  Mr.  Adams,  without  any  system 
himself,  or  the  power  to  enforce  it  in  others,  had  sense  enough 
to  appreciate  it  everywhere  but  in  his  own  private  conduct. 
And  even  in  the  latter  he  would  have  probably  appeared  in  a 
very  different  light  during  the  preceding  part  of  his  administra 
tion,  had  he  not  been  kept  most  of  the  time  excited  and  thrown 
off  his  balance  by  the  oppositions,  and  annoyances  and  teasings 
of  the  men  who  surrounded  him. 

An  event,  growing  out  of  the  late  important  election  in  New 

1  Mr.  Gibba  also  says  (Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  364)  that  Wolcott  was  one  of  the 
decided  men,  who  "  had  been  disposed  openly,  and  without  concealment,  to  drop 
Mr.  Adams  as  a  candidate,"  etc.  Mr.  Wolcott  might  have  been  "  disposed  "  at  times  to 
do  very  determined  things  "  without  concealment ;"  but  we  find  very  few  evidences  that 
be  ever  carried  his  dispositions  into  effect.  He  certainly  did  not  in  this  case. 


548  PLAN    TO    SET    ASIDE    VOTE    .F    NEW    YORK.       [CHAP.  XI. 

Fork,  cannot  be  properly  passed  over  in  silence,  in  sketching 
the  party  history  of  the  times.  The  result  of  that  election  ren 
dered  it  certain  that  Jefferson  and  Burr  would  receive  the 
entire  electoral  vote  of  the  State ;  a  fact  which,  if  it  did  not 
decide  the  Presidential  contest,  gave  an  advantage  to  the 
Republicans  which  it  would  not  be  easy  to  overcome.1 

At  the  preceding  session,  the  Republicans  (on  the  motion  of 
that  same  Senator  Peck,  who  had  been  dragged  to  New  York  a 
prisoner  under  the  Sedition  Law),  had  attempted  to  divide  the 
State  into  districts,  and  give  the  choice  of  Presidential  electors 
to  the  people.  This  was  voted  down  by  the  Federalists,  on  a 
strict  party  division.2  The  latter  had,  of  their  own  choice,  made 
the  legislative  election  decisive  as  to  the  vote  of  the  State  on 
the  Presidential  question.  Every  man  consequently  knew,  that 
in  voting  for  Republican  or  Federal  candidates  he  was  indi 
rectly  voting  for  the  Republican  or  Federal  candidates  for  the 
Presidency. 

On  the  2d  day  of  May,  the  result  of  the  election  in  the  city 
of  New  York  became  known.  This  was  believed  to  be  decisive 
of  the  result  in  the  State. 

Thereupon  Hamilton  wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  Gov 
ernor  of  New  York.  We  preserve  the  italics,  capitals,  etc.,  of 
the  original. 

HAMILTON  TO  JAY. 

NEW  YORK,  May  1th,  1800. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

You  have  been  informed  of  the  loss  of  our  election  in  this  city.  It  is  also 
known  that  we  have  been  unfortunate  throughout  Long  Island  and  in  Westchester. 
According  to  the  returns  hitherto,  it  is  too  probable  we  lose  our  Senators  for  this 
district. 

The  moral  certainly  therefore  is,  that  there  will  be  an  anti-Federal  majority  in 
the  ensuing  Legislature ;  and  the  very  high  probability  is,  that  this  will  bring 
Jefferson  into  the  chief  magistracy,  unless  it  be  prevented  by  the  measure  which  I 
shall  now  submit  to  your  consideration,  namely,  the  immediate  calling  together  of 
the  existing  Legislature. 

I  am  aware  that  there  are  weighty  objections  to  the  measure  ;  but  the  reasons 

1  But  it  is  an  entire  mistake  to  assume,  as  has  often  been  done,  that  this  result  was 
known  to  be  decisive — though  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  has  been  seen,  and  possibly  other  acute 
politicians,  believed  it  would  prove  so.  In  fact,  most  of  the  elections  which  would 
determine  the  vote  of  other  States,  had  not  yet  been  held  ;  and  there  was  not  even  a 
moral  certainty  of  their  results. 

3  Their  avowed  ground  was.  that  the  measure  would  be  unconstitutional !  They  con 
tended  that  the  words  of  the  Constitution  that  "  each  State  shall  appoint,"  etc.,  implied 
that  the  State  should  act  as  a  body  corporate,  and  that  the  electors  couid  not,  therefore, 
be  appointed  by  the  people.  (See  Hammond's  Political  History  of  New  York,  vol.  i. 
p.  133.) 


CHAP.  XI.]          PLAN    TO    SET    ASIDE    VOTE    OF    NEW    YOKK.  549 

for  it  appear  to  me  to  outweigh  the  objections.  And  in  times  like  these  in  which 
we  live,  it  will  not  do  to  be  over  scrupulous.  It  is  easy  to  sacrifice  the  substantial 
interests  of  society  by  a  strict  adherence  to  ordinary  rules. 

In  observing  this,  I  shall  not  be  supposed  to  mean,  that  anything  ought  to  be 
done  which  integrity  will  forbid ;  but  merely  that  the  scruples  of  delicacy  and  pro 
priety,  as  relative  to  a  common  course  of  things,  ought  to  yield  to  the  extraordinary 
nature  of  the  crisis.  They  ought  not  to  hinder  the  taking  of  a  legal  and  constitu 
tional  step  to  prevent  an  atheist  in  religion,  and  a  fanatic  in  p'olitics,  from  getting 
possession  of  the  helm  of  State. 

You,  sir,  know  in  a  great  degree  the  anti-Federal  party ;  but  I  fear  you  do  not 
know  them  as  well  as  I  do.  It  is  a  composition,  indeed,  of  very  incongruous  mate 
rials;  but  all  tending  to  mischief— some  of  them  to  the  OVERTHROW  of  the  GOVERN 
MENT  by  stripping  it  of  its  due  energies ,  others  of  them,  to  a  REVOLUTION,  after  the 
manner  of  BONAPARTE.  I  speak  from  indubitable  facts,  not  from  conjectures  and 
inferences.  In  proportion  as  the  true  character  of  the  party  is  understood,  is  the 
force  of  the  considerations  which  urge  to  every  effort  to  disappoint  it ;  and  it  seems 
to  me,  that  there  is  a  very  solemn  obligation  to  employ  the  means  in  our  power. 

The  calling  of  the  Legislature  will  have  for  its  object  the  choosing  of  electors 
by  the  people  in  districts ;  this  (as  Pennsylvania  will  do  nothing)  will  ensure  a 
majority  of  votes  in  the  United  States  for  a  Federal  candidate.  The  measure  will 
not  fail  to  he  approved  by  all  the  Federal  party ;  while  it  will,  no  doubt,  be  con 
demned  by  the  opposite.  As  to  its  intrinsic  nature,  it  is  justified  by  unequivocal 
reasons  of  PUBLIC  SAFETY. 

The  reasonable  part  of  the  world  will,,  I  believe,  approve  it.  They  will  see  it  as 
a  proceeding  out  of  the  common  course,  but  warranted  by  the  particular  nature  of 
the  crisis,  and  the  great  cause  of  social  order. 

If  done,  the  motive  ought  to  be  frankly  avowed.  In  your  communication  to 
the  Legislature,  they  ought  to  be  told  that  temporary  circumstances  had  rendered 
it  probable  that  without  their  interposition,  the  executive  authority  of  the  General 
Government  would  be  transferred  to  hands  hostile  to  the  system  heretofore  pursued 
with  so  much  success,  and  dangerous  to  the  peace,  happiness,  and  order  of  the 
country ;  that  under  this  impression,  from  facts  convincing  to  your  own  mind,  you 
had  thought  it  your  duty  to  give  the  existing  Legislature  an  opportunity  of  delibe 
rating  whether  it  would  not  be  proper  to  interpose,  and  endeavor  to  prevent  so 
great  an  evil  by  referring  the  choice  of  electors  to  the  people  distributed  into 
districts. 

In  weighing  this  suggestion,  you  will  doubtless  bear  in  mind  that  popular  gov 
ernments  must  certainly  be  overturned,  and  while  they  endure,  prove  engines  of 
mischief,  if  one  party  will  call  to  its  aid  all  the  resources  which  vice  can  give  ;  and 
if  the  other  (however  pressing  the  emergency)  confines  itself  within  all  the  ordinary 
forms  of  delicacy  and  decorum. 

The  Legislature  can  be  brought  together  in  three  weeks,  so  that  there  will  be 
full  time  for  the  object;  but  none  ought  to  be  lost. 

Think  well,  my  dear  sir,  of  this  proposition — appreciate  the  extreme  danger  of 
*he  crisis ;  and  I  am  unusually  mistaken  in  my  view  of  the  matter,  if  you  do  not 
<iee  it  right  and  expedient  to  adopt  the  measure.1 

Respectfully  and  affectionately  yours,  etc. 

1  This  letter  appeared  first  in  Jay's  Works  by  his  son.  (See  also  Hamilton's  Works, 
vol.  vi.  p.  438.)  It  was  written  the  day  before  Hamilton  informed  Morris  that  "  accounts  " 
had  come  from  the  "northward,"  which  gave  the  Federalists  hopes  "of  still  having  a 


550  JAY'S  CONDEMNATION  OF  THE  PLAN.         [CHAP.  xi. 

This  extraordinary  paper  was  found  among  Governor  Jay's 
manuscripts  after  his  death,  indorsed  (says  his  son  and  biog 
rapher)  in  his  own  handwriting :  "  Proposing  a  measure  for 
party  purposes  which  I  think  it  would  not  become  me  to 
adopt." ' 

By  the  constitution  of  New  York  its  political  year  com 
menced  on  the  1st  of  July.  When  Hamilton  wrote,  therefore, 
the  term  of  the  last  year's  Legislature  (which  had  refused  to  dis 
trict  the  State,  and  adjourned,  as  it  was  supposed  finally)  had 
between  seven  and  eight  weeks  yet  to  run.  A  Legislature  had 
been  chosen  with  express  reference  to  the  appointment  of  elec 
tors.  Hamilton's  proposition  was  that  the  old  Legislature,  find 
ing  that  the  party  was  beaten  which  it  represented,  should  again 
come  together,  reverse  its  former  action,  do  what  practically 
amounted  to  calling  a  new  Presidential  election  in  the  State,  and 
under  conditions  which  (as  it  could  arrange  the  districts)  would 
secure  a  proportion,  if  not  a  majority  of  the  Presidential  elec 
tors  !  In  estimating  all  the  bearings  of  this  proposition,  we 
must  not  overlook  Hamilton's  quasi-authoritative  declaration^ 
that  "  Pennsylvania  will  do  nothing."  We  have  seen  that 
Pennsylvania  had  been  prevented  from  continuing  her  existing 
election  law,  by  the  Federal  majority  in  its  Senate.  It  was 
understood  that  Governor  McKean  would  convene  its  Legislature 
to  pass  an  electoral  law  to  prevent  the  State  from  being  wholly 
disfranchised  in  the  Presidential  election.2  Hamilton's  dictum 

majority  of  the  Legislature."  Albany  (Jay's  official  residence)  was  "northward"  of 
New  York.  Were  the  "  accounts  "  supposititious — only  a  name  for  the  writer's  expecta 
tions  that  Governor  Jay  would  comply  with  his  recommendations  to  convene  the  old 
Legislature — or  did  he  really  make  that  most  important  recommendation,  before  receiv 
ing  election  returns  from  the  ik  northward,"  which  might  subsequently  prove  decisive 
of  the  result  ? 

1  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Jay,  vol.  ii.  p.  414. 

8  This  course  has  been  compared  to  that  proposed  by  Hamilton  in  New  York.  No 
analogy  exists  between  them.  The  New  York  Federalists  had  taken  their  choice  of 
methods,  and  been  beaten.  The  electors  were  sure  to  be  appointed  and  the  State 
represented.  The  only  difficulty  was,  that  the  electors  were  also  sure  to  be  Republicans. 
Hence  a  great  Legislative  breach  of  faith  was  proposed.  McKean's  course  involved  no 
departure  from  previous  understanding — nothing  looking  towards  a  breach  of  faith — 
nothing  savoring  of  resorting  by  a  trick  to  a  new  trial,  after  the  people  had  once,  in 
effect,  voted  on  the  candidates.  The  Federalists  in  the  Senate  of  Pennsylvania  had  not 
been  forced  into  a  contumacious  attitude  by  a  proposition  from  the  other  house,  which 
was  either  novel  or  wrong  in  itself.  The  Lower  House  proposed  to  continue  the  existing 
law.  The  Senate  refused,  in  the  hope  of  disfranchising  their  State — for  they  were  sure 
to  be  beaten  either  in  a  popular  election  or  in  one  by  joint  ballot  in  the  Legislature. 
A  new  Legislature  was  to  be  regularly  chosen  before  the  election.  As  their  predecessors 
had  not  acted,  and  had  gone  out  of  office,  its  members  were  legally,  morally  and  honor 
ably  as  much  authorized,  nay  bound,  to  exercise  their  constitutional  functions  to  see  their 
State  had  its  proper  voice  in  the  election  of  a  President,  as  if  no  other  Legislature  had  met 
or  attempted  to  take  action  on  the  subject.  Yet  the  plan  which  Hamilton  relied  on  for 
buccess,  and  which  he  invoked  Governor  Jay  to  aid  in  carrying  out,  involved  not  only  the 


CHAP.  XI.]      ASSERTIONS  MADE  IN  ITS  SUPPORT.  551 

on  the  subject,  therefore,  reminds  us  of  Duane's  charge,  that  the 
Federalists  in  the  United  States  Senate  had  agreed  to  throw  out 
the  electoral  vote  of  Pennsylvania  under  such  circumstances. 

Hamilton  urged  a  plan,  then,  on  Governor  Jay,  which  he 
declared  would  "  insure  a  majority  of  votes  "  for  the  Federal 
candidates — in  other  words,  turn  the  scale  in  the  election — 
which  demanded  a  complete  disfranchisernent  of  the  second  State 
in  the  Union  in  population,  and  a  reversal  of  action  which  had 
fairly  settled  the  result  in  the  third  State  in  the  Union,1  by 
means  which,  the  upright  Jay  thought  it  unbecoming  to  adopt 
—by  means  which  involved  a  stupendous  fraud  in  the  spirit,  if 
not  in  the  letter  of  legislation. 

Some  of  the  assertions  by  which  he  attempted  to  influence 
the  Governor's  action  are  worthy  of  special  attention. 

The  devout  Jay  is  invoked  to  interpose  to  hinder  the  eleva 
tion  of  an  "  atheist  "  to  the  chief  magistracy.  If  General  Ha 
milton  knew  Mr.  Jefferson's  religious  sentiments  he  knew  that 
he  was  not  an  atheist.  If  he  did  not  know  them,  he  ventured 
without  authority  on  an  explicit  and  injurious  accusation. 

The  order-loving  arid  conservative  Jay  is  implored  to  act  for 
the  u  public  safety  " — to  guard  against  "  a  Revolution  after  the 
manner  of  Bonaparte  " — in  other  words,  an  overthrow  of  the 
Government  by  armed  force.  The  writer  alleges  that  he  does 
not  charge  this  design  upon  a  portion  of  the  Republicans  from 
''conjectures  and  inferences,"  but  from  "indubitable  facts." 
This  would  seem  to  convey  the  idea  that  he  alludes  to  a  specific 
design,  the  existence  of  which  is  established  by  particular  testi 
mony  in  his  possession,  and  not  in  possession  of  his  correspondent 
and  the  public.  If  such  was  Hamilton's  meaning,  he  never 
divulged  his  secret.  In  all  the  bitter  recriminations  which  he 
subsequently  heaped  upon  the  Republican  party  and  its  lead 
ers,  we  find  not  a  vestige  of  this  traitorous  design. 

Did  he  only  refer  to  the  movements  of  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky,  as  evidenced  by  their  resolutions  in  1798  and  1799  £ 
What  was  there  about  these  proceedings  which  Mr.  Jay  did  not 
understand  as  well  as  himself?2  Again,  it  will  not  be  forgotten 

remarkable  action  which  his  letter  urged  in  New  York,  but  the  rejection  by  Congress  of 
the  electoral  vote  of  Pennsylvania  ! 

i  Pennsylvania  had  fifteen  electoral  votes,  New  York  twelve.  Virginia,  the  only 
State  above  them,  had  twenty-one. 

5  By  referring  to  the  paragraph  in  the  letter,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  had  just  expressed 
the  fear  that  Mr.  Jay  did  not  know  the  anti-Federal  party  as  well  as  he  did. 


552  ASSERTIONS THE   RESULT    INVOLVED.  [CHAP.  XI. 

that  four  months  before  writing  this  letter,  he  had  informed  Mr. 
King  that  "  the  want  of  disposition  in  the  people  "  to  second 
the  Virginia  leaders,  it  was  believed  would  prove  an  effectual 
preventive  to  any  appeal  to  force  on  their  part.1  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  had  occupied  their  attitude,  whatever  it  was,  two  or 
three  years,  without  taking  a  step  towards  practical  insurrection. 
No  new  explosion  had  recently  occurred  in  that  quarter.  Not 
a  measure  was  on  foot  or  organizing  in  those  States,  which 
remotely  menaced  an  appeal  to  the  sword.  The  Republicans  in 
them  were  too  confident  of  victory  at  the  uallot-box  to  desire 
any  other  mode  of  arbitrament.  If  they  succeeded  in  the  elec 
tion — if  they  achieved  a  bloodless  "  revolution,"  what  motive 
could  they  have  for  superadding  one  "  after  the  manner  of  Bo 
naparte  ?"  The  danger  General  Hamilton  dreaded,  it  would 
seem,  was  to  be  consequent  on  a  civic  victory  of  the  Republi 
cans,  for  it  wTas  to  guard  against  their  success  and  not  their 
defeat,  that  he  called  up  the  gory  spectre  of  civil  war  as  the 
alternative  of  the  action  he  proposed  to  Governor  Jay — as  the 
alternative  of  measures  which  he  declared  would  defeat  the  Re 
publican  candidates.  We  do  not,  therefore,  on  numerous 
grounds,  see  how  Hamilton  could  have  possibly  had  in  view 
the  well  known  action  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  in  the  dark 
warning  uttered  to  the  Executive  of  his  State. 

An  impenetrable  mystery  hangs  over  the  designs  he  attri 
buted  to  his  opponents,  if  we  are  to  suppose  he  made  this  spe 
cific  sounding  charge  in  good  faith.  The  mystery  can  never  be 
unveiled.  As  already  said,  not  a  trace  of  it  exists  in  his  most 
confidential  writings,  unless  he  alluded  to  the  public  proceed 
ings  in  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  If  he  alluded  to  them,  the  cir 
cumstances  demonstrate  his  insincerity.  And  whatever  his  sin 
cerity  or  insincerity,  no  fact  in  history  can  be  better  established 
by  that  negative  proof  which  is  alone  attainable  in  such  cases, 
than  that  at  the  moment  he  wrote  Jay,  not  a  thought  was  or  had 
been  entertained  by  any  branch  of  the  Republican  party  of  an 
attempt  to  seize  on  the  Government  by  armed  force. 

Hamilton's  proposition,  had  it  been  adopted,  would,  how 
ever,  beyond  all  reasonable  question,  have  at  once  precipitated 
the  final  and  decisive  act  of  that  "  crisis  "  which  he  declared  to 
Jay  and  others,  then  existed  and  "  warranted  "  a  departure 

1  See  ante,  p.  515. 


CHAP.  XI.]  WAS    THE    RESULT    ANTICIPATED.  553 

from  the  "  scruples  of  delicacy  and  propriety  as  relative  to  a 
common  course  of  things  " — which  rendered  it  dangerous  "  to 
be  over-scrupulous."  Had  ihe  Republicans,  believing  that 
the  Constitution  had  been  subverted  in  great  and  essential  par 
ticulars,  been  also  helplessly  prevented  from  obtaining  the  legal 
and  regular  remedy  of  the  ballot-box  by  the  disfranchisement 
of  one  State,  without  a  color  of  equity,  and  by  a  gross  fraud  in 
another — had  they  seen  by  these  means  an  illegal  and  dreaded 
Administration  kept  in  power,  with  such  a  General-in-Chief  of 
the  army  as  the  present  one  to  execute  its  bidding — we  imagine 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  they  would  have  refused 
to -submit  to  the  usurpation.  Little  as  they  meditated  violence, 
we  shall  soon  see  that  they  were  resolved  in  the  last  resort  to 
protect  the  Constitution  from  violence. 

Did  General  Hamilton  contemplate  that  such  results  would 
flow  from  the  adoption  of  his  plan  ?  With  his  South  American 
visions  fading  away — with  a  political  overthrow  impending 
which  he  could  not  but  anticipate  would  prove  a  final  one  to 
himself,  if  not  to  his  party — with  the  truncheon  of  military  com 
mand  about  to  be  wrenched  forever  from  his  grasp '—  was  he 
willing  to  seize  upon  this  last  opportunity  for  bringing  on  that 
kind  of  arbitration  to  which  Governeur  Morris  confesses  he  ever 
looked  forward  as  something  not  only  inevitable  but  desirable? 
Morris  declared  that  Hamilton  "  hated  Republican  govern 
ment  " — that  he  was  a  monarchist — that  he  assented  to  the  Con 
stitution  only  as  a  temporary  band.  *  And  five  months  after 
pronouncing  the  funeral  oration  over  Hamilton's  corpse  (and 
about  four  years  after  the  circumstances  we  are  describing)  Mor 
ris  uttered  these  memorable  words  :  "  He  [Hamilton]  knew  that 
his  favorite  form  [of  government]  was  inadmissible,  unless  as 
the  result  of  civil  war ;  and  I  suspect  that  his  belief  in  that 
which  he  called  an  approaching  crisis  arose  from  a  conviction 
that  the  kind  of  government  most  suitable  in  his  opinion  to 
this  extensive  country,  could  be  established  in  no  other  way."  ! 

We  do  not  propose  to  answer  the  question  we  have  asked, 
whether  Hamilton's  proposition  to  Jay  was  made  in  the  hope 


1  If  Jefferson  was  elected,  he  would  not  of  course  leave  Hamilton  in  any  practical 
command  which  he  believed  dangerous  to  the  country. 

a  Morris  to  Robert  Walsh.  February  5th.  1811.     (See  ante,  vol.  i.  p.  580.) 
8  Morris  to  Aaron  Ogden,  December  28th,  1804.     (See  ante,  vol.  i.  p.  580.) 


554:  HAMILTON'S  ATTACK  ON  ADAMS.  [CHAP.  xi. 

and  expectation  that  it  would  lead  to  this  long  anticipated  arbi 
trament — whether  the  charge  of  an  attempt  at  military  re  volu 
tion 'against  opponents  was  not  merely  raised  in  advance  as  the 
pretence  on  which  an  outbreak  of  popular  discontent  was  to  be 
met  by  an  illegal  and  usurping  Government,  and  by  the  com 
mander  of  its  military  forces.1  We  leave  General  Hamilton,  in 
respect  to  this  subject,  to  the  testimony  of  himself  and  his 
friends,  and  to  the  calm  judgment  of  a  later  posterity. 

Failing  to  convince  Governor  Jay  that  there  was  anything  in 
the  juncture  which  justified  unscrupulousness  in  official  action, 
or  that  it  would  be  right  to  resort  to  dangerous  means  to  keep 
supposed  dangerous  men  out  of  office,2  Hamilton  soon  after  made 
a  tour  of  New  England,  to  carry  out  his  purpose  of  elevating 
Pinckney  over  Adams.  He  wrote  Wolcott  the  day  after  his 
return,  that  the  "  leaders  of  the  first  class  were  generally  right, 
but  the  leaders  of  the  second  class  were  too  much  disposed  to  be 
wrong" — that  "it  was  essential  to  inform  the  most  discreet  of 
this  description  of  the  facts  which  denoted  unfitness  in  Mr. 
Adams  " — that  "  he  had  promised  confidential  friends  a  correct 
statement."  He  therefore  called  upon  Wolcott  for  an  exact  and 
detailed  history  of  the  mission  to  France.  The  letter  contains 
the  following  further  passage : 

"  I  bnve  serious  thoughts  of  writing  the  President  to  tell  him  that  I  have  heard 
of  his  having  repeatedly  mentioned  the  existence  of  a  British  faction  in  this  coun 
try,  and  alluded  to  me  as  one  of  that  faction,  requesting  that  he  will  inform  me  of 
the  truth  of  this  information,  and  if  true,  what  have  been  the  grounds  of  the  sugges 
tion.  His  friends  are  industrious  in  propagating  the  idea  to  defeat  the  efforts  to 
unite  for  Pinckney.  The  inquiry  I  propose  may  furnish  an  antidote  and  vindicate 


It  may  be  asked  what  less  than  half  a  dozen  regiments  of  regulars  could  do  towards 
effecting  a  military  revolution?  Little,  unquestionably,  of  themselves.  But  they  could 
be  made  the  nucleus  for  rapid  accessions  by  those  in  possession  of  the  Government. 
They  could  effect  no  little  of  themselves,  in  striking  early  blows,  where  the  people  were 
divided,  and  hesitating  as  to  taking  up  arms  against  the  Government  de  facto.  The 
military  fortifications  of  the  country,  the  army  supplies  already  provided,  the  navy,  and 
all  the  organs  of  Government,  would  be  on  the  same  side.  The  responsibility  of  the 
attack  would  be  thrown  on  the  opposite  party,  because  the  usurpation  would  be  made 
under  color  of  law  and  legislative  sanction.  This  last  consideration  would,  of  itself, 
w.Mgh  more  than  a  powerful  army.  Still,  we  entertain  no  belief  that  general  submission 
could  have  been  enforced  to  a  usurping  Government,  or  to  that  new  system  which,  in 
the  panic  and  frenzy  of  such  an  hour,  might  have  been  substituted  for  that  established  by 
the  Constitution.  But  that  the  expectation  was  chimerical,  would  prove  nothing  towards 
settling  the  question  raised  in  the  text.  There  was  nothing  certainly  so  chimerical  in 
the  idea  as  in  Hamilton's  "Thorough"  in  1799 — as  in  his  South  American  dreams — as 
in  the  whole  tissue  of  his  plans  in  1799  and  1SOO— the  relation  af  which  we  have  not  yet 
completed.  But  whether  the  project  was  chimerica  or  not,  we  offer  no  testimony  in  the 
premises  except  his  own,  and  that  of  his  most  trusted  friend. 

"  It  is  a  great  misfortune  that  Mr.  Jay's  written  answer  is  lost,  if  he  ever  made  one. 


CHAP,  xi.]  WOLCOTT'S  AID  RENDEKED.  555 

character.      What   think   you  of  this  idea?     For    my  part,  I  can    set  malice  at 
defiance."  * 

Wolcott  approved  of  the  attack  and  the  pretext,  and  promptly 
promised  his  aid.2 

On  the  1st  of  August,  Hamilton  dispatched  his  cartel  to  the 
President,3  and  received  no  answer.  On  the  3d  lie  informed 
Wolcott  that  "  he  waited  with  impatience  for  the  statement  of 
facts  which  he  promised  him."  He  added  : 

"I  have  serious  thoughts  of  giving  to  the  public  my  opinion  respecting  Mr. 
Adams,  with  my  reasons,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  with  my  signature.  This  seems  to 
me  the  most  authentic  way  of  conveying  the  information,  and  best  suited  to  the 
plain  dealing  of  my  character.  There  are,  however,  reasons  against  it ;  and  a  very 
strong  one  is,  that  some  of  the  principal  causes  of  my  disapprobation  proceed  from 
yourself,  and  other  members  of  the  Administration,  who  would  be  understood  to  be 
the  sources  of  my  information,  whatever  cover  I  might  give  the  thing.  What  say 
you  to  this  measure  ?  I  could  predicate  it  on  the  fact  that  I  am  abused  by  the  friends 
of  Mr.  Adams,  who  ascribe  my  opposition  to  pique  and  disappointment ;  and  I  could 
give  it  the  shape  of  a  defence  of  myself"  * 

Wolcott  also  had  a  "plain  dealing  of  character "  which  it 
was  necessary  to  vindicate.  He  knew,  he  said,  he  might  be 
called  "  factious,"  but  he  preferred  even  that  to  "  the  imputation 
of  being  concerned  in  a  secret  cabal,"  and  especially  to  the 
"  suspicion  of  cunning !" 

"  Prick'd  to  it  by  foolish  honesty  and  love, 
He  would  go  on." 

He  answered  Hamilton  (September  3d)  : 

"  I  had  commenced  the  statement  which  I  had  promised,  and  soon  found  myself 

embarrassed  with  the  reflection  which  has  occurred  to  you It 

is,  as  I  conceive,  perfectly  proper,  and  a  duty,  to  make  known  those  defects  and  errors 
which  disqualify  Mr.  Adams  for  the  great  trust  with  which  he  is  now  invested ; 
but  the  publication  of  particular  incidents  and  conversations,  the  knowledge  of 
which  had  resulted  from  official  relations,  will,  by  many  good  men,  be  considered 

as  improper But  the  situation  in  which  we  are  both  placed  is 

delicate  and  somewhat  perplexing.  Whatever  you  may  say  or  write,  will,  by  a  class 
of  people,  be  attributed  to  personal  resentment ;  while  it  will  be  said  that  the  Presi 
dent  has  not  injured  me ;  that  he  has  borne  with  my  open  disapprobation  of  his 
measures,  and  that  I  ought  not  to  oppose  his  reelection  by  disclosing  what  some 
will  term  personal  or  official  secrets. 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  444.  »  Ib.  p.  447.  s  Ib.  p.  449. 

4  Italicized  in  original.  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  450.  This  letter  was  dated  two 
days  after  the  cartel  to  Mr.  Adams,  and  therefore  before  an  answer  to  the  latter  could 
have  been  received. 


556  WOLCOTT'S  REASONS.  [CHAP.  xi. 

"  Having  reflected  on  the  dilemma,  I  have  concluded  that,  as  it  respects  myself, 
I  was  justifiable  in  continuing  in  office  during  the  present  year,1  on  the  ground  of 
the  sudden  innovations  in  the  Administration,  which  afforded  me  no  opportunity  for 
reflection  before  the  termination  of  the  last  session  of  Congress  ;  that  the  unsettled 
state  of  two  of  the  departments,  the  removal  of  the  offices  to  this  place,  the  absence 
of  the  President  from  the  seat  of  Government,  and-  the  duty  of  preserving  order  in  a 
branch  of  business  which  has  been  committed  to  my  care,  were  circumstances  which 
should  justly  dissuade  me  from  an  abrupt  resignation,  while  they  left  me  free  to 
exercise  my  opinion  and  my  rights  as  an  individual  upon  any  question  relative  to 
the  public  policy  and  interest.8  To  secure  myself  from  the  imputation  of  being  con 
cerned  in  a  secret  cabal,  I  have,  however,  thought  it  my  duty  to  express  my 
opinions  and  intentions  frankly  to  my  colleagues,  in  the  same  manner  as  I  have 
done  to  my  private  correspondents.  I  am  apprised  that  I  shall  by  some  be  consi 
dered  as  factious ;  but  the  accusation  is  less  offensive  than  the  suspicion  of  cun 
ning,  or  subserviency  to  measures  which  I  seriously  disapprove,  and  to  which  I 
should  otherwise  be  opposed."  8 

What  the  writer  of  this  letter  means  by  saying  that  he  has 
felt  it  his  duty  to  express  his  opinions  and  "  intentions  frankly 
to  his  colleagues"  appears  enigmatical.  Does  any  one  believe 

1  Mr.  Wolcott  might  have  adduced  high  authority : 

lago.  Now,  sir,  be  judge  yourself, 

Whether  I  in  any  just  term  am  affin'd 

To  love  the  Moor. 

Kor/erifln.  I  would  not  follow  him  then. 

lago.   Oh,  sir,  content  you  ; 

I  follow  him  to  serve  my  turn  upon  him : 

We  cannot  all  be  masters,  nor  all  masters 

Cannot  be  truly  follow'd      You  shall  mark 

Many  a  duteous  and  knee-crooking  knave, 

That,  doting  on  his  own  obsequious  bondage, 

Wears  out  his  time,  much  like  his  master's  ass, 

For  naught  but  provender ;  and,  when  he's  old,  cashier'd ; 

Whip  me  such  honest  knaves.     Others  there  are, 

Who,  trimm'd  in  forms  and  visages  of  duty, 

Keep  yet  their  hearts  attending  on  themselves; 

And,  throwing  but  shows  of  service  on  their  lords, 

Do  well  thrive  by  them,  and,  when  they  have  lined  their  coats, 

Do  themselves  homage  :  these  fellows  have  some  soul ; 

And  snch  a  one  do  I  profess  myself, 

For,  sir, 

It  is  as  sure  as  you  are  Roderigo, 

Were  I  the  Moor,  I  would  not  be  lago : 

In  following  him,  I  follow  hut  myself; 

Heaven  is  my  judge,  not  I  for  love  and  duty 

But  seeming  so,  for  my  peculiar  end  : 

For  when  my  outward  action  doth  demonstrate 

The  nativ  e  act  and  figure  of  my  heart 

In  compliment  extern,  'tis  not  long  after 

But  I  will  wear  my  heart  upon  my  sleeve 

For  daws  to  peck  at :  1  am  not  what  I  am. 

2  Mr.  Wolcott  again  neglected  a  precedent : 

lago.  Good,  my  lord,  pardon  me; 

Though  I  am  bound  to  every  act  of  duty, 

I  am  not  bound  to  that  all  slaves  are  free  lo. 

Utter  my  thoughts?     Why,  say,  they  are  vile  and  false,- 

As  where's  that  palace,  whereunto  foul  things 

Sometimes  intrude  not? 

*  This  letter  is  given  entire  in  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  416.  Mr.  Gibbs  omits 
Hamilton's  letter  of  August  3d,  to  which  this  is  a  reply.  We  take  it  for  granted  that  it 
was  not  in  his  possession.  Hamilton's  Works  omit  Wolcott's  answer. 


CHAP.  XI.]  THE   EX-SECKETA1UES    ASSIST.  557 

that  he  informed  Marshall,  or  Dexter,  or  Stoddert,  or  Lee,  that 
he  was  secretly  furnishing  materials  for  an  attack  on  his  and 
their  principal,  for  the  purpose  of  defeating  his  reelection  ?  ! 

In  one  particular  Wolcott  was  magnanimous.  He  thought 
"  the  publication  of  particular  incidents  and  conversations,  the 
knowledge  of  which  had  resulted  from  official  relations,  would,  by 
many  good  men,  be  considered  improper."  There  was  another 
material  circumstance  attending  their  publication.  They  could 
be  traced  home  at  once  to  the  "  official "  informer  !  He  availed 
himself,  however,  throughout  his  long  tissue  of  subsequent  reve 
lations,  of  facts  which  were  made  more  familiar  and  accessible 
to  him  than  to  other  men  by  his  official  relations,  and  by  Mr. 
Adams's  personal  confidence  in  him.  And  the  only  limits  he 
placed  on  his  disclosures  were  those  required  to  avoid  detection.2 

Pickering  and,  we  regret  to  add,  Me  Henry,  joined  in  fur 
nishing  materials,  obtained  through  their  former  official  rela 
tions  with  the  President,  for  the  deadly  attack  preparing  on  him. 

No  one  will  contend  that  an  official  or  personal  friend  has 
a  right,  on  becoming  an  enemy,  even  for  good  cause,  to  take 
advantage  of  the  confidences  which  grew  out  of  former  relations, 
for  the  purpose  of  inflicting  a  personal  injury.  Their  conduct, 
however,  was  excusable  compared  with  Wolcott's.  They  did 
not  drive  this  last  stab  into  a  confiding  victim.  They  were  not 
yet  daily  meeting  the  President  in  the  official  and  family  circle 
with  all  that  apparent  "  warm-heartedness  and  bonhomie " 
which  distinguished  Wolcott's  manners.3  Even  Pickering's  dis 
closure  of  a  purposed  nomination  in  order  to  defeat  it,  lacked 
the  cold-blooded  and  protracted  dissimulation  which  required 
months  to  effect  its  object. 

How  far  a  high  government  official  and  political  leader  on 

1  Wolcott  could  conceive  of  an  equivoke.  His  letter  to  Ames  at  the  opening  of  the 
sixth  Congress  contained,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  following  passage  : 

"  It  was  of  course  necessary  to  appear  to  approve  of  the  mission,  and  yet  to  express 
the  approbation  in  such  terms  as,  when  critically  analyzed,  should  amount  to  no  appro 
bation  at  all !" 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  next  to  the  "suspicion  of  cunning  "  in  himself, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  despised  cunning  in  other  men.  He  wrote  McHenry, 
August  26th,  1800 : 

"  Stoddert's  pain  in  the  side  continues  to  be  troublesome.  I  think  our  removal  here 
[to  Washington]  has  made  it  worse.  His  case  is  pretty  well  understood,  even  by  our 
new  colleagues,  to  be  miserable.  Cunning,  like  murder,  will  out."  (See  Gibbs's  Memoirs, 
etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  410.) 

a  One  of  Wolcott's  revelations  to  Hamilton  strikes  us  as  amusing ;  namely,  that  at 
New  Haven  the  President  had  said  to  a  person  of  great  respectability,  that  this  country 
could  not  get  along  without  a  hereditary  chief.  "  What  necessity,"  exclaims  the  Secre 
tary,  "  of  saying  these  things  if  he  thought  so."  (See  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  pp 
417,  419.) 

*  This  is  Mr.  Gibbs's  description  of  them. 


558  POSITION    OF    THE    CGNri:i)KBATES.  [CHAP.  XI. 

the  same  side,  who  had  never  been  in  the  President's  Cabinet 
— nay,  how  far  a  private  gentleman,  whether  a  political  friend 
or  foe  of  the  President — had  a  right  in  morality  and  honor  to 
instigate  such  a  treachery,  and  deliberately  avail  himself  of  its 
fruits,  we  leave  others  to  decide. 

The  plot  went  on ;  and  the  correspondence  between  the 
widening  circle  of  confederates  presents  a  curious  historical 
study.  Wolcott,  all  treacled  over  with  "  warm-heartedness  and 
bonhomie,"  wrote  Hamilton  that  "  certain  Federalists  were 
in  danger  of  losing  character  in  the  delicate  point  of  sincerity."  ] 
Ames,  while  conjuring  Hamilton  to  avoid  an  exposure  of  his 
personal  agency — lamenting  the  "  awkward  and  embarrassing  " 
"  constraints  "  under  which  they  were  acting — exclaimed, 
through  his  tears,  "  but  sincerity  will  do  much  to  extricate  us  !"a 
Cabot  felt  the  "apparent  absurdity"  of  their  "dilemma,"  in 
pretending  to  support  a  man  whom  "  they  knew  to  be  unworthy 
of  trust,"  but  he  contented  himself  with  laying  it  all  at  the  door 
of  the  "proceedings  [Federal  nominating  caucus]  at  Philadel 
phia,"  or  to  the  "  mode  of  election."8  Goodhue  wrote  the  Chief 
that  "  he  abominated  the  hypocritical  part  they  had  been  neces 
sitated  to  act."4  Stockton  thought  there  was  no  doubt  Mr. 
Pinckney  would  be  the  first  choice  of  the  ^New  Jersey  Federal 
electors  if  chosen,  but  he  thought  it  would  not  do  to  "  drop  and 
oppose  "  Mr.  Adams.  He  believed  it  wrould  lead  to  the  defeat 
of  those  electors.  He  said  : 

"  It  is  natural  that  this  should  be  our  condition  ;  the  majority  of  the  Legislature 
are  men  to  whom  confidential  communications  cannot  be  made ;  you  have  seen  and 
know  the  description  of  men  we  have  in  these  stations.  They  have  looked  up  to  a 
few  men  to  direct  them  in  federal  politics.  These  men  [the  Federal  leaders]  have 
for  four  years  been  holding  up  Mr.  A.  [Adams]  as  one  of  the  wisest  and  firmest  men 
in  the  United  States.  What  reason  could  be  given  for  so  sudden  a  change  of  senti 
ment  ?  Is  there  any  other  reason  which  could  be  avowed  to  such  men,  of  a  public 

nature,  but  the  removal  of  Mr.  P.  [Pickering]  ? It  would  never  be 

believed  but  that  this  [the  French]  Treaty  formed  the  true  objection  ;  that  the 
Federalists,  wishing  war  with  France,  opposed  him,  because  he  had  made  peace 
with  that  nation  on  honorable  terms." 6 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  475.  Ib.  p.  464. 

:-  He  said,  "  perhaps  it  is  a  natural  result  of  the  mode  of  election,  and  could  not  have 
been  avoided !"  He  thought,  however,  Mr.  Adams  could  not  be  discarded  as  a  candidate 
at  so  late  a  period,  without  "total  derangement  and  defeat  in  this  [Massachusetts] 
quarter."  But  his  letter  shows,  nevertheless,  that  he  was  quite  willing  to  see  Mr.  Adams 
reduced  to  the  second  place,  and  that  he  approved  of  Hamilton's  preparing  expose. 
(See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  460,  et  seq.) 

*  Ibid.  p.  478. 

6  Oibbs's  Memoirs,  etc..  vol.  ii.  p.  375. 


CRA.P.  XT.J  ATTACK     PUBLISHED — BURR's    AGENCY.  559 

But  it  was  reserved  for  the  weak  hand  of  McHenry,  when  he 
was  carried  back  by  a  paroxysm  of  excitement  to  the  better 
feelings  of  days  which  had  preceded  the  tutorings  of  the  Wol- 
cotts  and  Pickerings,  to  draw  a  picture  of  his  fellow-Hamilto- 
iiians  and  their  occupations  at  this  period,  which  in  vigor  of 
delineation  and  coloring  has  never  been  equalled  : 

"  Have  our  party  shown  that  they  possess  the  necessary  skill  and  courage  to 
deserve  to  be  continued  to  govern?  What  have  they  done?  They  did  not  (with  a 
few  exceptions),  knowing  the  disease,  the  man  and  his  nature,  meet  it,  when  it 
first  appeared,  like  wise  and  resolute  patriots ;  they  tampered  with  it,  and  thought 
of  palliations  down  to  the  last  day  of  the  late  session  of  Congress.  Nay,  their  con 
duct  even  now,  notwithstanding  the  consequences  full  in  their  view  (should  the  pre 
sent  chief  be  elected),  in  most,  it  i.ot  in  all  of  the  States,  is  tremulous,  timid,  feeble, 
deceptive,  and  cowardly.  They  write  private  letters.  To  whom  ?  To  each  other. 
But  they  do  nothing  to  give  a  proper  direction  to  the  public  mind.  They  observe, 
even  in  their  conversation,  a  discreet  circumspection  generally,  ill  calculated  to  diffuse 
information,  or  prepare  the  mass  of  the  people  for  the  result.  They  meditate  in  pri 
vate.  Can  good  come  out  of  such  a  system  ?  If  the  party  recovers  its  pristine  energy 
and  splendor,  shall  I  ascribe  it  to  such  cunning,  paltry,  indecisive,  back-door  conduct  ?"' 

When  the  production  which  had  cost  so  much  labor  and 
correspondence  between  Hamilton  and  his  followers  was  com 
pleted,  he  had  it  printed  for  private  distribution  under  the  cap 
tion  of  "  The  public  conduct  and  character  of  John  Adams, 
Esq.,  President  of  the  United  States." 

It  had  scarcely  appeared,  before  Aaron  Burr — the  Republi 
can  Yice-Presidential  candidate — had  a  copy  of  it  in  his  hands. 
His  biographer  and  eidolon  in  political  morality,  Mr.  Davis, 
admits  this,  and  his  own  complicity  in  getting  it  printed  in  part 
in  a  distant  paper  (the  N"ew  London  Bee) ;  but  he  does  not 
descend  to  particulars.2  When  a  fraud  was  to  be  boasted  of, 
this  was  remarkable,  and  tends  strongly  to  the  suspicion  that 
somebody  had  been  the  proximate  actor  in  securing  a  copy  of 
the  paper,  to  whom  silence  had  been  stipulated  under  very 
stringent  conditions.  The  fact  that  the  substance  of  Hamilton's 
letter  to  Jay  (in  regard  to  reconvening  the  Legislature  of  New 
York)  appeared  in  the  Aurora  before  the  letter  was  sent,  is  a 
link  in  this  same  chain  of  mystery. 

Aaron  Burr  was  the  perfect  master  of  petty  intrigue  ;  and 

1  This  letter  is  dated  July  22,  1800.  (See  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  384.) 
McHenry  states  in  this  letter  that  "Mr.  Harper  is  now  clearly  of  opinion  that  General 
PincKney  ought  to  be  preferred." 

''  Memoirs  of  Aaron  Burr  by  Matthew  L.  Davis,  vol.  ii.  p.  65. 


560  HAMILTON'S  STATEMENTS.  [CHAP.  XT. 

always  had  in  his  interest  a  motley  band  of  scouts  and  spies 
(male  and  female),  many  of  whom  would  not  have  probably 
hesitated  to  purloin  an  exposed  political  paper;  and  Hamilton 
was  adapted  by  a  variety  of  circumstances,  to  be  made  his  easy 
and  frequent  victim.  With  some  curious  filaments  of  unwritten 
history  (traditions  of  New  York  city)  floating  in  our  memory, 
connected  with  the  facts  above  .named,  we  have  been  inclined 
to  suspect  that  more  of  Hamilton's  secrets  than  any  one  has  ever 
dreamed  of,  were  in  possession  of  Burr,  fully  as  soon  as  they 
were  in  that  of  his  own  most  intimate  friends. 

The  parts  of  Hamilton's  paper  which  appeared  in  ihe  Bee, 
required  the  publication  of  the  remainder ;  so  that  the  whole 
production  came  before  the  world.1 

This  is  not  the  place  for  either  a  synopsis  or  review  of  this 
long  document.  It  claimed  weighty  provocations  for  its  pre 
paration — that  the  "  author  had  been  assured  from  respectable 
authorities  Mr.  Adams  had  repeatedly  indulged  himself  in 
virulent,  indecent  abuse  of  him  " — "  had  denominated  him  a 
man  destitute  of  every  moral  principle"3 — "had  stigmatized 
him  as  the  leader  of  a  British  faction,"  etc. 

In  respect  to  the  last  charge,  Hamilton  declared  it  "  shock 
ing  to  an  ingenuous  mind  to  have  to  combat  a  slander  so  vile  ?' 
— that  "he  was  able  to  show  that  his  conduct  had  uniformly 
given  the  lie  to  it!" 

He  then  uttered  this  unqualified  assertion  : 

"  I  never  advised  any  connection  with  Great  Britain  other  than  a  commercial 
one  ;  and  in  this  I  never  advocated  the  giving  to  her  any  privilege  or  advantage 
which  was  not  to  be  imparted  to  other  nations.  With  regard  to  her  pretensions  aa 
a  belligerent  power  in  relation  to  neutrals,  my  opinions  while  in  the  Administration, 
to  the  best  of  my  recollection,  coincided  with  those  of  Mr.  Jefferson,'-  etc.3  . 

1  The  paper  was  either  dated  or  published  October  22d,  we  forget  which. 

3  Mr.  Adams  was  a  much  better  Puritan  in  his  morals  than  his  religious  creed,  and 
had  no  scruples  of  delicacy  about  carrying  the  war  against  this  enemy  into  Africa,  ou 
grounds  of  personal  morality.  We  suppose  that  it  is  true  that,  before  or  after  Hamilton's 
attack,  he  repeatedly  alluded  with  stinging  severity  to  a  matter  made  the  subject  of  an 
extraordinary  pamphlet,  published  that  year  under  the  following  caption  : 

u  Observations  on  certain  documents  contained  in  Nos.  5  and  6  of  the  History  of  the 
United  States,  for  the  year  1796.  in  which  the  charge  of  speculation  against  Alexander 
Hamilton,  late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  is  fully  refuted,  written  by  himself.  Philadel 
phia.  Printed  pro  bono  publico,  1800." 

It  is  perhaps  worth  mentioning  that  we  have  failed  to  observe  the  most  remote 
allusion  to  this  pamphlet,  or  the  subject-matter  of  it,  in  any  part  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
writings.  Those  who  lived  under  the  same  roof  with  him  for  upwards  of  twenty  years, 
and  who  often  heard  him  discuss  Hamilton's  public  and  personal  character  (even  with 
Colonel  Monroe  !),  never  heard  the  faintest  allusion  of  the  kind. 

8  See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  722.  The  tone  of  the  entire  paragraph  deserves 
attention,  but  we  have  not  room  for  it. 


CHAP,  xi.]  HAMILTON'S  STATEMENTS.  561 

Wolcott's  instinct  of  safety  was  keener  than  Hamilton's.  The 
latter  had  submitted  the  draft  of  the  paper  to  him  before  publi 
cation,  and  on  the  first  of  the  above  declarations  Wolcott  made 
the  following  commentary  : 

"  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  this  declaration  as  you  mean  to 
be  understood ;  but  it  will  be  well  to  reflect  whether  you  have  not  advised  some 
connection  with  England,  with  the  view  of  prosecuting  joint  hostilities  with  France. 
If  so,  the  declaration  ought  to  be  properly  qualified."  1 

Thereupon  Hamilton  appended  the  following  foot-note  to  his 
original  statement : 

"  I  mean  a  lasting  connection.  From  what  I  recollect  of  the  train  of  my  ideas, 
it  is  possible  I  may  at  some  time  have  suggested  a  temporary  connection  for  the 
purpose  of  cooperating  against  France,  in  the  event  of  a  definitive  rupture ;  but  of 
this  I  am  not  certain,  as  I  well  remember  that  the  expediency  of  the  measure  was 
always  problematical  in  my  mind,  and  that  I  have  occasionally  discouraged  it."2 

We  are  then  to  suppose  that  even  after  this  pointed  reminder 
by  a  confederate,  General  Hamilton  had  wholly  forgotten  his 
stupendous  South  American  schemes  to  be  carried  on  in  "  con 
nection  with  Great  Britain  " — his  arrangement  with  Mr.  Pitt  in 

i  See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  473. 

3  Some  other  assertions  contained  in  the  paper  should  be  read  in  the  same  connection. 
After  mentioning  that  subsequent  to  the  rejection  of  Mr.  Pinckney  by  the  Government 
of  France,  the  writer  had  urged  the  appointment  of  three  Commissioners,  Mr.  Jefferson  or 
Mr.  Madison  to  be  one,  to  make  another  attempt  to  negotiate,  he  proceeds  to  say,  as  if 
expressing  his  feelings  thenceforth  down  to  the  period  of  his  writing  (in  1800) : 

''In  fine,  I  have  been  disposed  to  go  greater  lengths  to  avoid  rupture  with  France 
than  with  Great  Britain ;  to  make  greater  sacrifices  for  reconciliation  witli  the  former 
than  with  the  latter."  ****** 

"  Let  any  fair  man  pronounce,  whether  the  circumstances  which  have  been  disclosed 
bespeak  the  partisan  of  Great  Britain  or  the  man  exclusively  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
this  country.  Let  any  delicate  man  decide  whether  it  must  not  be  shocking  to  an 
ingenuous  mind,  to  have  to  combat  a  slauder  so  vile,  after  having  sacrificed  the  interests 
of  his  family,  and  devoted  the  best  part  of  his  life  to  the  service  of  that  country,  in  coun 
sel  and  in  the  field." 

It  will  be  found  throughout  this  whole  paper  that  in  every  minute  point  of  his  conduct 
where  he  had  leaned  to  a  liberal  line  of  policy  towards  France  and  towards  his  political 
adversaries  at  home — or  where  he  had  occasionally  resisted  the  pretensions  of  England 
(as  in  the  matter  of  Jay's  treaty) — General  Hamilton's  memory  had  suffered  no  lapses ! 

But  the  document  does  not,  perhaps,  contain  anymore  remarkable  sentences  than  the 
ollowing.  We  preserve  the  original  italicization  : 

"  The  circumstances  of  my  late  military  situation  have  much  less  to  do  with  my  per 
sonal  discontent  than  some  others.  In  respect  to  them,  I  shall  only  say,  that  I  o^ed  my 
appointment  to  the  station  and  rank  I  held,  to  the  express  stipulation  of  General  Washing 
ton,  when  he  accepted  the  command  of  the  army,  afterwards  peremptorily  insisted  upon 
by  him,  in  opposition  to  the  strong  wishes  of  the  President ;  and  that,  though  second  in 
rank.  I  was  not  promoted  to  the  first  place,  when  it  became  vacant  by  the  death  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief.  As  to  the  former,  I  should  have  no  cause  to  complain,  if  there  had 
not  been  an  apparent  inconsistency  in  the  measures  of  the  President ;  if  he  had  not 
nominated  me  first  on  the  list  of  Major-Generals,  and  attempted,  afterwards,  to  place  me 
third." 

After  reading  this,  let  the  reader  consult  the  documents  referred  to  at  p.  422  of  this 
volume. 

VOL.  IT. — 3fi 


562  EFFECT   OF    THE    PUBLICATION.  [CHAP.  XI, 

regard  to  the  command  of  the  expedition  —his  correspond 
ence  with  Miranda — his  correspondence  with  King — his  letters 
to  Gunn  and  Otis,  pointing  out  the  necessary  preparations  and 
avowing  the  object — which  things  had  extended  to  a  period 
within  a  few  months,  and  all  of  which  had  occurred  within  two 
or  three  years  ;  or  that  he  only,  after  an  effort,  remembered  them 
so  vaguely,  that  "  he  was  not  certain  "  of,  and  continued  most 
decidedly  to  mistake  their  true'  character. 

And  condescending  to  invoke  a  degree  of  shelter  from  the 
authority  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  name,  General  Hamilton  had  for 
gotten  that  he  and  the  former  had  ever  disagreed  in  regard  to 
the  pretensions  of  England  in  relation  to  neutrals — wholly  for 
gotten,  for  example,  the  difference  of  their  views  in  regard  to 
complying  with  the  demand  of  the  British  Minister  for  the 
restitution  by  the  United  States  of  the  prizes  made  by  French 
privateers,  fitted  out  in  Charleston,  in  1793. 

The  effect  of  Hamilton's  pamphlet  on  the  public  mind  was 
what  was  to  have  been  expected.  It  encouraged  the  Republi 
cans,  and  it  threw  the  brand  of  dissension  among  their  oppo 
nents.  The  moderate  Federalists  to  a  man  condemned  it,  and 
among  the  ultra-Federalists,  or  Hamiltonians,  criticisms  were 
freely  indulged  in  respect  to  both  its  expediency  and  its  temper. 

The  venerable  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  a  most  ardent  Fe 
deralist,  and  deeply  alarmed  by  "  the  turbulent  and  disorganizing 
spirit  of  Jacobinism,  under  the  worn-out  disguise  of  equal  liberty 
and  right,  and  equal  division  of  property,  held  out  to  the  indo 
lent  and  needy,"  *  approved  of  Hamilton's  pamphlet ;  but  he 
wrote  Mcllenry  that  "all  with  whom  he  had  conversed,  blamed 
Mr.  Hamilton,  and  considered  his  publication  ill-timed." 

Cabot  informed  Hamilton  that  all  his  "  friends  were  dis 
mayed,"  and  he  subsequently  added  :  "  all  agree  that  the  exe 
cution  is  masterly  ;  but  I  am  bound  to  tell  you  that  you  are 
accused  by  respectable  men  of  egotism,  and  some  very  worthy 

1  See  Carroll  to  Hamilton,  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  467.  The  whole  corres 
pondence  of  this  excellent  man,  at  this  period,  shows  that  he  had  great  apprehensions 
of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  the  Republican  party.  He  had  once,  he  says,  seen  a  letter  from  Jef 
ferson,  which  contained  this  strange  statement,  "  that  to  preserve  the  liberties  of  a  peo 
ple,  a  revolution  once  in  a  century  was  necessary."  The  reader  will  remember  that 
Mr.  Jefferson  repeatedly  uttered  this  sentiment,  at  the  period  of  "  Shay's  rebellion,"  he 
then  being  Minister  in  Prance — only,  we  believe,  the  proper  space  between  rebellions 
was  placed  by  him  at  a  much  shorter  period  !  Mr.  Carroll  thought  if  a  man  so  "theo 
retical  and  fanciful  "  was  elected  President,  "  the  consequences  to  this  country  might  be 
dreadful."  (See  his  letter  to  Hamilton,  April  18th,  1800.  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi. 
p.  434.) 


CHAP.  XI.]  POPULAR    SYMPATHIES — INCREDULITY.  563 

and  sensible  men  say  you  have  exhibited  the  same  vanity  in 
your  book,  which  you  charge  as  a  dangerous  quality  and  great 
weakness  in  Mr.  Adams." 

The  Republican  newspapers  did  not,  of  course,  fail  to  profit 
by  these  divisions  among  their  opponents.  They  attacked  the 
President  for  what  he  had  done,  the  commander  of  the  army 
for  what  he  proposed  to  do.  Mr.  Adams  was  then  held  respon 
sible  by  the  public  for  most  of  Hamilton's  political  progeny ; 
but  still  the  tide  of  Republican  sympathy  was  in  his  favor,  as 
between  the  two.  He  who  seeks  his  enemy's  life  in  the  battle's 
front,  feels  compassion  when  he  sees  him  stricken  down  from  be 
hind.  Or  if  he  lacks  this  degree  of  magnanimity,  the  instinct  of 
humanity  teaches  him  to  dread  and  detest  the  treachery,  which, 
if  tolerated  under  any  pretences,  would  shatter  all  the  bonds  of 
moral  obligation  and  leave  no  man  safe  in  any  position  this  side 
the  grave. 

It  is  a  wonder  that  the  popular  sympathy  was  not  keener, 
when  the  previous  public  and  private  careers  of  Adams  and 
Hamilton  rose  in  review,  to  institute  that  comparison  which  the 
latter  haughtily  challenged  in  his  paper.  But  the  fury  of  the 
partisan  fray  leaves  scarcely  so  much  of  mercy  or  magnanimity 
in  the  bosom  as  does  the  physical  combat,  where  life  instead 
of  the  success  of  opinions  is  at  stake.  And  probably  Mr. 
Adams's  opponents  felt  that,  like  a  Wallenstein,  he  met  a  not  un 
deserved  fate,  though  it  might  not  be  deserved  at  the  hands  of 
those  who  dealt  the  blow. 

Hamilton's  disavowals  of  all  English  leanings  in  his  previous 
line  of  foreign  policy  were  regarded  and  commented  on  by 
the  Republicans  with  scornful  incredulity — though  they  knew 
nothing  of  his  forgotten  South  American  projects.  Their  fire 
became  so  close  and  embarrassing,  that  he  meditated  coming 
forward  with  a  public  defence,  and  summoning  ex-Secretary 
Pickering  as  a  compurgator.2  Shrewd  Wolcott  probably  thought 
enough  had  already  been  said  on  the  subject.  He  had  a  suffi 
cient  specimen  before  him  of  the  success  of  General  Hamilton's 
auto-biographical  public  letters.  From  some  quarter,  or  by  his 
own  second  thought,  the  latter  was  persuaded  to  forego  his  design. 

And   here  we  will  for  a  time  drop  the   curtain   over  this 

•  Bee  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  482.  9  Ibid.  vol.  vi.  pp.  477,  484. 


564:  JEFFERSON    IN    SUMMEii    OF    1SOO.  [dlAP.  XI 

broken  host,  and  its  leaders  desperately  grappling  with  each 
other,  on  the  verge  of  the  decisive  engagement,  to  cast  our  eyes 
over  the  Republican  lines,  advancing  in  perfect  array,  with  quick 
step  and  trumpets  ringing  notes  of  joyous  confidence. 

We  have  little  to  relate.  ISTo  strange  incidents  had  marked 
their  progress  since  the  Presidential  caucus.  They  had  but  one 
leader,  and  all  gladly  acknowledged  him.  It  was  afterwards 
believed  that  Burr  set  on  foot  some  machinations  to  do  for  him 
self  what  Hamilton  was  laboring  to  do  for  Pinckney  ;  but  if  this 
was  so,  he  relied  on  means  so  stealthy  that  they  were  not  con 
fided  to  beyond  a  mere  handful  of  instruments ;  he  affected  de 
votion  to  his  chief,  and  consequently  he  did  not  in  the  least 
break  in  upon  the  order  arid  harmony  of  party  movement.  And, 
first,  what  were  the  occupations  of  the  Republican  candidate  for 
the  chief  magistracy  ? 

Mr.  Jefferson  spent  the  entire  summer  of  1800  in  close 
retirement.  By  his  daily  memoranda,  lying  under  our  eye,  we 
are  authorized  to  say  that,  from  the  time  he  reached  home  after 
the  adjournment  of  Congress  in  the  spring  until  his  return  to  it 
in  the  fall,  after  the  election,  he  was  but  twice  absent  from  home 
further  than  Charlottesville — once  to  a  more  remote  point  in  the 
same  county,  and  once  on  a  short  visit  to  his  Bedford  estate. 
We  find  him  particularly  busy  throughout  this  season  in  farming 
occupations,  in  his  little  nail  factory ,  and  in  burning  bricks  for 
completing  his  house. 

In  running  our  eye  over  the  various  current  memoranda,  we 
find  a  couple  which  may  interest  the  curious  reader.  The  first 
shows  Mr.  Jefferson's  annual  contribution  to  the  direct  Uni 
ted  States  tax  on  one  of  his  estates. 

Taxes  to  the  United  States,  in  Albemarle,  1800. 
4564  acres  of  land  at  $5  00  (.384  per  $100)     $87  62 


222 

4    1  00  . 

. 

196 

1  00  . 

. 

400 

240  . 

400    " 

*    3  00  . 

. 

4 

'   15  00  . 

. 

1  House 

"  6000  00  . 

• 

$108  62 


CHAP.  XI.]  HIS    DOMESTIC    AFFAIRS.  565 

And  here  we  have  the  census  of  his  family  (in  Albemarle) 
as  given  the  same  year  : 


Males,  free  whites  under  10 

2 

Females,  do  2=4 

"      of  10  and  under  16 

1 

"               0=1 

"       "  16  and  under  26 

3 

1=4 

"       "  26  and  under  45 

1 

"               0=1 

"       "  45  and  upwards 

1 

"               0=1 

Slaves 

93 

104 

The  account-book,  the  farm-book,  etc.,  give  their  usual  de 
tails.  The  stagnation  of  commerce  had  reached  the  planters  of 
Virginia  as  well  as  the  mercantile  class  of  the  cities.  Market?, 
were  dull.  Mr.  Jefferson's  tobacco  crop  of  the  preceding  year 
remained  unsold. 

The  following  letter  gives  a  sufficient  glimpse  of  farm  mat 
ters  for  the  season : 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  MONT  BLANCO. 

MONTICKLLO,  July  4, 1800. 
MY  TEAR  MARIA  : 

We  have  heard  not  a  word  of  you  since  the  moment  you  left  us.  I  hope  you 
had  a  safe  and  pleasant  journey.  The  rains  which  began  to  fall  here  the  next  day 
gave  me  uneasiness  lest  they  should  have  overtaken  you  also.  Dr.  and  Mrs  Bache 
have  been  with  us  till  the  day  before  yesterday.  Mrs.  Monroe  is  now  in  our  neigh 
borhood  to  continue  during  the  sickly  months.  Our  forte-piano  arrived  a  day  or  two 
after  you  left  us.  It  has  been  exposed  to  a  great  deal  of  rain,  but  being  well 
covered  was  only  much  untuned.  I  have  given  it  a  poor  tuning.  It  is  the  delight 
of  the  family,  and  all  pronounce  what  your  choice  will  be.  Your  sister  does  not 
hesitate  to  prefer  it  to  any  harpsichord  she  ever  saw  except  her  own.  And  it  is 
easy  to  see  it  is  only  the  celestini  which  retains  that  preference.  It  is  as  easily 
tuned  as  a  spinette,  and  will  not  need  it  half  as  often.  Our  harvest  has  been  a  very 
fine  one.  I  finish  to-day.  It  is  the  heaviest  crop  of  wheat  I  ever  had. 

A  murder  in  our  neighborhood  is  the  theme  of  its  present  conversation.  George 
Carter  shot  Birch  of  Charlottesville,  in  his  own  door,  and  on  very  slight  provocation. 
He  died  in  a  few  minutes.  The  examining  court  meets  to-morrow. 

As  your  harvest  must  be  over  as  soon  as  ours,  we  hope  to  see  Mr.  Eppes  and 
yourself.  All  are  well  here  except  Ellen,  who  is  rather  drooping  than  sick ;  and  all 
are  impatient  to  see  you — no  one  so  much  as  he  whose  happiness  is  wrapped  up  iu 
yours.  My  affections  to  Mr.  Eppes,  and  tenderest  love  to  yourself.  Hasten  to  us. 

Adieu. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

We  have  sharply  inspected  the  minute  pocket  account-book 
of  the  year  (where  every  expense,  from  the  purchase  of  a  farm 
to  dropping  a  penny  into  a  charity  box,  went  down  with  inex 


6b6  LLLECTION    EXPENSES    OF   CANDIDATES.  [CHAP.  XI. 

orable  method)  for  evidences  that  a  fierce  election  campaign 
was  raging.  We  find  fifty  dollars  "  paid  Callender ;"  and  this 
is  the  only  expenditure  which  carries  any  appearance  of  a  poli 
tical  douceur.  There  are  a  few  entries  of  trifling  payments  which 
do  not  explain  themselves.  They  may  therefore  have  been  for 
political  objects,  but  the  names,  and  other  iccompaniments,  do 
not  lead  us  to  that  inference.  Mr.  Jefferson  made  one  journey 
to  Charlottesville,  on  a  week  day,1  which  cost  him  precisely  "  a 
shilling."  In  his  farther  trip  in  the  county,  already  men 
tioned,  he  expended  "  a  dollar."  In  going  to  Bedford  and  re 
turning,  his  expenses  foot  up  at  something  less  than  ten  dollars. 
This  shows,  at  least,  that  Presidential  candidates  were  not  fol 
lowed  about  at  that  day  by  crowds  eating  and  drinking  at  their 
expense,  or  by  troops  of  political  mendicants  extorting  money 
on  one  pretence  or  another. 

There  are,  however,  more  newspapers  charged  than  usual. 
We  find  no  payments  for  other  publications.  We  believe  we 
are  authorized  to  say  that  his  political  expenses  were  not  larger 
than  if  he  had  not  been  a  Presidential  candidate,  unless  in  the 
unimportant  item  of  newspapers. 

These  are  very  insignificant  facts  in  themselves  considered; 
but  they  will  be  interesting  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  the 
fashions  which  have  been  introduced  (though  perhaps  less 
directly  into  Presidential  elections  than  some  others)  by  that 
thoughtless  or  corrupt  profusion  of  candidates  and  their  friends, 
which  has  established  (in  some  localities)  a  class  of  swindling 
parasites  who  fasten  themselves  on  candidates  for  important 
offices,  and  under  one  pretence  or  another  of  "  legitimate  elec 
tion  expenses,"  contrive  more  than  to  subtract  their  salaries 
in  advance — and  what  is  worse,  make  them  contributors  to  what 
they  cannot  but  suspect,  however  resolutely  they  avert  their 
eyes,  is  a  bribe,  or  wholly  improper  douceur  wrapped  up  in  a 
thin  disguise. 

We  have  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Pinckney  could 
have  shown  as  clean  a  record  as  Mr.  Jefferson  in  this  particular. 
They  had  the  support  of  the  old  train-bands  of  the  Treasury 
department — the  men  who  had  been  enriched  by  the  frauds 
under  the  Assumption,  under  bills  to  pay  North  Carolina  and 
Virginia  soldiers,  etc.  But  Mr.  Adams  was  personally  a  pure 

1  He  also  attended  church  there  on  Sunday. 


CHAP.  XI. J  CLERICAL   ATTACKS   ON   JEFFERSON.  567 

man  in  all  respects.  And  if  General  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinck- 
ney  ever  in  public  or  private  life  acted  otherwise  than  as  a 
manly,  pure,  and  high-toned  politician,  patriot  and  gentleman, 
we  have  failed  to  discover  a  solitary  evidence  of  the  fact.1 

There  is  the  usual  long  hiatus  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  summer 
correspondence — but  three  letters  being  preserved  in  his  files 
between  the  adjournment  of  Congress  in  May,  and  its  reassem 
bling  in  November,  1800  ;  and  it  would  be  supposed  that  if  a 
prudent  man  felt  it  worth  his  while  to  keep  copies  of  any  of  his 
letters,  it  would  be  of  his  political  ones  on  the  eve  of  an  election 
— for  certainly  none  others  would  be  more  likely  to  be  after 
wards  misunderstood  or  misrepresented. 

One  of  these  letters,  addressed  to  Uriah  McGregory,  of  Con 
necticut,  alluded  to  a  statement  made  by  "the  Eev.  Cotton 
Mather  Smith,  of  Shena,"  publicly  in  his  pulpit,  that  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  '•  had  obtained  his  property  by  fraud  and  robbery ;  that  in 
one  instance,  he  had  defrauded  and  robbed  a  widow  and  father 
less  children  of  an  estate  to  which  he  was  executor,  of  ten  thou 
sand  pounds  sterling,  by  keeping  the  property  and  paying  them 
in  money  at  the  nominal  rate,  when  it  was  worth  no  more  than 
forty  for  one ;  and  that  all  this  could  be  proved." 

This  went  beyond  Gobbet!  He  averred  that  Mr.  Jefferson 
had  obtained  his  property  by  cheating  British  creditors. 

A  good  deal  more  virulence  was  exhibited  towards  Jefferson 
by  the  Federalists  in  New  England  than  elsewhere ;  and  the 
u  apostolic  blows  and  knocks  "  on  his  private  character,  much 
exceeded  in  frequency  and  severity  those  of  the  lay  champions 
of  the  press,  and  of  political  haranguers  out  of  the  pulpit.  One 
distinguished  divine  drew  a  long  arid  labored  parallel  between 
him  and  the  wicked  Ilehobuam  ;  and  the  "  sermon  "  was  printed 
and  distributed  throughout  the  land.  It  is  probable  that  in 
more  than  half  the  pulpits  in  New  England  he  wTas  publicly 
(either  directly  or  by  innuendo  broad  enough  for  the  dullest  to 
understand)  stigmatized  in  u  sermons  "  preached  on  Sunday,  as 
an  "  atheist,"  or  "  French  infidel,"  and  the  people  were  exhorted 
as  they  feared  God  or  valued  their  own  safety  and  religious  free 
dom,  to  vote  against  so  impious  a  wretch. 

'  We  think  this  remark  applies  fairly  to  nearly  all  the  leading  South  Carolina  Fede 
ralists.  Hamilton's  mouth-piece,  "  Phocion  Smith,"  was  accused  of  being  one  of  the 
greediest  of  the  "Treasury  Squad;"  but  the  whole  family  of  the  Pinckneys,  the  Kut- 
ledges.  the  Hugers,  etc.,  were  men  above  personal  suspicion. 


568  KEY.  DE.  MASON'S  PAMPHLET.  [CHAP.  XT. 

The  ''  drum  ecclesiastic  "  was  also  beaten  to  some  extent  in 
New  York,  where  New  England  emigration  had  carried  the 
spirit  of  hierocracy — a  disposition  in  the  clergy  to  control,  and 
a  willingness  in  the  people  to  submit  to  their  control,  in  a  con 
siderable  class  of  secular  affairs. 

The  Reverend  Doctor  John  M.  Mason,  of  the  city  of  New 
York — the  particular  friend  of  General  Hamilton — published  a 
pamphlet  in  September  (1800),  entitled,  "  The  voice  of  Warning 
to  Christians  on  the  ensuing  Election ;"  and  as  it  is  republished 
in  his  collected  Works,  we  are  to  infer  it  was  intended  as  a  con 
tribution  to  permanent  history — or  rather  for  the  preservation 
of  statements  and  arguments  designed  to  influence  the  conclu 
sions  of  history  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  his  attack. 

Dr.  Mason  informed  his  readers  that  the  belief  of  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  infidelity  had  for  years  been  uniform  and  strong  ;  but  that 
now,  "  happily  for  truth  and  for  us,  Mr.  Jefferson  had  written 
and  he  had  printed."  The  publication  thus  referred  to  was  the 
Notes  on  Virginia  ;  and  he  proceeded  to  show  wherein,  in  seve 
ral  particulars,  that  production  directly  attacked  the  authen 
ticity  of  the  Scriptures.1 

Dr.  Mason  declared  that  Mazzei  (name  of  ill  omen  to  Jeffer 
son)  told  a  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  that  on  once  expressing  his  surprise 
at  the  ruinous  condition  of  a  church  to  Jefferson,  the  latter 
replied:  "It  is  good  enough  for  him  who  was  born  in  a  man 
ger."  The  Doctor  said  "  some  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  friends  had  been 
desperate  enough  to  challenge  this  anecdote  as  a  calumny  fabri 
cated  for  electioneering  purposes."  But  he  had  it  himself  from 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  and  he  has  no  idea  that  Mazzei  would  have 
been  guilty  of  "  trumping  up  a  deliberate  lie  "  against  a  brother 
infidel.  If  anything  more  was  wanting  it  would  be  proved  by 
'•  his  [Jefferson's]  solicitude  for  wresting  the  Bible  from  the  hands 
of  their  children — his  notoriously  unchristian  character — his  dis 
regard  of  all  the  evidences  of  divine  worship — his  utter  and  open 
contempt  of  the  Lord's  day,"  etc.  Lastly,  he  pronounced  stern 
maranatha  on  the  man.  "  who  writes  against  the  truths  of  God's 
word  ;  who  makes  not  even  a  profession  of  Christianity  ;  who  is 
without  Sabbaths  ;  without  the  sanctuary  ;  without  so  much  as  a 
decent  external  respect  for  the  faith  and  worship  of  Christians." 

1  The  arguments  on  these  heads  deserve  attention;  and  we  will  present 
some  comments,  in  the  APPENDIX.     (See  APPENDIX,  No.  18.) 


CHAP.  XI.  J          ORIGIN    OF    A    LONG    MISUNDERSTANDING.  569 

Dr.  John  M.  Mason  was  a  learned,  able,  and  devout  man ; 
would  have  belied  no  man  intentionally  ;  and  is  only  a  specimen 
of  the  danger  of  getting  out  of  one's  province — of  drabbling  the 
clerical  cassock  in  the  dirty  pools  of  politics.  We  present  his 
statements  as  illustrations  of  the  spirit  of  the  times,  selecting 
them  rather  than  others  because  he  is  a  well-known  man,  and 
because  his  production  has  been  perpetuated  where  it  will  enter 
theological  libraries  for  generations  to  come.1 

And  it  is  proper  that  the  reader  understand  how  that  per 
sonal  dislike,  as  it  may  be  called,  first  seriously  commenced 
between  Mr.  Jefferson  and  certain  churches,  which  was  not 
destined  to  die  away  during  the  lives  of  the  existing  generation. 
He  always  attributed  the  wide  spread  and  vehement  attack  they 
made  on  him  to  his  agency  in  overthrowing  the  church  estab 
lishment  of  Virginia.  Whether  this  cause  had  any  weight 
every  one  can  form  his  own  conclusion  ;  but  we  must  keep  in 
view  two  or  three  facts.  Neither  the  doctrines  nor  the  practical 
result  of  the  Virginia  "  Act  for  religious  freedom  "  then  gene 
rally  prevailed.  Establishments  still  existed,  and  good  men  still 
believed  that  they  were  absolutely  requisite  for  the  proper  sup 
port  of  teachers  of  religion.  It  was  still  common  in  some  quar 
ters  for  politicians  to  laud  church  establishments — a  pretty  sure 
indication  that  they  were  yet  regarded  as  popular  in  the 
community.2  It  certainly,  then,  was  not  a  wild  and  far-fetched 
inference  that  the  prominent  example  and  precedent  of  abolish 
ing  hierarchy  in  Virginia  had  drawn  on  the  head  of  its  author 
the  enmity  of  such  religious  denominations  as  elsewhere  continued 

1  It  is  placed  in  juxtaposition  with  a  discourse  on  Hamilton  abounding  in  the  most 
fervid  eulogy. 

2  "  Phocion  Smith"  (William  Smith,  of  South  Carolina)  published  a  pamphlet  of  per 
sonal  and  oftentimes  scurrilous  assault  on  Mr.  Jefferson,  which  contained  the  following 
passages : 

"  The  act  for  establishing  religious  freedom  in  Virginia  (the  necessity  for  which  is  not 
very  obvious)  has  been  much  extolled  by  Mr.  Jefferson's  panegyrists.  I  ask  them,  what 
good  effects  has  it  produced  ?  Does  religion  flourish  in  Virginia  more  than  it  did,  or  more 
than  in  the  Eastern  States  ?  Is  public  worship  better  attended?  Are  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel  better  supported  than  in  the  Eastern  States? 

"  That  act,  which  is  nearly  all  preamble,  setting  forth  a  series  of  principles,  some  of 
which  are  proved  by  late  experience  in  France  to  be  very  questionable,  has,  in  my 
opinion,  an  immediate  tendency  to  produce  a  total  disregard  to  public  worship,  an  abso 
lute  indifference  to  all  religion  whatever.  It  states  among  other  things,  '  that  we  ought 
not  to  be  obliged  to  support  even  the  ministers  of  our  own  religious  persuasion,  and  that 
our  civil  rights  have  no  more  dependence  on  our  religious  opinions,  than  on  our  opinions 
in  physic  or  geometry.'  The  act  then  declares,  that  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to  fre 
quent  or  support  any  religious  worship  or  minister  whatever,  and  that  all  men  shall  be 
free  to  profess,  and  by  argument  to  maintain  their  opinions,  in  matters  of  religion,  with 
out  diminishing  their  civil  capacities.  *  *  *  *  * 

"  What  a  conformity  do  we  find  between  the  sentiments  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  matters 
of  religion,  and  those  of  Tom  Paine!"  ***** 


570  MUTUAL   MISTAKES.  [CHAP.  XI. 

to  uphold  hierarchal  establishments.  To  be  consistent,  such  men 
must  consider  him  practically  a  foe  of  religion,  influenced  by  a 
fatal  delusion,  or  by  hatred  of  Christianity. 

Jefferson  wrote  Dr.  Rush  the  same  month  that  Dr.  Mason's 
pamphlet  was  published,  and  we  judge  in  allusion  to  it.  that  the 
late  attack  on  the  freedom  of  the  press  (the  Sedition  Law  made 
under  the  influence  of  "the  XYZ  delusion  ")  "had  given  to  the 
clergy  a  very  favorite  hope  of  obtaining  an  establishment  of  a 
particular  form  of  Christianity  through  the  United  States,"  and 
he  added : 

"  The  returning  good  sense  of  our  country  threatens  abortion  to  their  hopes,  and 
they  believe  that  any  portion  of  power  confided  to  me  will  be  exerted  in  opposition 
to  their  schemes.  And  they  believe  rightly:  for  I  have  sworn  upon  the  altar  of 
God  eternal  hostility  against  every  form  of  tyranny  over  the  mind  of  man.  But  this 
is  all  they  have  to  fear  from  me  ;  and  enough  too  in  their  opinion.  And  this  is  the 
cause  of  their  printing  lying  pamphlets  against  me,  forging  conversations  for  me 
with  Mazzei,  Bishop  Madison,  etc.,  which  are  absolute  falsehoods  without  a  circum 
stance  of  truth  to  rest  on;  falsehoods,  too,  of  which  I  acquit  Mazzei  and  Bishop 
Madison,  for  they  are  men  of  truth." 

The  first  idea,  that  any  denomination  was  laboring  for  a 
national  establishment,  we  regard  as  a  manifest  error.  It  was  a 
hasty  inference  dictated  by  resentment,  under  keen  and  cutting 
insults  simultaneously  launched  from  a  multitude  of  pulpits. 
We  do  not  understand  this  to  have  been  by  any  means  a  per 
sistent  opinion  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 

But  we  believe  he  never  understood  the  religious  institutions 
and  spirit  of  New  England,  and  that  the  supporters  of  those 
institutions  still  Jess  understood  him.  We  believe  that  each  did 
the  other  great  injustice — the  only  difference  in  his  favor  being 
that  they  commenced  the  personal  war  and  provoked  that  indig 
nation  which  generally  becomes  the  parent  of  prejudice  and 
misconstruction.  We  may  hereafter  recur  to  this  topic  and  ex 
plain  our  views.  Here  it  would  improperly  delay  the  narration 
of  historic  events.  We  return  to  the  more  direct  history  of  the 
Presidential  election. 

The  choice  of  a  new  Legislature  in  Pennsylvania  did  not,  as 
had  been  anticipated,  terminate  the  contest  in  that  State. 
Though  the  Republicans  had  a  decisive  majority  in  the  popular 
vote,  the  Federalists  again  carried  the  Senate.  Again  that  body 
refused  to  reenact  the  former  electoral  law,  or  to  go  into  joint 
ballot,  or  to  agree  on  any  provisions  which  would  allow  the 


CHA.P.  XI.]  STATE    ELECTIONS — CONGRESS   MEET.  571 

popular  or  combined  legislative  majority  to  rule,  or  even  to  be 
represented  by  the  same  proportinate  vote  in  the  electoral  col 
lege.  The  Republicans  were  allowed  the  choice  of  having  the 
State  disfranchised,  or  agreeing  to  conditions  which  would  give 
them  one  more  elector  than  their  opponents — practically  give 
the  State  one  electoral  vote.  And  they  submitted  to  these 
terms. 

In  Maryland,  where  the  Federalists  had  hoped  to  carry  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature,  but  were  not  certain  of  the  popular 
vote  in  the  electoral  districts,  their  leaders  meditated  abolishing 
the  popular  election  and  giving  the  choice  to  the  Legislature. 
We  are  furnished  here  with  an  instructive  specimen  of  how  far 
the  fear  of  some  extreme  may  drive  patriotic  and  excellent  men 
into  setting  extreme  examples.  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton, 
"  disliked  laws  and  changes  suited  to  the  spur  of  the  occasion," 
but  his  apprehensions  of  "  a  Jacobinical  President  "  and  of  "  the 
insidious  policy  of  Virginia,"  were  so  extreme  thas  he  "hoped 
the  Legislature  would  choose,  pro  hac  vice,  the  electors  of  Presi 
dent  and  Vice-President."  He  said  he  "  hoped  so,  because  he 
was  not  certain  that  the  new  House  of  Delegates,  even  if  Federal, 
would  pass  such  a  law,  as  many  of  them  "  would  probably  be 
instructed  not  to  vote  for  it."1  The  Federalists  were  not  reduced 
to  the  dilemma  of  deciding  this  nice  question,  for  the  Republi 
cans  elected  a  majority  of  the  Legislature. 

The  second  session  of  the  sixth  Congress  convened  in  the 
new  capital  on  the  17th  of  November. 

The  President's  speech  was  short,  dignified  and  moderate. 
He  informed  Congress  that  in  compliance  with  a  law  of  the  last 
session,  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  temporary  army  had  been 
discharged ;  he  renewed  his  recommendation  for  an  extension 
of  the  judiciary  system  ;  and  declared  that  the  difficulties  which 
had  suspended  the  execution  of  the  sixth  article  of  the  British 
treaty  continued,  but  that  sincere  endeavors  were  being  made 
by  the  government  to  produce  an  amicable  termination  of  them. 
He  said  our  Envoys  to  France  had  been  received  by  the  First 
Consul  "with  the  respect  due  to  their  characters,  and  three  per 
sons  with  equal  powers  were  appointed  to  treat  with  them;" 
that  *'  although  at  the  date  of  the  last  official  intelligence  the 
negotiation  had  not  terminated,  yet  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  our 

1  Carroll  to  Hamilton.    Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  4G8. 


072  CABINET    CHAXGES — CORRESPONDENCE.  [CHAP.  XI. 

efforts  to  effect  an  accommodation  would  at  length  meet  with  a 
success  proportioned  to  the  sincerity  with  which  they  had  been 
so  often  repeated."  Yet  while  endeavoring  to  preserve  har 
mony  with  all  nations,  he  thought  it  would  be  a  u  dangerous 
imprudence"  to  abandon  defensive  measures.  He  therefore 
recommended  the  continuance  of  those  for  strengthening  the 
navy,  for  the  fortification  of  some  of  our  principal  seaports  and 
harbors,  and  for  the  manufacture  of  arms. 

Mr.  Jefferson  set  out  for  Washington  on  the  24th  of  Novem 
ber,  and  took  the  chair  of  the  Senate  on  the  28th. 

At  the  close  of  the  year,  Wolcott  retired  from  the  Treasury 
department.  He  had  tendered  his  resignation  on  the  8th  of 
November,  but  offered  to  remain  until  the  end  of  December,  not 
only  to  transfer  the  business  of  the  department  to  another  with 
out  injury,  but  also  to  afford  "  to  the  President  suitable  time  to 
designate  his  successor."  After  staying  long  enough  to  hunt 
down  his  victim,  and  enjoy  pretty  near  all  the  power  and 
emolument  he  could  derive  from  his  position,  this  gentleman 
plumed  himself  greatly  on  the  delicacy  of  this  retirement.  He 
wrote  to  his  wife  December  31st: 

"  I  was  never  better  pleased  with  any  act  in  my  life  than  with  my  resignation  at 
the  time  and  in  the  manner  I  did  It  appears  to  have  been  the  only  way  I  could 
have  taken  to  avoid  dishonor." l 

On  the  14th  of  December,  Mr.  Jefferson,  supposing  the  result 
of  the  election  sufficiently  settled,  wrote  Chancellor  R.  R.  Liv 
ingston,  of  New  York,  inviting  him  to  accept  the  secretaryship 
of  the  Navy. 

lie  wrote  Colonel  Burr  on  the  15th,  and  after  informing  him 
of  the  supposed  success  of  the  Republican  candidates — and  that 
it  -was  then  rumored  that  one  Republican  vote  would  be  with 
held  from  Burr  in  South  Carolina  and  Tennessee,  and  at  least 
one  vote  in  Georgia,  but  that  the  latter  would  still  stand  four  or 
five  votes  above  Mr.  Adams — he  added  a  remark  which  becomes 
interesting  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events  : 

"  However,  it  was  badly  managed  not  to  have  arranged  with  certainty  what 
Beems  to  have  been  left  to  hazard.  It  was  the  more  material,  because  I  understand 
several  of  the  high-flying  Federalists  have  expressed  their  hope  that  the  two  Repub 
lican  tickets  may  be  equal,  arid  their  determination  in  that  case  to  prevent  a  choice 

1  Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  462. 


CHAP    XI.]  NEW  YORK   ELECTION  —  BURROS    AGENCY.  573 

by  the  House  of  Representatives  (which  they  are  strong  enough  to  do),  and  let  the 
Government  devolve  on  a  President  of  the  Senate.  Decency  required  that  I  should 
be  so  entirely  passive  during  the  late  contest  that  I  never  once  asked  whether 
arrangements  had  been  made  to  prevent  so  many  from  dropping  votes  intentionally, 
as  might  frustrate  half  the  Republican  wish  ;  nor  did  I  doubt,  till  lately,  that  such 
had  been  made."  * 

It  is  indisputable  th.it  the  success  in  New  York  was,  in  some 
measure,  owing  to  the  judicious  selection  of  the  legislative  can 
didates  in  the  metropolis  of  that  State.  Had  the  Republican 
ticket  been  so  composed  as  to  fail  to  draw  the  full  support  of  two 
great  personal  parties  —  the  Clintons  and  Livingstons  —  success 
might  have  been  problematical.  Governor  George  Clinton  and 
the  talented  Brockholst  Livingston  were  placed  on  the  ticket. 
Revolutionary  feeling  was  appealed  to,  by  using  the  name  of 
General  Gates.  Other  men  of  great  influence  and  popularity 
were  embraced  in  the  nomination.  Though  the  fact  has  been 
disputed,  it  would  undoubtedly  be  unjust  to  deny  to  the  shrewd 
and  artful  Burr  a  good  deal  of  the  credit  of  arranging  this 
ticket.2  But  here  his  influence  ended.  Neither  the  Clintons 
nor  the  Livingstons  were  friendly  to  him.8  He  had  little  per- 

1  The  tenor  of  these  remarks  shows  how  absurd  is  the  gossip  preserved  by  Mr.  Gibbs 
in  a  letter  from  Wolcott  to  Edwards,  that  Burr  complained  of  bad  faith  because  Virginia 
gave  fifteen  votes  for  Samuel  Adams  in  1796,  and  that  in  1800  he  "  required  as  a  con 
dition  of  his  consent  to  being  a  candidate,  that  highly  respectable  members  of  the 

ting  that  their  honor  was  p 
fferson."    (Gibbs's  Memoir 
ubject.     Political  History 
p.  136. 

8  The  brilliant  pamphleteer,  "Aristides"  (William  P.  Van  Ness)—  a  writer  always 
exhibiting  vastly  more  talent  than  principle  —  did,  indeed,  assert  the  contrary  :  and 
quoted  Matthew  L.  Davis,  to  prove  that  at  an  interview  between  Burr  and  George  Clin 
ton  (held  to  enable  the  former  to  persuade  the  latter  to  allow  his  name  to  go  on  the 
New  York  ticket),  Clinton  declared  "that  he  had  long  entertained  an  unfavorable 
opinion  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  talents  as  a  statesman,  and  his  firmness  as  a  Republican  —  that 
he  conceived  him  to  be  an  accommodating  trimmer,"  etc.  —  and  finally,  that  if  Mr.  Burr 
had  been  the  candidate,  he  "would  have  acted  with  pleasure  and  with  vigor." 

Davis  quotes  and  assumes  the  paternity  of  these  statements  in  his  Life  of  Burr  (vol.  ii. 
pp.  58,  50),  and  declares  their  correctness  was  never  publicly  denied  by  either  of  the 
gentlemen  named. 

We  have  here  a  characteristic  specimen  of  effrontery.  A  "Reply  to  Aristides" 
did  appear,  in  which  was  given  an  authorized  version  on  the  part  of  George  Clinton,  of 
what  passed  at  the  interview  between  him  and  Burr.  In  this  every  material  statement 
of  Davis  was  denied.  The  writer  declared  that  he  "had  every  reason  to  believe  "  that 
Mr.  Clinton  "had  the  most  exalted  opinion"  of  Mr.  Jefferson  —  that  the  latter  "had  not 
in  the  Union  a  sincerer  friend,  a  more  ardent  admirer  of  his  administration."  "  Nor  did 
he  question  his  firmness  as  a  Republican  —  of  this  Governor  Clinton  was  sensible  that 
Mr.  Jefferson  had  furnished  the  most  satisfactory  and  incontrovertible  proof;"  that  "he 
had  no  idea,  at  the  time,  that  Mr.  Burr  aspired  to  the  Presidency  ;  and  then,  as  now, 
would  be  the  last  to  wish  him  at  the  head  of  the  Government." 

This  "  Reply"  was  fathered  by  Cheetham,  the  editor  of  the  "American  Citizen,"  the 
organ  of  that  branch  of  the  Republican  party  to  which  the  Clintons  a-lhered  :  and  under 
stood,  says  Hammond,  to  be  "especially  under  the  influence  of  DeWitt  Clinton"  —  the 
nephew  of  Governor  George  Clinton.  "Aristides"  (Van  Ness)  attributed  this  reply  to 
the  caustic  pen  of  DeWitt  Clinton  himself—  but  whether  he  or  Cheetham  was  the  real 
author,  the  denial  was  equally  authoritative. 

The  Clintonian  writers  assigned  special  reasons  for  Matthew  L.  Davis's  malicious  vin 


Republican  party  should  write  letters,  stating  that  their  honor  was  pledged  to  endeavor  to 

procure  for  him  an  equal  vote  with  Mr.  Jefferson."    (Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  488.) 

2  See  Hammond's  remarks  on  this  subject.     Political  History  of  New  York.  vol.  i. 


574:  STRENGTH    OF    CANDIDATES    IN    NEW    YOKK.         [CHAP.  XI. 

sonal  popularity  among  the  body  of  the  people  to  sustain  him. 
It  was  dissatisfaction  with  his  conduct,  in  smuggling  through  the 
Legislature  a  bill  which,  while  its  professed  object  was  "to  incor 
porate  an  association  (the  'Manhattan  Company')  to  supply 
the  city  of  New  York  with  pure  and  wholesume  water,"  really 
established  an  immense  bank,  with  its  stock  placed  within  the 
reach  of  Burr  and  his  political  friends,  which  defeated  the 
Republican  city  ticket  in  the  spring  of  1799.  He  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  that  ticket,  and  carried  it  down,  where,  for  the  two 
preceding  years,  the  Republicans  had  been  easily  successful. 
Scarcely  a  reasonable  doubt  can  exist  that  had  he  been  a  city 
candidate  in  1800,  the  same  result  would  have  again  followed. 
He  understood  this,  and  wishing  a  seat  in  the  Legislature  to 
look  after  his  interests  there,  procured  himself  to  be  returned 
from  the  county  of  Orange. 

The  moment  the  New  York  Legislature  was  elected,  it  was 
filled  with  prominent  and  influential  Republicans,  who  would 
assist  in  choosing  an  electoral  college  friendly  to  Mr.  Burr  for 
the  Vice-Presidency,  because  he  was  the  regular  nominee  of 
their  party;  but  the  most  prominent  of  these  were  not  cordial 
to  him  personally  or  politically.  Burr  owed  immensely  more  to 
Jefferson's  popularity  in  the  State  of  New  York,  than  Jefferson 
owed  to  Burr's  popularity,  efforts  or  arts.  Had  their  positions 
on  the  ticket  been  reversed,  the  Republican  party  would  have 
been  overwhelmingly  beaten  in  that  State. 

Nay,  a  portion  of  the  Republicans  of  New  York — including 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  and  best  of  them — were,  it  is 
said,  on  the  watch  for  some  treachery  from  Burr  during  the 
electoral  canvass.  It  was  believed  that  he  concerted  with  one 
of  the  New  York  city^electors  to  drop  Jefferson's  name  on  the 
ballot.  This  was  said  to  have  been  frustrated  by  General  Floyd, 
chairman  of  the  Electoral  College.  At  his  .suggestion,  General 
Pierre  Yan  Cortlandt,  one  of  the  electors,  a  man  of  high  dignity 
and  consequence,  sportively  insisted  on  writing  each  of  his 

dictiveness  and  fabrications  against  Jefferson  on  this  and  other  occasions.  In  •'  A  View 
of  the  Political  Conduct  of  Aaron  Burr,  Esq.,"  printed  in  New  York  in  1802,  a  ludicrous 
account  is  given  of  Davis's  pursuing  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Monticello  in  quest  of  an  appoint 
ment  to  a  lucrative  office,  which  the  President  had  already  once  refused  to  give  him. 
After  unsparingly  ridiculing  Davis's  efforts  in  favor  of  Burr  during  the  ballotings  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  the  writer  adds  : 

il  It  may  be  proper  to  apologize  for  having  taken  notice  of  this  miserable  instrument 
of  a  wretched  principal.  But  being  in  the  confidence  of  Mr.  Burr,  and  known  to  circulate 
his  opinions,  it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  develop  the  nature,  and,  in  some  degree,  the 
ixtent  of  the  plot.'' 


ciiAr.  XL]     BURR'S  INTRIGUES — VAN  NESS — HAMMOND.  575 

colleague's  ballots.  The  person  said  to  have  been  Burr's  instru 
ment,  if  he  entertained  the  design  imputed  to  him,  quailed 
under  the  certainty  of  instant  detection. 

After  it  was  ascertained  to  a  moral  certainty  that  if  Penn 
sylvania  elected  Republican  electors,  the  Federal  candidates 
could  not  possibly  be  chosen,  it  was  alleged  that  Burr  and 
Jonathan  Dayton,  a  Federal  leader  in  New  Jersey  (late  Speaker 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  then  a  Senator  in  Con 
gress),  entered  into  an  arrangement  by  which  the  Federal  elec 
tors  of  the  last-named  State,  already  chosen,  were,  instead  of 
tin-owing  away  their  votes  for  Mr.  Adams,  to  vote  for  Burr. 
Phis  would  have  given  the  latter  a  certain  triumph  over  Jeffer 
son.  The  fact  was  specifically  charged  by  Cheerli^m,  in  his 
View  of  the  Political  Conduct  of  Aaron  Burr,  published  in 
1802,  and  he  further  charged  that  this  arrangement  was  pub 
licly  admitted  by  Dayton  after  the  Presidential  election.  Judge 
Hammond  says : 

"  The  celebrated  pamphlet  of  Aristides,  written  by  Judge  William  P.  Van  Ness, 
in  answer  to  Cheetham's  '  View,'  does  not  contradict  this  statement.  The  subse 
quent  intimacy  between  Mr.  Dayton  and  Mr.  Burr,  which  resulted  in  the  ruin  of  the 
former,  goes  still  further  to  confirm  this  statement."  1 

Van  Ness  was  the  confidant,  newspaper  champion,  and  in 
strument  of  Burr,  and  a  keener  and  more  terrible  instrument — 
adding  to  the  sleek  glossiness  and  still  tread,  the  deadly  ferocity 
and  power  of  the  tiger  2 — never  served  a  congenial  principal. 

It  would  be  supposed  that  Dayton  himself  would  have 
been  at  the  pains  to  deny,  or  authorize  the  denial,  of  such  an 

1  Hamm9nd's  Political  History  of  New  York,  vol.  i.  p.  141. 

2  It  was  this  "  dark  and  malignant  spirit,"  as  Judge  Hammond  terms  him,  that  egged 
on  the  fatal  duel,  which  terminated  forever  the  fierce  rivalries  of  Burr  and  Hamilton.    It 
will  be  remembered  that  he  acted  as  the  second  of  the  former,  and  took  some  part  in  the 
correspondence.    Judge  Hammond,  who  knew  Van  Ness  well,  pronounced  him  "  one  of 
the  most  shrewd  and  sagacious  men  which  New  York  ever  produced." 

We  ought,  perhaps,  here  to  remark  that  Judge  Hammond  personally  knew  all  the 
actors  in  these  New  York  scenes  well,  and  had  mixed  intimately  with  them  in  official  and 
other  circles.  He  was  himself  a  conspicuous  man  in  those  circles  for  twenty  or  thirty 
years.  The  great  fault  in  his  History,  is  its  lack  of  shadows.  His  gentle  and  benevolent 
heart  detected  guilt  with  reluctance,  and  dealt  with  it  in  mercy.  Where  he  condemns  a 
man  he  differed  with,  his  attempt  at  impartiality  is  apt  to  lead  him  almost  into  a  defence. 
His  most  frequent  errors  arise  from  the  fear  of  overpraising  his  friends.  We  knew  him 
well.  A  purer  and  honester  man — one  more  anxious  to  do  exact  justice  to  all — we 
believe  never  existed. 

As  a  literary  production,  his  Political  History  of  New  York  cannot  rank  high.  But 
O8  an  impartial  political  History  or  its  times,  it  is  invaluable. 

Judge  Hammond's  manuscript  correspondence  was  submitted  to  our  inspection  after 
his  death.  We  learned  from  it  by  indubitable  evidence,  that  he  possessed  the  persona) 
Confidence  of  many  of  the  ablest  and  best  leaders  of  nearly  every  party  of  his  day. 


576  BUEE'S    INTRIGUES — HAMMOND'S    VIEW.  [CHAP.  XL 

allegation  as  this,  if  untrue.  As  this  arid  similar  charges,  made 
at  about  the  same  period,  destroyed  the  political  character  and 
hopes  of  Burr,  it  would  be  supposed  he  would  have  procured 
Dayton's  authoritative  denial,  could  it  have  been  obtained.  We 
infer  from  Judge  Hammond's  silence,  that  Dayton  made  no  such 
denial. 

It  was  stated  in  Cheetham's  "  View,"  that  after  it  was  known 
there  was  a  tie  between  Jefferson  and  Burr  before  the  Presiden 
tial  election  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  Yan  Ness  wrote 
Edward  Livingston  (one  of  the  New  York  members),  advising 
him  that  it  "  was  the  sense  of  the  Republican  party  of  this  (New 
York)  State,  that  after  some  trials  in  the  House,  Mr.  Jefferson 
should  be  given  up  for  Mr.  Burr."  Judge  Hammond,  after 
mentioning  this  circumstance,  adds  : 

"  This,  by  the  by,  was  notoriously  untrue.  Other  letters  were  written  to  tne 
same  effect.  This  charge  is  made  in  Cheetham's  'View/  etc.,  which  was  answered 
by  Mr.  Van  Ness,  as  I  have  before  stated,  in  the  pamphlet  to  which  he  affixed  the 
signature  of  Aristides.  In  that  pamphlet  he  does  not  deny  that  he  wrote  the  letter, 
and  such  a  letter,  to  Mr.  Livingston.  Can  any  man  doubt  that  that  letter  was 
written  with  the  knowledge  and  approbation  of  Colonel  Burr  ?"  1 

Hammond,  on  a  review  of  the  facts,  makes  no  doubt  what 
ever  that  Burr  sought,  in  advance  of  the  election,  by  all  practi 
cable  secret  means,  to  procure  his  own  election  over  the  head 
of  Jefferson — a  thing  rendered  attainable  by  a  fraud,  owing  to 
the  miserable  method  then  prescribed  by  the  Constitution  for 
voting  for  the  Presidential  and  Vice-Presidential  candidates. 

A  plausible  array  of  circumstances  can  be  shown  on  the 
other  side,  which,  with  the  readily-manufactured  additions  of  Mr. 
Burr's  biographer,  might,  undisputed,  produce  strong  impres 
sions  of  his  innocence.  But  candid  men,  on  full  investigation, 
will  generally,  we  think,  adopt  Hammond's  conclusion.  We 
regard  the  fact,  however,  as  of  the  least  possible  consequence. 
One  more  or  one  less  baseness,  in  a  life  of  infamy,  would  not 
sensibly  lighten  or  darken  a  picture,  the  geneial  coloring  of 
which  is  the  subject  of  no  dispute. 

Recurring  to  Jefferson's  correspondence,  another  passage  in 
his  letter  to  Burr  of  December  15th  is  here  recorded,  for  future 
reference : 

»  Political  History  of  New  York,  vol.  i.  p.  142. 


CHAP,  xi.]  JEFFERSON'S  CORRESPONDENCE.  577 

"  While  I  must  congratulate  you,  my  dear  sir,  on  the  issue  of  this  contest, 
because  it  is  more  honorable,  and  doubtless  more  grateful  to  you  than  any  station 
within  the  competence  of  the  chief  magistrate,  yet  for  myself,  and  for  the  substan 
tial  service  of  the  public,  I  feel  most  sensibly  the  loss  we  sustain  of  your  aid  in  out; 
new  Administration.  It  leaves  a  chasm  in  my  arrangements,  which  cannot  be 
adequately  filled  up.  I  had  endeavored  to  compose  an  Administration  whose  talents, 
integrity,  names,  and  dispositions,  should  at  once  inspire  unbounded  confidence  in 
the  public  mind,  and  insure  a  perfect  harmony  in  the  conduct  of  the  public  busi 
ness.  I  lose  you  from  the  list,  and  am  not  sure  of  all  the  others.  Should  the 
gentlemen  who  possess  the  public  confidence  decline  taking  a  part  in  their  affairs, 
and  force  us  to  take  persons  unknown  to  the  people,  the  evil  genius  of  this  country 
may  realize  his  avowal  that  '  he  will  beat  down  the  Administration.'  " 

He  wrote  to  Judge  Breckenridge,  three  days  later : 

"  Before  you  receive  this,  you  will  have  understood  that  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  (the  only  one  about  which  there  was  uncertainty)  has  given  a  Republican 
vote,  and  saved  us  from  the  consequences  of  the  annihilation  of  Pennsylvania. 
But  we  are  brought  into  dilemma  by  the  probable  equality  of  the  two  Republican 
.andidates.  The  Federalists  in  Congress  mean  to  take  advantage  of  this,  and 
ither  to  prevent  an  election  altogether,  or  reverse  what  has  been  understood  to 
nave  been  the  wishes  of  the  people  as  to  the  President  and  Vice-President;  wishes 
which  the  Constitution  did  not  permit  them  specially  to  designate.  The  latter  alter 
native  still  gives  us  a  Republican  Administration.  The  former,  a  suspension  of  the 
federal  Government,  for  want  of  a  head.  This  opens  to  us  an  abyss  at  which 
every  sincere  patriot  must  shudder.  General  Davie  has  arrived  here  with  the  treaty 
formed  (under  the  name  of  a  convention)  with  France.  It  is  now  before  the  Senate 
for  ratification,  and  will  encounter  objections.  He  believes  firmly  that  a  con 
tinental  peace  in  Europe  will  take  place,  and  that  England  also  may  be  compre 
hended." 

In  a  letter  to  Madison  on  the  19th,  after  stating  that  he  had 
no  doubt  there  would  be  a  tie  between  himself  and  Burr,  he 
added  : 

"  This  has  produced  great  dismay  and  gloom  on  the  Republican  gentlemen  here, 
and  exultation  in  the  Federalists,  who  openly  declare  they  will  prevent  an  election, 
and  will  name  a  President  of  the  Senate,  pro  tern,  by  what  they  say  would  only  be  a 
stretch  of  the  Constitution.  The  prospect  of  preventing  this,  is  as  follows:  Georgia, 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Vermont,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York,  can 
be  counted  on  for  their  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  it  is  thought  by 
some  that  Baer  of  Maryland,  and  Lynn  of  New  Jersey,  will  come  over.  Some 
even  count  on  Morris  of  Vermont.  But  you  must  know  the  uncertainty  of  such  a 
dependence  under  the  operation  of  caucuses  and  other  Federal  engines.  The  month 
of  February,  therefore,  will  present  us  storms  of  a  new  character." 

He  thus  gave  his  opinion  of  the  new  French  Treaty  : 

"  Davie  is  here  with  the  convention,  as  it  is  called;  but  it  is  a  real  treaty,  and 
vithout  limitation  of  time.     It  ha*  some  disagreeable  features,  and  will  endanger 
VOL.    n.  —  37 


578  CORRESPONDENCE — USURPATION.  [CHAP.  XI. 

the   compromising   us   with  Great  Britain.     I   am   not  at   liberty   to    mention  itg 
contents,  but  I  believe  it  will  meet  with  opposition  from  both  sides  of  the  House. 
It  has  been  a  bungling  negotiation." 
i 

He  mentioned  that  Jay  was  yesterday  nominated  Chief 
Justice,  and  that  the  Republicans  had  been  "  afraid  of  some 
thing  worse  ;"  that  it  was  believed  the  judiciary  system  would 
not  be  pushed,  "  as  the  appointments,  if  made  by  the  present 
Administration,  could  not  fall  on  those  who  created  them  ;"  that 
he  very  much  feared  "  the  road  system  would  be  urged  " — that 
"  the  mines  of  Peru  would  not  supply  the  moneys  which  would 
be  wasted  on  this  object;"  arid  he  closed  by  saying:  "I  propose, 
as  soon  as  the  state  of  T!K»  rlfc^i«>n  is  perfectly  ascertained, 
to  aim  at  a  candid  understanding  with  Mr.  Adams.  I  do  not 
expect  that  either  his  feelings  or  his  views  of  interest  will  oppose 
it.  I  hope  to  induce  in  him  dispositions  liberal  and  accommo 
dating." 

He  wrote  to  Madison  again  on  the  26th,  that  the  Federalists 
appeared  determined  to  prevent  an  election,  and  to  pass  a  bill 
giving  the  Government  to  Mr.  Jay,  appointed  Chief  Justice,  or 
to  Marshall,  Secretary  of  State ;  that  the  treaty  would  be 
violently  opposed  by  the  Federalists,  "  the  giving  up  the  vessels 
[being]  the  article  they  cannot  swallow  ;"  that  the  judiciary 
bill  "  was  forwarded  to  commitment,"  and  that  the  writer 
"  dreaded  this  above  all  the  measures  meditated,  because 
appointments  in  the  nature  of  freehold  would  render  it  difficult 
to  undo  what  was  done." 

In  a  letter  to  Tenche  Coxe  of  the  31st,  after  stating  that  "  the 
Federalists,  among  whom  those  of  the  Republican  section  were 
not  the  strongest,"  proposed  to  devolve  the  Government  on  the 
Chief  Justice,  the  Secretary  of  State,  or  the  President  pro  tern- 
pore  of  the  Senate,  "  till  next  December,"  which  would  give 
them  "  another  year's  preponderance  and  the  chances  of  future 

1  This  Convention  provided,  among  other  things,  for  a  mutual  restoration  of  public 
vessels,  and  all  captured  property  not  already  condemned,  but  left  the  indemnities 
claimed  by  both  sides  to  future  negotiation — as  well  as  the  binding  force  of  former 
treaties.  But  in  the  meantime,  those  treaties  were  not  to  be  acted  upon.  Each  gave  to 
the  other  the  privileges  of  the  most  favored  nation  in  regard  to  commerce,  and  ships  of 
war.  All  public  and  private  debts  due.  were  to  be  paid  between  the  two  nations.  The 
French  abolished  those  regulations  which  had  been  most  vexatiously  employed  against 
American  commerce.  The  principle  that  free  ships  should  make  free  goods  was 
restored. 

The  manner  in  which  Jefferson  speaks  of  this  treaty  is  worth  the  study  of  \those  who 
have  been  taught  to  consider  him  as  devoted  to  the  interests  of  France,  as  some  of  his 
opponents  were  to  those  of  England. 


CHAP.  XI.]  PROPOSED    REMEDY SCIENTIFIC   LETTERS.  579 

events,"  he  mentioned  the  counter  plan  then  entertained  by  the 
Republicans  : 

"  The  Republicans  propose  to  press  forward  to  an  election.  If  they  Tail  in  this, 
a  concert  between  the  two  higher  candidates  may  prevent  the  dissolution  of  the 
Government  and  danger  of  anarchy,  by  an  operation  bungling  indeed  and  imper 
fect,  but  better  than  letting  the  Legislature  take  the  nomination  of  the  Executive 
entirely  from  the  people." 

We  are  not  authorized  to  declare  what  the  "  bungling  ope 
ration  "  here  mentioned  was  ;  but  presume  it  is  alluded  to  more 
or  less  accurately  in  the  following  paragraph  in  a  letter  from 
Gunn  to  Hamilton  : 

"  I  have  seen  a  letter  from  Mr.  Madison  to  one  of  the  Virginia  representatives, 
in  which  he  says  that,  in  the  event  of  the  present  House  of  Representatives  not 
choosing  Mr.  Jefferson  President,  that  the  next  House  of  Representatives  will  have 
a  right  to  choose  one  of  the  two  having  the  highest  number  of  votes,  and  that  the 
nature  of  the  case,  aided  with  the  support  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  will 
justify  Jefferson  and  Burr  jointly  to  call  together  the  members  of  the  next  House 
of  Representatives  previous  to  the  3d  of  December  next,  for  the  express  purpose 
of  choosing  a  President."  '  *  *  * 

If  this  was  the  idea  entertained  by  the  Republicans,  it  was 
soon  abandoned. 

On  the  10th  and  12th  of  January,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  letters 
to  two  learned  correspondents,  Dr.  Williamson  and  William 
Dunbar,  discussing  scientific  topics  as  coolly  as  if  no  wild  politi 
cal  storm  was  then  raging  about  him. 

He  wrote  Burr,  February  1st,  advising  him  that  a  letter 
which  had  been  shown  to  the  latter,  purporting  to  be  from  Jef 
ferson  to  Brecken ridge,  was  a  forgery  ;  and  putting  him  on  his 
guard  against  the  efforts  of  the  enemy  to  "  sow  tares  between 
them." 

The  next  day,  he  wrote  Governor  McKean  that  he  hardly 
thought  the  House  would  be  able  to  prevent  an  election,  as 
there  were  in  it  "  six  individuals  of  moderate  character,  any  one 
of  whom  coming  over  to  the  Republican  vote  would  make  a 
ninth  State."  The  force  of  this  remark  will  soon  be  seen. 

On  the  3d  of  February,  he  wrote  the  celebrated  Dr.  Wistar 
a  letter  of  considerable  length  exclusively  devoted  to  the  sub 
ject  of  some  fossil  bones  found  at  Shawangum. 

1  Gunn  to  Hamilton,  January  9th.    Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  609. 


580  IUTLE8    OF   ELECTION    FIXED.  [CHAP.  XI. 

On  the  2d,  a  resolution  passed  the  House  of  Representatives 
that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  report  rules  for  the  election. 
It  reported  through  its  Chairman,  Rutledge,  on  the  6th  :  1.  That 
on  its  appearing  upon  the  counting  of  the  votes  in  the  manner 
prescribed  by  the  Constitution  that  no  candidate  had  received  a 
majority,  that  the  Representatives  return  to  their  chamber. 
2.  That  seats  be  provided  for  the  President  and  members  of  the 
Senate.  3  That  the  House  continue  to  ballot  for  a  President 
without  interruption  by  other  business,  until  it  should  appear 
that  a  President  was  duly  chosen.  4.  That  after  commencing 
the  balloting  for  President,  the  House  should  not  adjourn  until  a 
choice  was  made.  5.  That  the  doors  should  be  closed  during 
the  balloting,  except  against  the  officers  of  the  House.  6.  That 
the  delegations  of  each  State  ballot  among  themselves,  and  then 
deposit  the  vote  of  the  State  for  one  candidate ;  or,  if  there  was 
a  tie  in  the  delegation,  write  on  it  "  divided  "  (there  were  many 
preliminary  and  additional  provisions  to  guard  against  error  or 
fraud.1)  7.  That  if  either  person  voted  for  should  have  a  majo 
rity  of  States,  the  Speaker  should  immediately  declare  the  same, 
and  give  notice  to  the  President.  8.  That  all  questions  which 
should  arise  during  the  balloting  requiring  the  decision  of  the 
House,  should  be  decided  without  debate. 

It  was  moved  (February  9th)  that  the  House  disagree  to  the 
4th  rule  ;  but  it  was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  fifty-three  to  forty- 
seven.  A  motion  to  disagree  with  the  5th  rule  was  defeated, 
fifty-four  to  forty-five.  These  were  substantially  party  votes, 
though  Baer  and  Linn,  Federalists,  voted  against  the  4th.  The 
report  was  then  adopted. 

On  the  llth  of  February,  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  assem 
bled  in  the  Senate  chamber,  and  the  certificates  of  the  electors 
of  sixteen  States  were  by  the  Vice-President  opened  and  de 
livered  to  the  tellers  appointed  for  the  purpose,8  who,  having 

1  See  Annals  of  Congress,  1799-1801,  p.  1005. 

a  It  is  perhaps  almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  statement  made  by  Davis  in  his  Life 
of  Burr  (vol.  ii.  p.  72),  on  the  pretended  authority  of  a  member  of  Congress,  that  Wells, 
one  of  the  tellers  of  the  Senate  on  this  occasion,  informed  this  member  of  Congress  that 
the  Georgia  votes  were  wholly  irregular:  "that  the  return  of  the  votes  was  not,"  as 
required  by  the  Constitution,  "  authenticated  by  the  signatures  of  the  electors,  or  any  of 
them,  either  on  the  outside  or  inside  of  the  envelope,  or  in  any  other  manner ;"  that  the 
tellers  handed  the  paper  to  the  presiding  officer  (Jefferson),  with  only  the  statement  that 
the  return  was  informal,  with  the  expectation  that  he  would  so  declare:  that  Jefferson's 
countenance  changed,  but  that  he  rapidly  declared  the  votes  four  for  Thomas  Jefferson 
and  four  for  Aaron  Burr,  and  then  in  a  hurried  manner  put  them  aside,  and  broke  the 
seals  of  the  package  from  the  next  State — is  throughout,  and  in  every  particular,  one  of 
those  pure  fictions  in  which  this  writer  so  peculiarly  delights.  We  have  not  taken  pains 


JHAP.  XI.] 


THE    ELECTORAL    VOTE. 


581 


ascertained  the  number  of  votes,  presented  a  list  to  the  VTice- 
President  which  was  read  as  follows : 


States. 

Thomas 
Jefferson. 

II 

II 

1  Charles  C. 
I'inckney. 

New  Hampshire,  ..... 
Massachusetts,      ..... 
Rhode  Island,      ..... 
Connecticut,         ..... 
Vermont,             ..... 

12 

12 

6 
16 
4 
9 
4 

6 
16 
3 
9 
4 

1 

New  Jersey,         ..... 
Pennsylvania,      ..... 

8 

8 

7 
7 
8 

7 
7 
3 

— 

Maryland,             ..... 
Virginia,               ..... 

5 
21 
4 

5 
21 
4 

5 

5 

—  . 

North  Carolina,  ..... 
Tennessee.            ..... 
South  Carolina,  ..... 
Georgia,               ..... 

8 
3 
8 
4 

73 

00  CO  00  "t  CO 

4 

65 

4 
64 

1 

to  examine  the  original  Georgia  returns,  because  the  Democratic  Review  (vol.  i.  pp.  236, 
237)  gives  what  purports  to  be  a  verbatim  copy  of  the  paper,  as  preserved  in  the 
archives  of  the  Senate,  having  the  signatures  of  the  electors  on  the  outside  and  inside  of 
the  envelope,  with  the  attestation  of  the  Governor  and  Secretary  of  State,  and  the 
other  requisite  formalities — and  we  have  never  seen  any  of  these  allegations  of  the  Demo 
cratic  Review  challenged  since  their  publication,  some  years  since. 

Our  remarks  in  regard  to  Matthew  L.  Davis  may  sound  unnecessarily  harsh,  because 
he  may  hive  fallen  inadvertently  into  errors,  as  all' historical  writers  are  certainly  liable 
to  do.  But  Mr.  Davis's  mistakes  generally  bear  no  such  impress.  They  generally 
involve  an  infamous  aggressive  charge,  and  the  case  is  rare  when  some  necessarv  link? 
in  the  sustaining  testimony  is  not  supplied  by  Mr.  Davis's  own  individual  testimony. 
And  the  infamy  he  imputes* is  so  often  wholesale  and  purely  gratuitous,  that  the  charac 
ter  of  this  ever  ready  witness  should  be  clearly  understood.  We  will,  in  regard  to  some 
well-known  statements  of  his,  follow  his  example  of  appearing  as  a  personal  witness. 

Davis  states,  in  the  preface  of  his  work,  that  '•  he  alone  had  possessed  the  private  and 
important  papers  of  Colonel  Burr,  and  he  pledged  his  honor  that  every  one  of  them,  so 
far  as  he  knew  and  believed,  that  could  have  injured  the  feelings  of  a  female  or  those  of 
her  friends,  was  destroyed."  He  states  that  ••  a  mass  "  of  old  billets  doux  thus  came  into 
his  hands,  containing  "matter  that  would  have  wounded  the  feelings  of  families  more 
extensively  than  could  be  imagined  " — that  Burr  forbade  their  destruction  during  his  life 
— that  he  (Davis),  as  soon  as  B  irr's  decease  was  known,  burnt  them  with  his  own 
hands,  and  that  he  declares  this  fact  to  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  people  writing  to  him 
anonymously  and  "  un  ler  known  signatures,  expressing  intense  solicitude  for  suppres 
sion,"  etc.  etc.  All  this  flourish,  of  course,  is  intended  to  convey  the  idea  that  Burr's 
intrigues  extended  into  a  great  many  "families"  of  high  respectability,  and  conse 
quently  to  exhibit  the  wonderful  forbearance  of  his  biographer ! 

The  late  lam?nte  J  Hon.  Henry  P.  E  Iwards.  one  of  the  ju1?es  of  the  Oonrt  of  Appeal? 
of  the  State  of  Xew  York,  was  a  blood  relative  of  Burr.  Both  he  and  his  father  con 
tinued  to  visit  the  latter  till  the  close  of  his  life — and  to  be  on  such  terms  of  intimacy 
with  him  as  consanguinity  often  produces  where  there  is  no  congeniality  of  character. 
The  young  Edwards  felt  a  good  deal  of  sympathy  for  the  forlorn  old  man :  and  Burr 
requited  his  attentions  with  avowed  attachment.  Judge  Edwards  informed  the  writer 
of  this  thvt  he  tinllv  su'jjstel  to  his  father  that  perhaps  D  irr  had  letters  from  females 
which  ought  to  be  destroyed,  and  whether  it  was  not  his  /'he  elder  Edwards's)  duty  to 


582  PARTISAN   PREPARATIONS    FOR   A   TIE.  [CHAP.  XI. 

The  apprehended  tie  between  the  two  highest  candidates 
had  occurred,  and  the  Representatives  returned  to  their  cham 
ber  to  perfect  the  election  by  their  vote.  Before  following  them 
there,  we  will  go  back  and  trace  some  of  the  partisan  arrange 
ments  which  had  been  brought  to  bear  on  the  event. 

Hamilton  wrote  Bayard,  a  warm  friend,  and  a  warm  sympa 
thizer  in  his  hostility  to  Adams,1  as  early  as  August  6th,  that 
"  there  seemed  to  be  too  much  probability  that  Jefferson  or 
Burr  wTould  be  President " — that  "  the  latter  was  intriguing 
with  all  his  might  in  N.ew  Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  and  Vermont; 
and  [that]  there  was  a  possibility  of  some  success  in  his  in 
trigues  " — that  "  he  [Burr]  counted  positively  on  the  universal 
support  of  the  anti-Federalists,  and  that  by  some  adventitious 
aid  from  other  quarters,  he  would  overtop  his  friend  Jefferson." 
General  Hamilton  continued  : 

"  Admitting  the  first  point,  the  conclusion  may  be  realized,  and,  if  it  is  so,  Burr 
will  certainly  attempt  to  reform  the  government  d  la  Bonaparte.  He  is  as  unprin 
cipled  and  dangerous  a  man  as  any  country  can  boast — as .  true  a  Catiline  as  ever 
met  in  midnight  conclave."  2 


propose  to  Burr  to  destroy  them.  He  informed  us  that  his  father  did,  soon  after,  make 
this  proposition  to  Burr  in  his  presence.  Burr  at  once  expressed  his  entire  willingness 
that  it  should  be  done  :  but  he  remarked  that  they  were  scattered  through  a  large  mass 
of  other  papers,  and  he  did  not  know  how  to  undertake  the  task.  But,  said  he,  "you 
may  do  it  if  you  choose,  or  you  may  set  Henry  about  it."  As  family  relatives,  the 
Eriwardses  felt  that  it  should  be  done,  and  both  of  them  looked  over  some  of  the  papers. 
The  older  Edwards  soon  abandoned  the  task  to  his  son.  The  latter  examined  a  large 
quantity  of  Burr's  private  correspondence  (enough  to  fully  satisfy  him  of  the  character 
of  the  whole),  selecting  out  and  destroying  such  as  he  saw  fit.  He  informed  us  that  the 
letters  from  females  were  much  fewer  than  he  anticipated,  and  "  not  one  of  them  from  a 
member  of  a  family  he  [Edwards]  had  ever  met  in  society."  Only  now  and  then  one  was 
from  a  person  "  he  had  ever  heard  of" — and  then  if  the  individual  was  half-way  within 
the  pale  of  a  "  certain  sort  of  fashionable  society,"  her  position  was  understood  to  b« 
equivocal.  Judge  Edwards  declared  that  "  Burr's  amours  were  generally  low  " — that 
Davis's  "parade  of  magnanimity  was  all  moonshine,  and  just  like  the  man."  To  the 
question,  why  he  had  never  wiped  such  dirty  imputations  from  New  York  female  society, 
Judge  Edwards  replied  that  he  had  not  supposed  well  informed  persons  credited  them, 
and  that  in  any  event  there  would  have  been  delicacies  in  his  coming  forward  in  such  a 
matter.  In  reply  to  the  question  whether  we  were  at  liberty  to  repeat  his  statements, 
should  we  deem  it  proper  (we,  at  the  time,  mentioned  this  biography),  Judge  Edwards, 
after  a  moment's  pause,  replied  firmly,  "  Yes."  This  conversation  took  place  in  1853, 
when  Judge  Edwards  was  attending  a* term  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  at  Albany,  and  the 
substance  of  it  was  soon  after  reduced  b}r  us  to  writing.  The  same  facts  were  repeated 
or  alluded  to  in  several  other  conversations.  So  far  from  Davis's  having  all  the  papers 
of  Burr,  even  after  the  culling  of  the  Edwardses,  we  could  mention  a  different  destination 
taken  by  a  barrel  of  them ;  and  a  specimen  taken  from  that  barrel  lies  before  us  over 
his  well-known  signature. 

1  Bayard,  in  answering  this  letter,  thus  speaks  of  Adams  : 

"  The  escape  we  have  had  under  his  administration  is  miraculous.  He  is  liable  to 
gusts  of  passion  little  short  of  frenzy,  which  drive  him  beyond  the  control  of  any  rational 
reflection.  I  speak  of  what  I  have  seen.  At  such  moments,  the  interests  of  those  who 
support  him  or  the  interests  of  the  nation,  would  be  outweighed  by  a  single  i  jipulse  of 
rage.  This  is  enough,  but  not  all." — Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  457. 

2  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  453. 


CHAP.  XI.]  ATTITUDE    OF   FEDERAL   LEADERS.  583 

On  the  16th  of  December,  Hamilton  had  given  up  the  elec 
tion  of  the  Federal  candidates,  and  he  wrote  to  Wolcott : 

"  It  is  also  circulated  here,  that,  in  this  event  [a  tie  vote],  the  Federalists  in 
Congress,  or  some  of  them,  talk  of  preferring  Burr  I  trust  New  England,  at  least, 
will  not  so  far  lose  its  head  as  to  fall  into  this  snare.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  upon 
every  virtuous  and  prudent  calculation,  Jefferson  is  to  be  preferred.  He  is  by  far 
not  so  dangerous  a  man  ;  and  he  has  pretensions  to  character.  As  to  Burr,  there  is 
nothing  in  his  favor.  His  private  character  is  not  defended  by  his  most  partial 
friends.  He  is  bankrupt  beyond  redemption,  except  by  the  plunder  of  his  country. 
His  public  principles  have  no  other  spring  or  aim  than  his  own  aggrandizement,  per 
fas  et  nefas.  If  he  can,  he  will  certainly  disturb  our  institutions,  to  secure  to  him 
self  permanent  power,  and  with  it  wealth.  He  is  truly  the  Catiline  of  America. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  .  *  * 

"  Yet  it  may  be  well  enough  to  throw  out  a  lure  for  him,  in  order  to  tempt  him 
to  start  for  the  plate,  and  then  lay  the  foundation  of  dissension  between  the  two 
chiefs.  You  may  communicate  this  letter  to  Marshall  and  Sedgvrick" * 

Learning  from  Wolcott  that  his  own  proposition  to  "  tempt" 
Burr  '*  to  start  for  the  plate,"  was  beina:  acted  on  by  the  Feder 
alists,  and,  what  was  more,  that  they  were  getting  in  earnest, 
Hamilton  declared  that  no  arrangements  with  Burr  would  bind 
him  ;  that  "  every  step  in  his  career  proved  he  had  formed  him 
self  upon  the  model  of  Catiline,  and  he  was  too  cold-blooded 
and  too  determined  a  conspirator  to  change  his  plan  ;"  that 
it  would  be  better  to  make  terms  with  Jefferson.  He  said  : 

"  Far  better  will  it  be  to  obtain  from  Jefferson  assurances  on  some  cardinal 
points. 

"  1st.  The  preservation  of  the  actual  fiscal  system. 

u  2d.  Adherence  to  the  neutral  plan. 

"  3d.  The  preservation  and  gradual  increase  of  the  navy. 

"  4th.  The  continuance  of  our  friends  in  the  offices  they  fill,  except  in  the 
great  departments,  in  which  he  ought  to  be  left  free."  2 

Cabot  had  previously  written  Hamilton  favoring  the  idea  of 
preferring  Burr.3  Otis  took  the  same  ground.4  Sedgvvick,  in  a 
letter  of  December  17th,  took  the  opposite  one.5 

Governeur  Morris  wrote  Hamilton,  December  19th,  and  his 
letter  demands  especial  notice,  as  absolutely  substantiating 
charges  against  the  Federalists  which  some  of  them  afterwards 
denied  when  made  by  the  Republicans ;  ;  nd  also  as  showing 

>  Original  italicization  followed.     (See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  486.) 

»  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  487.  ^  Ib.  p.  490. 

*  Tb.  p.  454.  6  Ib.  p.  491 


584 


MOKEIS    AND   MARSHALL.  [CHAP.  XI. 


how  completely  Jefferson  mistook  Morris's  conduct  and  motives 
in  the  coming  struggle.     Morris  wrote : 

"  It  is  supposed  that  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Burr  will  have  equal  votes,  and 
various  speculations  are  made  and  making  on  that  subject.  At  first  it  was  proposed 
to  prevent  any  election,  and  thereby  throw  the  Government  into  the  hands  of  a 
President  of  the  Senate.  It  even. went  so  far  as  to  cast  about  for  the  person.  This 
appeared  to  me  a  wild  measure,  and  I  endeavored  to  dissuade  those  gentlemen  from 
it,  who  mentioned  it  to  me.  The  object  of  many  is  to  take  Mr.  Burr,  and  I  should 
not  be  surprised  if  that  measure  were  adopted.  Not  meaning  to  enter  into  intrigues, 
I  have  merely  expressed  the  opinion,  that  since  it  was  evidently  the  intention  of  our 
fellow-citizens  to  make  Mr.  Jefferson  their  President,  it  seems  proper  to  fulfill  that 
intention." 

In  a  letter  to  Morris  of  December  27th,  Hamilton,  in  press 
ing  his  usual  viewrs,  made  a  declaration,  the  latter  clause  of 
which  will  perhaps  be  thought  remarkable.  He  said  :  "  If  there 
was  a  man  in  the  world  he  ought  to  hate,  it  was  Jefferson — with 
Burr  he  always  had  been  personally  well."2 

The  Secretary  of  State,  Marshall  (in  answer  to  a  letter  not 
published),  wrote  Hamilton,  January  1st,  that  he  believed  it  cer 
tain  that  Jefferson  and  Burr  would  come  to  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  with  equal  votes;  that  not  being  in  the  House,  and 
not  compelled  by  duty  to  decide  between  them,  he  had  not 
determined  in  his  own  mind  to  which  the  preference  was 
due  ;  that  he  "  could  not  bring  himself  to  aid  Mr.  Jefferson."  8 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  493,  also  Sparks's  Life  of  Morris,  vol.  iii.  p.  131. 

1  Ib.  p.  499. 

8  Ib.  p.  501.  The  relations  existing  between  Jefferson  and  Marshall  have  been  so 
often  alluded  to,  that  perhaps  we  ought,  in  justice,  to  quote  the  words  of  the  letter : 

"To  Mr.  Jefferson,  whose  political  character  is  better  known  than  that  of  Mr.  Burr,  I 
have  almost  insuperable  objections.  His  foreign  prejudices  seems  to  me  totally  to  unfit 
him  for  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  a  nation  which  cannot  indulge  those  prejudices  without 
sustaining  deep  and  permanent  injury.  In  addition  to  this  solid  and  unmovable  objec 
tion,  Mr.  Jefferson  appears  to  me  to  be  a  man  who  will  embody  himself  with  the  House 
of  Representatives.  By  weakening  the  office  of  President,  he  will  increase  his  personal 
power.  He  will  diminish  his  responsibility,  sap  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  govern 
ment,  and  become  the  leader  of  that  party  which  is  about  to  constitute  the  majority  of 
the  legislature.  The  morals  of  the  author  of  the  letter  to  Mazzei  cannot  be  pure. 

"  With  these  impressions  concerning  Mr.  Jefferson,  I  was  in  some  degree  disposed  to 
view  with  less  apprehension  any  other  characters,  and  to  consider  the  alternative  now 
offered  as  a  circumstance  not  to  be  entirely  neglected. 

"  Your  representation  of  Mr.  Burr,  with  whom  I  am  totally  unacquainted,  shows  that 
from  him  still  greater  danger  than  even  from  Mr.  Jefferson  may  be  apprehended.  Such 
a  man  as  you  describe  is  more  to  be  feared,  and  may  do  more  immediate  if  not  greater 
mischief.  Believing  that  you  know  him  well,  and  are  impartial,  my  preference  would 
certainly  not  be  for  him;  but  I  can  take  no  part  in  this  business.  I  cannot  bring  myself 
to  aid  Mr.  Jefferson." 

The  ideas  then  entertained  of  the  tenure  of  Cabinet  officers,  are  somewhat  reflected 
in  the  following  sentences  : 

"  Perhaps  respect  for  myself  should,  in  my  present  situation,  deter  me  from  using 
any  influence  (if  indeed  I  possessed  any)  in  support  of  either  gentleman.  Although  no 
consideration  could  induce  me  to  be  the  Secretary  of  State,  while  there  was  a  President 


CHAP  xi.]       BURR'S  LETTER  TO  SMITH — HOW  REGARDED.  585 

In  answer  to  a  particularly  urgent  appeal  of  the  usual  tonor, 
from  Hamilton  (dated  December  27th),  Bayard  (January  7th) 
mentioned  that  Burr  had  addressed  a  letter  to  General  Smith,  of 
Maryland,  disavowing  any  desire  to  interfere  with  the  intention 
of  his  party  to  make  Mr.  Jefferson  President ;  and  Bayard  made 
a  commentary  on  Burr's  letter,  which  ought  not  to  be  over 
looked  : 

"  It  is  here  [in  Washington]  understood  to  have  proceeded  either  from  a  false 
calculation  as  to  the  result  of  the  electoral  votes,  or  was  intended  as  a  cover  to 
blind  his  own  party.  By  persons  friendly  to  Mr.  Burr,  it  is  distinctly  stated  that 
he  is  willing  to  consider  the  Federalists  as  his  friends,  and  to  accept  the  office  of 
President  as  their  gift.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  Mr.  Burr  would  not  only  gladly 
accept  the  office,  but  will  neglect  no  means  in  his  power  to  secure  it.  Certainly  he 
cannot  succeed  without  the  aid  of  the  Federalists,  and  it  is  even  much  to  be 
doubted  whether  their  concurrence  will  give  him  the  requisite  number  of  States. 
********** 

"  I  assure  you.  sir,  there  appears  to  be  a  strong  inclination  in  a  majority  of  the 
Federal  party  to  support  Mr.  Burr.  The  current  has  already  acquired  considerable 
force  and  [is]  manifestly  increasing.  The  vote  which  the  representation  of  a  State 
enables  me  to  give  would  decide  the  question  in  favor  of  Jefferson.  At  present  I 
am  by  no  means  decided  as  to  the  object  of  preference.  If  the  Federal  party 
should  take  up  Mr.  Burr,  I  ought  certainly  to  be  impressed  with  the  most  undoubt- 
ing  conviction  before  I  separated  myself  from  them.  With  respect  to  the  personal 
qualities  of  the  competitors,  I  should  fear  as  much  from  the  sincerity  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  (if  he  is  sincere)  as  from  the  want  of  probity  in  Mr.  Burr,"  etc.1 

Governeur  Morris  had  written  Hamilton  two  days  earlier, 
and  the  letter  contains  some  characteristic  touches  : 

"  On  the  election  between  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Burr  there  is  much  speculation. 
Some,  indeed  most,  of  our  Eastern  friends  are  warm  in  support  of  the  latter,  and 

whose  political  system  I  believed  to  be  at  variance  with  my  own;  yet  this  cannot  be  so 
well  known  to  others,  and  it  might  be  suspected  that  a  desire  to  be  well  with  the  suc 
cessful  candidate  had,  in  some  degree,  governed  my  conduct." 

Mr.  Marshall,  who  believed  Mr.  Jefferson's  '•  foreign  prejudices  "  "  totally  unfitted  him 
for  the  Chief  Magistracy,"  gave  in  the  same  letter  some  declarations  of  his  own  opinions 
of  a  proper  foreign  policy,  well  worth  deliberate  scrutiny.  We  quote  : 

"  With  you,  I  am  in  favor  of  ratifying  our  treaty  with  France,  though  I  am  far,  very 
far,  from  approving  it.  There  is,  however,  one  principle  which  I  think  it  right  to 
explain. 

"Our Envoys  were  undoubtedly  of  opinion  that  our  prior  treaty  with  Britain  would 
retain  its  stipulated  advantages,  and  I  think  that  opinion  correct.  Was  our  convention 
with  any  other  nation  than  France,  I  should  feel  no  solicitude  on  this  subject.  But 
France,  the  most  encroaching  nation  on  earth,  will  claim  a  liberal  interpretation,  and  our 
people  will  decide  in  her  favor.  Those  who  could  contend  that  a  promise  not  to  permit 
privateers  of  the  enemy  of  France  to  be  fitted  out  in  our  ports,  amounted  to  a  grant  of 
that  privilege  to  France,  would  not  hesitate  to  contend  that  a  stipulation  giving  to 
France,  on  the  subject  of  privateers  and  prizes,  the  privileges  of  the  most  favored  nation, 
placed  her  on  equal  ground  with  any  other  nation  whatever.  In  consequence  of  this 
temper  in  our  country,  I  think  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  ought  to  be  accompanied 
with  a  declaration  of  the  sense  in  which  it  is  agreed  to.  This,  however,  is  only  my  own 
opinion." 

•  See  this  tetter  in  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  505. 


586  FUKTIIEK   FEDERAL    CORRESPONDENCE.  [CHAP.  XI. 

their  pride  is  so  much  up  about  the  charge  of  influence,  that  it  is  dangerous  to 
quote  an  opinion.  I  trust  they  will  change  or  be  disappointed,  for  they  appear  to 
be  moved  by  passion  only.  I  have,  more  at  the  request  of  others  than  from  my 
own  mere  motion,  suggested  certain  considerations  not  quite  unworthy  of  attention  ; 
but  it  is  dangerous  to  be  impartial  in  politics.  You,  who  are  temperate  in  drinking, 
have  never,  perhaps,  noticed  the  awkward  situation  of  a  man  who  continues  sober 
after  the  company  are  drunk.  Adieu,  my  dear  Hamilton.  God  bless  you,  and  send 
you  many  happy  years."  * 

Hamilton  replied  to  Morris,  January  9th  He  said,  it  "  had 
occurred  to  him  that  perhaps  the  Federalists  might  be  disposed 
to  play  the  game  of  preventing  an  election,  and  leaving  the  exe 
cutive  power  in  the  hands  of  a  future  President  of  the  Senate  ;" 
but  he  warned  them  this  could  not  succeed,  because,  though  the 
anti-Federalists,  as  a  body,  preferred  Jefferson,  there  were 
among  them  "  many  who  would  be  better  suited  by  the  dash 
ing,  projecting  spirit  of  Burr,  and  who,  after  doing  what  they 
would  suppose  to  be  saving  appearances,  would  go  over  to  Mr. 
Burr."  He  added:  "Edward  Livingston  had  declared  among  his 
friends,  that  his  first  ballot  would  be  for  Jefferson — his  second 
for  Burr."2 

Rutledge's  "  determination  to  support  Mr.  Burr  had  been 
shaken"  by  a  communication  of  General  Hamilton  to  him  of 
the  4th.  Both  Jefferson  and  Burr  appeared  to  Rutledge  impro 
per  persons  for  the  Presidency,  but  "  the  Federalists  thought 
their  preferring  Burr  would  be  the  least  mischief  they  could  do.' 
"  His  promotion  would  be  prodigiously  afflicting  to  the  Virginia 
faction."  "  Should  Mr.  Jefferson  be  disposed  to  make  (as  he 
would  term  it)  an  improvement  (and  as  we  should  deem  it  a 
subversion)  of  our  Constitution,  the  attempt  would  be  fatal  to  us, 
for  he  would  begin  by  democratizing  the  people,  and  end  with 
throwing  everything  into  their  hands." ' 

On  the  10th  of  January,  Sedgwick  had  veered  round.  It 
was  true  he  said  that  a  majority  of  the  electors  had  intended 
Jefferson  for  President.  But  wherefore?  Among  a  long  list  of 
reasons  given  by  him  in  answer  to  this  question,  were  these : 

"  He  [Jefferson]  was  a  sincere  and  enthusiastic  Democrat  in  principle,  plausible 
in  manners,  crafty  in  conduct,  persevering  in  the  pursuit  of  his  object,  regardless 
of  the  means  by  which  it  is  attained,  and  equally  regardless  of  an  adherence  to 

1  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  504.    Sparks'sLife  and  Corr.  of  Morp's,  vol.  iii.  p.  134 

«  Ib.  p.  508. 

*  Ib.  p.  511.    This  letter  is  dated  January  10th. 


CHAP.  XT.]  HAMILTON'S  CLOSING  APPEAL.  587 

truth,  as  demonstrated  by  his  letter  to  Mazzei,  his  declaration  in  the  Senate  on  his 
first  taking  his  seat  there,"  etc.  "  As  to  the  other  candidate,  there  was  no  disagree 
ment  as  to  his  character.  He  was  ambitious — selfish — profligate.  His  ambition 
was  of  the  worst  kind  ;  it  was  a  mere  love  of  power,  regardless  of  fame,  but  as  its 
instrument  ;  his  selfishness  excluded  all  social  affections,  and  his  profligacy  [was] 
unrestrained  by  any  moral  sentiments,  and  defying  all  decency."  But  "the  Jacobins 
disliked  Mr.  Burr  as  President " — "  they  dreaded  his  appointment  more  than  even 
that  of  General  Pinckney.  On  his  [Burr's]  part  he  hated  them  for  the  preference 
given  to  his  rival.  He  had  expressed  his  displeasure  at  the  publication  of  his  letter 
by  General  Smith." 

The  breach  would  continue  to  widen.  If  elected  by  the 
Federalists,  against  the  opposition  of  the  u  Jacobins,"  the  wounds 
on  both  sides  would  probably  be  "  incurable."  As  for  the  elec 
tion  of  Burr  disgracing  the  country,  he  thought — 

*  *  *  "  It  impossible  to  preserve  the  honor  of  our  country  or  the  principles  of 
our  Constitution  by  a  mode  of  election  which  was  intended   to  secure  to  prominent 
talents  and  virtues  the  first  honors  of  our  country,  and  for  eve?  to  disgrace   the 
barbarous  institutions  by  which   executive  power  is  to  be   transmitted  through  the 
organs  of  generation.     We  had  at  one  election  placed  at  the  head  of  our  Govern 
ment  a  semi-maniac,  and  who,  in  his  soberest  senses,  was  the  greatest  marplot  in 
nature ;  and  at  the  next  a  feeble  and  false  enthusiastic  theorist,  and  a  profligate 
without  character  and  without  property,  bankrupt  in  both."  l 

On  the  16th  of  January,  Hamilton  made  what  may  be 
regarded  as  his  great  and  closing  appeal,  and  it  was  directed  to 
Bayard.3  He  declared  if  the  Federal  party  "  should,  by  sup 
porting  Mr.  Burr  as  President,  adopt  him  for  their  official 
chief,  he  should  be  obliged  to  consider  himself  an  isolated  man" 
— in  other  words  out  of  his  party. 

"  Among  the  letters  which  he  had  received  assigning  the  reasons,  pro  and  con, 
for  preferring  Burr  to  J.,  he  observed  no  small  exaggeration  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
latter."  .  .  "He  admitted  that  his  politics  were  tinctured  with  fanaticism  ;  that 
he  was  too  much  in  earnest  in  his  democracy ;  that  he  had  been  a  mischievous 
enemy  to  the  principal  measures  of  our  past  Administration  ;  that  he  was  crafty 
and  persevering  in  his  objects ;  that  he  was  not  scrupulous  about  the  means  of 
success,  nor  very  mindful  of  truth,  and  that  he  was  a  contemptible  hypocrite." 

But  it  was  not  true  that  he  was  for  "  confounding  all  the 
powers  in  the  House  of  Representatives."  *  He  considered  the 
participation  of  the  Senate  in  the  Executive  authority  as  im- 

1  The  three  flattering  portraits  here  drawn  stand,  of  course,  for  Adams,  Jefferson, 
imd  Burr.  The  italicization  is  by  Sedgwick.  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  511-514. 

*  This  is  published,  antedated  one  year,  in  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  pp.  419-424. 
'  This  was  in  answer  to  Marshall's  charge. 


588  THE  PRESIDENT'S  VIEWS.  [CHAP.  xi. 

proper.  He  was  likely  to  temporize,  and  to  promote  his  own 
reputation  and  advantage  by  letting  alone  systems,  which,  though 
originally  opposed  by  him,  "could  not  now  be  overturned  without 
danger  to  the  person  who  did  it."  He  had  manifested  a  cul 
pable  predilection  for  France — but  it  was  doubtful  whether  this 
was  not  "  as  much  from  her  popularity  among  us  as  from  senti 
ment,"  and  his  zeal  would  cool  as  that  popularity  diminished ; 
"  f-dd  to  this  there  was  110  fair  reason  to  suppose  him  capable  of 
being  corrupted." 

Hamilton  then  analyzed  at  length  with  great  vigor,  all  the 
arguments  advanced  by  the  Federalists  in  favor  of  supporting 
Burr — pronouncing  them  all  unfounded.  The  position,  that  Burr's 
election  by  the  Federalists  would  be  "  a  mortal  stab  "  to  their 
opponents — "  breed  an  invincible  hatred  to  him,  and  compel 
him  to  lean  on  the  Federalists,"  he  pronounced  utterly  "  falla 
cious."  He  said,  that  recent  facts  had  demonstrated  "  that 
Burr  was  solicitous  to  keep  upon  anti-Federal  ground  to  avoid 
compromitting  himself  by  any  engagements  with  the  Federal 
ists  " — "he  trusting  to  their  prejudices  and  hopes  for  support." 

He  asserted  "  that  really  the  force  of  Mr.  Burr's  understand 
ing  was  much  overrated — that  he  was  far  more  cunning  than  wise 
—far  more  dexterous  than  able."  He  added  "  very,  very  confi 
dentially,"  that  in  his  opinion,  Burr  "  was  inferior  in  real  ability 
to  Mr.  Jefferson."  l 

Mr.  Adams  allowed  his  chagrin  to  blind  him  to  the  uncon- 
stitutionality,  if  it  did  not  quite  convince  him  of  the  expediency 
of  one  of  the  most  dangerous  propositions  advanced  by  the 
heated  factionists  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  wrote 
to  Gerry  (February  7th) : 

"  I  know  no  more  danger  of  a  political  convulsion,  if  a  President  pro  tempore, 
or  a  Secretary  of  State,  or  Speaker  of  the  House,  should  be  made  President  by 
Congress,  than  if  Mr.  Jeiferson  or  Mr.  Burr  is  declared  such.  The  President  would 
be  as  legal  in  one  case  as  in  either  of  the  others,  in  my  opinion,  and  the  people  as 
well  satisfied.  This,  however,  must  be  followed  by  another  election,  and  Mr. 
Jefferson  would  be  chosen ;  I  should,  in  that  case,  decline  the  election.  We  shall 
be  tossed,  at  any  rate,  in  the  tempestuous  sea  of  liberty  for  years  to  come,  and 
where  the  bark  can  land  but  in  a  political  convulsion,  I  cannot  see.  I  wish  the  good 
ship  to  her  destined  harbor."  a 

1  This  is  but  a  brief  analysis  of  some  of  the  leading  points  in  this  letter.    The  reader 
will  do  well  to  consult  the  original. 
1  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  98. 


CHAP.  XI.]  CHARGES    AGAINST   JEFFERSON.  589 

Did  Mr.  Adams  really  believe  that  the  people  would  be  "  as 
well  satisfied  " — or  was  this  the  momentary  ebullition  of  dis 
appointment  and  anger?  If  he  did  entertain  this  opinion,  he 
soon  had  occasion  to  be  undeceived. 

One  striking  fact  discloses  itself  throughout  this  correspond 
ence.  Never  were  men  urged  harder  to  assign  a  reason  for  their 
conduct  than  were  the  Federal  supporters  of  Burr,  for  attempt 
ing  to  elevate  a  concededly  unprincipled,  vicious,  dangerous 
man  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  nation,  over  the  candidate 
whom  they  knew  a  large  majority  of  the  people  had  chosen  for 
that  place.  Hamilton  had  encouraged  the  dangerous  game,  if 
he  did  not  actually  set  it  on  foot.  He  subsequently  made  no 
complaint  of  the  moral  fraud,  of  the  outrage  on  popular  rights, 
contemplated  by  his  partisans.  He  placed  the  sole  ground  of 
his  vehement  objections  on  the  base  and  dangerous  personal 
character  of  Burr.  If  those  friends  who  persisted  in  acting  con 
trary  to  his  advice,  and  who  assigned  one  reason  and  another 
for  their  course,  could  have  excused  themselves  by  showing  or 
alleging  that  Jefferson  also  was  a  bad  and  dangerous  man, 
would  they  have  failed  to  make  this  the  prominent  and  warmly 
urged  basis  of  their  justification?  Or  if  they  considered  him 
nearly  as  bad,  or  to  some  decree  resembling  Burr,  would  they 
have  failed  explicitly  to  say  so — as  an  important  makeweight  to 
the  other  considerations  which  influenced  them? 

We  find  one  or  two  of  Hamilton's  correspondents  declaring 
Jefferson  crafty,  regardless  of  truth,  etc.  Marshall  stated  hypo- 
thetically,  that  the  morals  of  the  author  of  the  Mazzei  letter 
could  not  be  pure.  Hamilton,  anxious  to  prove  he  was  influ 
enced  by  an  equal  personal  dislike  of  both  candidates,  finally 
reechoed  some  of  these  charges. 

Very  prominent  and  successful  public  men  are  apt  to  be 
crafty,  unscrupulous,  and  regardless  of  the  truth  in  the  eyes  of 
exasperated  opponents. 

But  Sedgwick,  when  he  launched  the  charge  of  untruthful- 
iiess,  qualified  it  by  saying,  u  as  demonstrated  by  his  letter  to 
Mazzei,  his  declaration  in  the  Senate  on  his  first  taking  his  seat 
there,  etc.,  etc."  Marshall,  a  Virginian,  residing  at  no  very 
great  distance  from  Jefferson,  and  in  a  city  in  which  the  latter 
had  passed  years  since  Marshall  had  come  on  the  stage,  while 
formally  stating  his  particular  objections  to  Jefferson,  and  show 


590  CHARGES    AGAINST   JEFFERSON.  [CHAP.  XI. 

ing  an  inclination  to  question  his  "  morals,"  found  nothing  more 
nor  besides  the  Mazzei  letter  on  which  to  predicate  an  accusation 
in  the  latter  particular.  Some  of  the  writers  avow  no  personal 
objections  whatever  to  Jefferson.  Hamilton's  charges  were  only 
an  echo  to  Sedgwick's,1  made  late  in  the  correspondence,  and 
made  apparently  more  in  self-defence  than  for  any  other  object 
—made  to  show  that  his  personal  animosities  towards  the  candi 
dates  were  equal — made  to  men  who  he  knew  had  not  forgotten 
his  own  "  Catullus  "  articles. 

All  the  accusations  have  a  vague,  casual  and  uncertain  sound. 
They  are  not  thrown  forward  at  the  outset,  or  kept  constantly 
in  view  as  prime  considerations  in  the  case.  They  are  not 
specially  and  pointedly  pressed,  as  if  the  writers  credited  them 
literally.  No  instances  are  hinted  at  but  such  as  would  require 
a  hostile  and  disavowed  construction  to  give  them  their  claimed 
bearing — and  they  were  all  of  that  class  wherein  heated  parti 
sans  impute  insincerity  and  guilt  merely  for  a  difference  of 
opinion.2  Not  one  of  these  writers  makes  an  approach  to  insti 
tuting  a  parallel  between  the  characters  of  Jefferson  and  Burr, 
or  has  the  effrontery  to  bring  them  into  any  degree  of  direct 
comparison. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  this  correspondence  was  between 
men  acquainted,  some  of  them  intimately  acquainted,  with 
Jefferson,  in  public  and  private  life — temporary  residents  of  the 
same  city  (or  rather,  small  village) — frequenters,  to  some  extent, 
of  the  same  circles — members  of  the  same  Congress.  The 
correspondence  was  confidential,  and  between  highly  confi 
dential  friends,  and  therefore  no  considerations  of  personal 
prudence  or  public  decorum  prevented  each  from  saying  all  he 
could,  which  would  tend  to  his  own  vindication — though  it 
amounted  only  to  belief  and  suspicions  against  Jefferson.  But 
on  the  other  hand,  this  was  not  the  class  of  men  who  could 
seriously  utter  privately  to  each  other,  the  coarse  and  vulgar 

1  They  were  made  in  a  letter  to  Bayard  (Jan.  16),  but  evidently  in  reply  to  Sedgwick's 
remarks,  in  his  letter  to  Hamilton  of  January  10th.  Hamilton  knew  his  letters  on  this 
subject  were  read  in  common  by  these  intimate  correspondents — he  had  solicited  it.  He 
knew,  too,  they  doubtless  talked  over  in  common  their  views,  and  what  they  wrote  him. 

3  For  example,  Sedgwick's  and  Marshall's  specifications  already  mentioned — and  we 
believe  they  were  the  only  instances  cited.  To  do  the  writers  justice,  we  consider  them 
mentioned  rather  as  qualifications  than  as  proofs.  They  amounted  to  saying  that  their 
writers  were  not  satisfied  with  Mr.  Jefferson  in  the  particulars  named— but  that  they  did 
not  mean  to  assume  the  moral  responsibility  of  making  the  charges  they  uttered,  except 
on  this  kind  of  evidence. 


CHAP.  XI.]       THE    NEGATIVE    TESTIMONY    THI'Y    ITHXISH.  591 

slanders  which  might  pass  current  in  M>me  other  quarters. 
On  the  whole,  the  circumstances  rendered  the  testimony  of 
these  deadly  foes — what  they  said  and  what  they  omitted  to  say 
— more  than  usually  valuable ;  for  it  is  to  be  presumed  they 
went  as  far  as  they  could  to  justify  their  conduct,  and  main 
tained  their  positions  by  as  strong  facts  and  instances  as  they 
were  able  to  adduce. 

Only  in  respect  to  one  charge  were  Mr.  Jefferson's  foes  earn 
est,  united,  and  evidently  under  serious  apprehensions  in  case  oi 
his  election.  They  all,  like  Ames,  considered  him  a  democrat  "  in 
earnest."  And  it  should  not  be  forgotten,  in  this  connection, 
that  when  Hamilton,  a  few  months  before,  warmly  urged  on 
Governor  Jay  a  measure  to  defeat  Jefferson's  election,  which  he 
manifestly  feared  Jay  might  not  regard  as  "becoming" — when 
he  attempted  to  appal  the  Governor  into  Acquiescence  by  con 
vincing  him  that  the  safety  of  the  whole  social  fabric  would  be 
fearfully  endangered  by  Jefferson's  election — his  worst,  his  con 
centrated,  his  only  charge  against  the  latter  (except  in  religion) 
was  that  he  was  "  a  fanatic." 

Mr.  Jefferson's  public  or  private  character  does  not  depend 
upon  the  judgment  or  the  testimony  of  his  bitter  enemies.  But 
his  bitter  enemies  seem  to  us  to  have  involuntarily  furnished 
what  really  constitutes  decisive  evidence  of  the  invulnerability 
of  his  personal  character,  and  the  deep  sincerity  of  his  prin 
ciples. 

Hamilton's  position  at  this  period  was  particularly  unfortu 
nate.  His  attack  on  Mr.  Adams  had  disgusted  many  persons 
who  before  would  have  followed  him  in  preference  to  the  Presi 
dent.  It  had  roused  the  warm  indignation  of  the  friends  of  the 
latter.  It  had  led  a  large  majority  of  the  Federalists  either  to 
believe  or  painfully  suspect  that  Hamilton's  judgment  and  his 
fidelity  to  his  party  principles  were  not  proof  against  his  per 
sonal  ambition  and  resentments.  His  intolerable  spirit  of  dicta 
tion  had  roused  an  irritation  which  rendered  members  of  Con 
gress  jealous  of  acting  on,  and  still  more  of  appearing  to  act  on, 
his  advice  when  it  ought  to  have  been  followed.  More  than 
once  before  the  struggle  on  the  Presidential  question  was  over, 
his  friends  were  constrained  to  hint  to  Hamilton  that  his  being 
generally  known  to  urge  the  course  he  did  on  the  Federal  mem 
bers,  would  tend  to  defeat  it.  He  had  dragged  down  his  enemy 


592  FEDERALISTS    DECIDE   TO    SUPPORT   BURR.  [CHAP.  XI. 

in  his  own  party,  but  had  fallen  crushed  hopelessly  beneath  him. 
If  the  future  settlement  of  political  questions  had  rested  solely 
with  the  Federalists,  Hamilton  would  have  been- thenceforth  as 
effectually  exiled  from  public  life  as  he  then  was.  He  never 
had  possessed  any  great  strength  among  the  popular  masses  of 
his  party.  It  required  a  bloody  martyrdom  to  restore  him  to 
the  affections  of  a  moiety  of  its  leaders. 

Consequently,  his  urgent  appeals  to  the  Federalists  in  Con 
gress  against  attempting  to  elect  Burr  over  Jefferson,  were  dis 
regarded.  Those  appeals  were  even  openly  attributed  by  some 
of  them  to  personal  hostility  to  Burr,  to  disinclination  to  build 
up  a  powerful  local  rival  in  his  own  party,  and  to  a  wish  not  to 
bring  the  Presidency  into  New  York,  for  fear  it  might  weaken 
his  own  future  chances  for  obtaining  that  office.  Some  of  these 
reasons  are  far-fetched ;  and  we  omit  to  name  others,  which  ap 
pear  to  us  to  be  frivolous. 

A  Federal  caucus  decided  by  a  large  majority  that  the  sup 
port  of  the  party  should  be  given  to  Burr.  Many  upright  men 
no  doubt  convinced  themselves  that  as  a  constitutional  election 
by  the  people  had  failed,  the  next  mode  prescribed  by  law  left 
those  on  whom  the  election  devolved  as  free  to  act  on  their  indi 
vidual  choice,  within  the  conditions  of  the  law,  as  had  been  the 
people  themselves.  But  a  much  larger  majority  of  the  nation 
than  had  originally  elected  Mr.  Adams,  had  indicated  its  choice, 
and  if  that  choice  was  defeated,  it  was  not  in  consequence  of 
Jefferson  lacking,  in  the  essence,  what  the  Constitution  de 
manded  as  the  essential  prerequisite  to  election.  Morally  speak 
ing,  that  free  choice  which  (by  the  theory  under  notice)  de 
volves  upon  the  House  where  no  candidate  obtains  beyond  a 
plurality,  did  not  exist  in  this  case.  And  the  Federalists  were 
not  forced  into  a  dilemma  necessarily  springing  out  of  the  condi 
tions  of  the  law.  It  required  voluntary  and  affirmative  action, 
on  their  part,  to  create  that  dilemma.  The  Congressional  repre 
sentatives  of  the  majority  of  the  people,  and  of  a  plurality  of 
States,  were  prepared  at  once  to  confirm  the  choice  of  their  con 
stituents.  It  demanded  a  complete  concentration  of  the  Federal 
force — not  obtained  without  caucus  machinery,  and  "  whipping 
in  "  their  own  reluctant  members — to  give  enough  States  to 
Burr,  and  produce  a  tie  in  enough  others,  barely  to  prevent  Jef 
ferson  from  being  immediately  chosen.  The  party  emphatically 


CHAP.  XI.]  THEIR    CONDUCT    CONSIDERED.  503 

created  the  wrong  which  they  sought  to  take  advantage  of,  first 
to  elect  a  man  who  had  not  really  received  a  vote  for  the  office, 
and  failing  in  this,  secondly,  to  block  the  wheels  of  the  govern 
ment  until  anarchy  ensued,  or  until  the  fear  of  it  could  be  made 
the  pretext  of  a  usurpation.  We  have  already  had  clear  proof 
that  the  Federalists  in  the  House  of  Representatives  acted  in 
full  view  of  precisely  these  consequences  ;  and  we  shall  have 
further  proof  before  the  subject  is  disposed  of.  We  shall  have 
the  unanswered  testimony  of  some  of  their  own  number,  that  a 
majority  of  the  Federal  members  entered  upon  and  clung  to  the 
last  to  these  dangerous  designs. 

If  men  have  a  right,  as  moral  beings  and  patriots,  to  violate 
the  spirit  of  the  institutions  under  which  they  live — to  subvert 
or  bring  to  an  end  the  constitution  of  their  country — to  invite  a 
resort  to  civil  war,  rather  than  surrender  some  technical  advan 
tage  with  which  the  letter  of  the  law  chances  to  clothe  them,  in 
an  unanticipated  contingency — to  "  rule  or  ruin  " — then  the  con 
duct  of  the  Federalists  was  moral  and  patriotic  on  this  occasion  : 
otherwise  it  was  not.  And  when  we  take  their  own  showing  of 
the  character  of  the  Presidential  candidates,  the  real  ground  of 
their  insuperable  hostility  to  Jefferson,  we  have  a  still  further 
specimen  of  the  political  morals  and  real  political  doctrines  of 
the  ultra-Federal  leaders.  These  were  the  men  who  railed  as 
much  at  the  want  of  integrity,  as  the  wTant  of  knowledge,  in 
popular  constituencies ! 

Justice  requires  us  to  say  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Federal 
Congressional  caucus  did  not  express  the  final  determination  of 
all  of  its  members.  There  were  a  'few  men  in  it  who  were  de 
termined,  after  exhausting  all  practicable  peaceable  efforts  to 
elect  Burr,  to  withdraw  their  opposition,  and  permit  Jefferson's 
election,  sooner  than  risk  the  consequences  of  an  interregnum  or 
usurpation.  We  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  see  who  a  portion 
of  them  were,  and  catch  a  near  glimpse  of  their  special  motives. 

Before  entering  upon  the  details  of  the  great  struggle  in  the 
House,  it  would  not  be  fair  to  Colonel  Burr — or  rather  to  his 
tory — to  withhold  the  sole  but  decisive  evidence  of  a  hitherto 
unpublished  letter,  showing  that  when  it  was  written  Jefferson 
gave  Burr  the  credit  of  having  acted  (what  we  have  seen  denied 
by  Bayard  and  Se.dgwick,  probably  on  better  knowledge)  with 
VOL.  n. — 38 


594:  JEFFERSON    UNSUSPICIOUS    OF   BURR.  [CHAP.  XI. 

sincerity  in  his  letter  to  General  Smith,  and  thus  far  in  his  gene 
ral  conduct. 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  BERMUDA  HUNDRED. 

WASHINGTON,  Jan.  4th,  1801. 

Your  letter,  my  dear  Maria,  of  December  28,  is  just  now  received,  and  shall  be 
immediately  answered,  as  shall  all  others  received  from  yourself  or  Mr.  Eppes.  This 
will  keep  our  accounts  even,  and  show  by  the  comparative  promptness  of  reply, 
which  is  most  anxious  to  hear  from  the  other.  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Eppes,  December 
23d,  but  directed  it  to  Petersburg ;  hereafter  it  shall  be  to  City  Point. 

I  went  yesterday  to  Mount  Vernon,  where  Mrs.  Washington  and  Mrs.  Lewis 
inquired  very  kindly  after  you.1  Mrs.  Lewis  looks  thin  and  thinks  herself  not 
healthy;  but  it  Beems  to  be  more  in  opinion  than  anything  else.  She  has  a  child 
of  very  uncertain  health. 

The  election  is  understood  to  stand  73,  73,  65,  64.  The  Federalists  were  confi 
dent  at  first  they  could  debauch  Col.  B.  from  his  good  faith  by  offering  him  their 
vote  to  be  President,  and  have  seriously  proposed  it  to  him.  His  conduct  has  been 
lonorable  and  decisive,  and  greatly  embarrasses  them.  Time  seems  to  familiarize 
them  more  and  more  to  acquiescence,  and  to  render  it  daily  more  probable  they 
will  yield  to  the  known  will  of  the  people,  and  that  some  one  State  will  join  the 
eight  already  decided  as  to  their  vote.  The  victory  of  the  Republicans  in  New 
Jersey,  lately  obtained  by  carrying  their  whole  congressional  members  on  an  elec 
tion  by  general  ticket,  has  had  weight  on  their  spirits.  Should  I  be  destined  to 
remain  here,  I  shall  count  on  meeting  you  and  Mr.  Eppes  at  Monticello,  the  first 
week  in  April,  where  I  shall  not  have  above  three  weeks  to  stay.  We  shall  then  be 
able  to  consider  how  far  it  will  be  practicable  to  prevent  this  new  destination  from 
shortening  the  time  of  our  being  together,  for  be  assured  that  no  considerations  in 
this  world  would  compensate  to  me  a  separation  from  yourself  and  your  sister.  But 
the  distance  is  so  moderate  that  I  should  hope  a  journey  to  this  place  would  be 
scarcely  more  inconvenient  than  one  to  Monticello.  But  of  this  we  will  talk  when 
we  meet  there,  which  will  be  to  me  a  joyful  moment.  Remember  me  affectionately 
to  Mr.  Eppes,  and  accept  yourself  the  effusion  of  my  tenderest  love.  Adieu,  my 
dearest  Maria 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

When,  on  the  llth  of  February,  the  House  of  Representatives 
returned  from  the  Senate  Chamber  to  their  own,  to  ballot  without 
cessation  until  a  President  was  chosen,  a  snow  storm  of  great 
severity  for  the  climate  of  Washington  was  at  its  height.  Mr. 
Nicholson,  a  Republican  member  from  Maryland,  was  too  un- 

1  It  may  possibly  afford  a  degree  of  satisfaction  to  some  to  be  informed  that  it  is  un 
derstood  by  those  w'ho  suppose  they  ought  to  know,  that  the  widow  of  General  Washing 
ton  never  suffered  her  earlier  friendship  for  Mr.  Jefferson  to  be  impaired  by  the  arts  of 
go-betweens,  or  the  jeremiads  over  Mazzei  letters,  etc.  We  are  in  possession  of  an  anec 
dote  (of  the  truth  of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  had  no  doubt),  which  illustrates  not  only  Mrs. 
Washington's  feelings,  but  her  decision  in  this  matter  ;  but  as  the  narrative  would  be  at 
the  expense  of  another  female  (whose  illiberality  provoked  the  expressions  of  the  former), 
no  object  which  we  could  have  in  view  in  narrating  it,  would  repay  us  for  inflicting  the 
necessary  pain  in  the  necessary  quarter. 


CHAP.   XI.]  THE   BALLOTING    COMMENCED.  595 

well  to  leave  his  bed.  If  he  was  absent,  the  Federal  members 
from  that  State  would  be  in  a  majority,  and  thus  Jefferson  would 
lose  a  State.  He  was  carried  on  his  bed  through  the  driving 
storm,  and  remained  in  one  of  the  committee-rooms  of  the  Capi 
tol,  taking  medicines  from  the  hands  of  his  wife,  who  stood  by 
him  night  and  day  ;  and  the  ballot  boxes  were  carried  to  his 
bedside  and  he  voted  on  every  ballot ! 

On  the  first  ballot,  eight  States  voted  for  Jefferson,  six  for 
Burr,  and  two  were  equally  divided. 

The  following  appears  to  have  been  the  vote  by  members : l 


Jefferson. 

Burr. 

0 

4 

Burr 

Massachusetts 

3 

11 

Burr 

Connecticut 

0 

7 

Burr 

1 

1 

Divided 

Rhode  Island 

0 

2 

Burr 

New  York      . 

6 

4 

Jefferson 

3 

2 

Jefferson 

Pennsylvania 

9 

4 

Jefferson 

0 

1 

Burr 

4 

4 

Divided 

.       14 

5 

Jefferson 

North  Carolina 

6 

4 

Jefferson 

1 

5 

Burr 

la 

0 

Jefferson 

2 

0 

Jefferson 

1 

0 

Jefferson 

61  54 

This  is  understood  to-have  been  a  pure  party  vote,  with  the 
single  exception  of  Mr.  Hnger,  of  South  Carolina,3  who,  although 
a  Federalist,  voted  for  Jefferson. 

1  On  the  12th  of  February,  the  National  Intelligencer  gave  a  list,  which  gave  Jeffer 
son  55  votes,  and  Burr  49.  But  this  was  unquestionably  erroneous  in  several  particulars. 
The  list  above  is  from  the  Philadelphia  Gazette.  It  is  confirmed  by  a  New  York  Federal 

giper.  It  is  probably  correct.  The  Federalists  notoriously  had  the  majority  of  the 
ouse,  counting  by  heads  instead  of  States. 

a  One  member  from  Georgia  dead. 

1  Mr.  Jefferson  carried  that  ideu ;  and  James  A.  Bayard,  in  an  affidavit  made  in  1805 
(which  will  hereafter  be  quoted),  said:  "with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Huger,  of  South 
Carolina,  I  recollect  no  Federal  member  who  did  not  concur  in  the  general  course  of  bal 
loting  for  Mr.  Burr." 

On  the  other  hand,  Hildreth  (History  of  United  States,  second  series,  vol.  ii.  p.  402), 
says  : 

"  The  single  Federal  representative  on  whom,  by  the  death  of  his  colleague,  the  vote 
of  Georgia  had  devolved,  also  Dent,  one  of  the  Federal  representatives  of  Maryland,  had 
decided  to  conform  to  the  wishes  of  their  constituents  by  voting  for  Jefferson.  This  gave 
Georgia  to  the  Republicans,  and  equally  divided  the  vote  of  MarylaTfi.  Yorth  Carolina 


596  THE   BALLOTING — MEMBERS    ILL,    ETC.  [CHAP.  XI. 

It  requiring  a  majority  of  States  to  elect,  Jefferson  lacked 
one  of  the  number.  An  inspection  of  the  preceding  table  will 
show  that  the  change  of  a  single  vote  in  his  favor  in  either 
Yermont,  Delaware  or  Maryland,  would  terminate  the  contest, 
and  that  either  of  six  individuals  could  give  that  vote. 

Seven  continuous  ballots  resulted  like  the  first,  and  then  the 
House  took  a  short  recess.  Randolph  of  Roanoke  forwarded  his 
step-father,  St.  George  Tucker,  daily  bulletins.  These  help  to 
complete  the  picture  of  an  extraordinary  scene  i1 

CHAMBER  OF  THK  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

Wednesday,  February  lltfi,  1801. 

Seven  times  we  have  balloted — eight  States  for  J. — six  for  B. — two,  Maryland 
and  Vermont,  divided.  Voted  to  postpone  for  an  hour  the  process ;  now  half-past 
four— resumed — result  the  same. 

The  order  against  adjourning,  made  with  a  view  to  Mr.  Nicholson,  who  was  ill, 
has  not  operated.  He  left  his  sick  bed.  came  through  a  snow-storm,  brought  his 
bed,  and  has  prevented  the  vote  of  Maryland  from  being  given  to  Burr.  Mail 
closing. 

Yours  with  perfect  love  and  esteem, 

J.  R.  JR. 

During  the  same  recess,  Dana  of  Connecticut  wrote  Wolcott. 
After  stating  the  result  of  the  ballotings,  he  added : 

"  One  sick  man  has  been  brought  to  the  House.  He  lies  in  a  bed  in  one  of  the 
committee-rooms.  The  two  tellers  for  the  particular  ballot  of  the  State  go  and 
receive  his  ballot.  This  person  is  Mr  Nicholson.  Having  been  unwell  several  days 
myself,  I  do  not  go  home  to  dine,  especially  as  there  is  a  snow-storm  of  unusual 
severity  for  this  place.  As  I  have  tried  abstinence  from  food  for  three  days,  I  con 
sider  myself  seasoned  tolerably  to  the  present  singular  situation.  What  is  to  be  the 
result  of  this  extraordinary  election  I  know  not.  Connecticut  will  every  man  stand 

was  also  equally  divided;  but  one  of  the  Federal  members  took  the  same  view  with  the 
above  mentioned  members  from  Maryland  and  Georgia." 

The  single  member  from  Georgia,  Benjamin  Talliaferro,  and  George  Dent,  of  Maryland, 
will  be  found  voting  with  the  Republicans  on  the  great  test  questions  of  the  session,  such 
as  the  Judiciary  Bill  and  the  Sedition  Act.  Jefferson,  in  a  letter  to  N.  R.,  February  19th 
(see  Congress  edition  of  his  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  358),  says:  "The  four  Maryland  Fede 
ralists  put  in  blanks,  so  the  vote  of  the  four  Republicans  became  that  of  their  State." 

The  members  from  North  Carolina  were  Nathaniel  Macon,  Willis  Allston,  Richard 
Stanford,  Richard  D.  Spaight,  Robert  Williams,  David  Stone,  Joseph  Dickson,  Archibald 
Henderson.  William  H.  Hill  and  William  B.  Grove.  The  tirst  six  of  these  will  be  found 
voting  with  the  Republicans  on  the  test  questions  of  the  session. 

We  know  not,  therefore,  on  what  principle  of  classification,  or  on  what  authority, 
Jefferson's  and  Bayard's  statements  are  contradicted.  It  is  possible  some  of  these  men 
were  considered  Federalists  when  they  were  elected.  We  have  not  taken  the  trouble  to 
investigate  that  matter.  It  is  sufficient  that,  they  were  acting  with  the  Republicans,  and 
were  recognized  as  such  by  the  leading  men  of  both  sides  at  the  time,  as  we  have  shown 
was  the  fact. 

We  should  be  very  glad  to  record  that  other  Federalists  distinguished  themselves  in 
the  same  honorable  manner  that  Mr.  Huger  did,  could  we  do  so  consistently  with  the 
truth. 

1  We  find  them  in  Appendix  to  Tucker's  Life  of  Jefferson. 


PHAP.  XI.]        THE   BALLOTING — SUPPOSED    TEMPTATIONS.  597 

to  his  vote.     The  Jeffersonians  can  acquiesce  in  Burr  with  less  reproach  than  the 
Federalists  can  agree  to  Jefferson. 

"  By  to-morrow  morning  probably  there  will  be  some  alteration,  if  the  balloting 
is  thoroughly  persevered  in  during  the  night." 

The  balloting  continued  at  short  intervals  through  the  night. 
The  next  morning  Randolph  wrote  : 

Thursday  morning,  February  IWi. 

We  have  just  taken  the  nineteenth  ballot.  The  result  has  invariably  been  eight 
States  for  J.,  six  for  B.,  two  divided.  We  continue  to  ballot  with  the  interval  of  an 
hour.  The  rule  for  making  the  sittings  permanent  seems  now  to  be  not  so  agree 
able  to  our  Federal  gentlemen.  No  election  will,  in  my  opinion,  take  place.  By 
special  permission,  the  mail  will  remain  open  until  four  o'clock.  I  will  not  close  my 
letter  until  three.  If  there  be  a  change,  I  shall  notify  it ;  if  not,  I  shall  add  no 
more  to  the  assurance  of  my  entire  affection. 

JOHN  RANDOLPH,  JR. 

Mr.  Jefferson  entered,  the  same  day,  in  his  Ana : 

"February  the  12^,  1801. — Edward  Livingston  tells  me  that  Bayard  applied  to 
day  or  last  night  to  General  Samuel  Smith,  and  represented  to  him  the  expediency 
of  his  coming  over  to  the  States  who  vote  for  Burr,  that  there  was  nothing  in  the 
way  of  appointment  which  he  might  not  command,  and  particularly  mentioned  the 
Secretaryship  of  the  Navy.  Smith  asked  him  if  he  was  authorized  to  make  the 
offer.  He  said  he  was  authorized.  Smith  told  this  to  Livingston,  and  to  W.  C. 
Nicholas,  who  confirms  it  to  me.  Bayard,  in  like  manner,  tempted  Livingston,  not 
by  offering  any  particular  office,  but  by  representing  to  him  his,  Livingston's,  inti 
macy  and  connection  with  Burr ;  that  from  him  he  had  everything  to  expect,  if  he 
would  come  over  to  him.  To  Dr.  Linn  of  New  Jersey  they  have  offered  the  govern 
ment  of  New  Jersey.  See  a  paragraph  in  Martin's  Baltimore  paper  of  February  the 
10th,  signed  '  A  LOOKER  ON,'  stating  an  intimacy  of  views  between  Harper  and  Burr." 

Randolph  resumes : 

CHAMBER  OF  THB  HOUSE  OP  REPRESENTATIVES, 

February  14, 1801. 

After  endeavoring  to  make  the  question  before  us  depend  upon  physical  con 
struction,  our  opponents  have  begged  for  a  dispensation  from  their  own  regulation, 
and  without  adjourning,  we  have  postponed  (like  able  casuists)  from  day  to  day,  the 
balloting.  In  half  an  hour  we  shall  recommence  the  operation.  The  result  is 
marked  below. 

We  have  balloted  thirty-one  hours.  Twelve  o'clock,  Saturday  noon,  eight  for 
J.,  six  for  B.,  two  divided.  Again  at  one,  not  yet  decided.  Same  result.  Postponed 
kill  Monday,  twelve  o'clock. 

JOHN  RANDOLPH,  JR. 

The  same  day,  in  answer  to  inquiries  from  Dr.  Barton,  of 
Philadelphia,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  that,  in  case  of  his  election, 
"no  man  [in  office]  who  had  conducted  himself  according  to 


598  THE   BALLOTING LETTERS,    ETC.  [CHAP.  XI. 

his  duties,  would  have  anything  to  fear  from  him,"  and  "  those 
who  had  done  ill  would  have  nothing  to  hope,  be  their  politi 
cal  principles  what  they  might."  But  he  said  the  filling  of 
appointments  would  present  a  different  question.  "  The  Repub- 
licans  had  been  excluded  from  all  offices  from  the  first  origin  of 
the  division  into  Republican  and  Federalist.  They  had  a  reason 
able  claim  to  vacancies  till  they  occupied  their  due  share."  He 
hoped,  however,  "  the  body  of  the  nation,  even  that  part  which 
French  excesses  forced  over  to  the  Federal  side,  would  rejoin 
the  Republicans,  leaving  only  those  who  were  pure  Monarchists, 
and  who  would  be  too  few  to  form  a  sect."  He  spoke  coolly  of 
the  state  of  the  ballot  in  the  House,  and  apprehended  there 
might  be  no  election,  in  which  case  the  Government  would 
expire  on  the  third  of  March,  and  there  would  be  no  authority 
to  reorganize  it,  "  but  in  the  people  themselves."  "They  might 
authorize  a  convention  to  reorganize  and  even  amend  the 
machine."  He  remarked:  "There  are  ten  individuals  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  any  one  of  whom,  changing  his  vote, 
may  save  us  this  troublesome  operation."  1 
He  made  the  following  entry  in  his  Ana : 

"February  the  14th. — General  Armstrong  tells  me  that  Governeur  Morris,  in 
conversation  with  him  to-day  on  the  scene  which  is  passing,  expressed  himself  thus : 
'  How  comes  it,'  says  he,  '  that  Burr,  who  is  four  hundred  miles  off  (at  Albany),  has 
agents  here  at  work  with  great  activity,  while  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  is  on  the  spot, 
does  nothing?'  This  explains  the  ambiguous  conduct  of  himself  and  his  nephew, 
Lewis  Morris,  and  that  they  were  holding  themselves  free  for  a  price :  i.  e.,  some 
office  either  to  the  uncle  or  nephew." 

He  wrote  to  Monroe,  February  loth : 

"  Four  days  of  balloting  have  produced  not  a  single  change  of  a  vote.  Yet  it  is 
confidently  believed  by  most  that  to-morrow  there  is  to  be  a  coalition.  I  know  of 
uo  foundation  for  this  belief.  However,  as  Mr.  Tyler  waits  the  event  of  it,  he  will 
communicate  it  to  you.  If  they  could  have  been  permitted  to  pass  a  law  for  putting 
the  Government  into  the  hands  of  an  officer,  they  would  certainly  have  prevented 
an  election.  But  we  thought  it  best  to  declare  openly  and  firmly,  one  and  all,  that 
the  day  such  an  act  passed,  the  middle  States  would  arm,  and  that  no  such  usurpa 
tion,  even  for  a  single  day,  should  be  submitted  to.  This  first  shook  them ;  and 
they  were  completely  alarmed  at  the  resource  for  which  we  declared,  to  wit,  a  con 
vention  to  reorganize  the  Government,  and  to  amend  it.  The  very  word  conven 
tion  gives  them  the  horrors,  as  in  the  present  democratical  spirit  of  America,  they 
fear  they  should  lose  some  of  the  favorite  morsels  of  the  Constitution.  Many 

1  We  do  not  understand  how  this  could  be.  The  word  ten,  we  think,  must  be  a  typo 
graphical  error  for  six 


CHAP.  XI.]  THE    BALLOTING KNTRIES    IN    ANA.  599 

attempts  have  been  made  to  obtain  terms  and  promises  from  me.  I  have  declared 
to  them,  unequivocally,  that  I  would  not  receive  the  government  on  capitulation, 
that  I  would  not  go  into  it  with  my  hands  tied.  Should  they  yield  the  election,  I 
have  reason  to  expect  in  the  outset  the  greatest  difficulties  as  to  nominations.  The 
late  incumbents  running  away  from  their  offices  and  leaving  them  vacant,  will  pre 
vent  my  filling  them  without  the  previous  advice  of  Senate.  How  this  difficulty  is 
to  be  got  over  I  know  not."  * 

Here   is   a  hitherto  unpublished  family  letter,  of  the  same 
date : 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  BERMUDA  HUNDRED. 

WASHINGTON,  Feb.  1KA,  1801. 

Your  letter,  my  dear  Maria,  of  the  2d  instant,  came  to  hand  on  the  8th.  t 
should  have  answered  it  immediately,  according  to  our  arrangement,  but  that  I 

1  Under  date  of  April  15th,  1806,  there  is  another  entry  in  the  Ana,  where  to  explain 
a  conversation  with  Burr,  and  to  meet  allegations  made  in  the  meantime  (and  presently 
to  be  noticed),  that  he  attained  the  Presidency  by  making  certain  stipulations  with  the 
Federalists,  Mr.  Jefferson  records,  from  memory,  conversations  held  by  himself,  during 
the  election,  with  Mr.  Morris,  President  Adams,  and  Mr.  Foster,  of  Massachusetts.  The 
following  extract  comprises  all  that  pertains  to  those  conversations: 

44  The  following  transactions  took  place  about  the  same  time,  that  is  to  say,  while  the 
Presidential  election  was  in  suspense  in  Congress,  which,  though  I  did  not  enter  at  the 
time,  they  made  such  an  impression  on  my  mind,  that  they  are  now  as  fresh,  as  to  their 
principal  circumstances,  as  if  they  had  happened  yesterday.  Coming  out  of  the  Senate 
Chamber  one  day,  I  found  Goverueur  Morris  oil  the  steps.  He  stopped  me,  and  began 
a  conversation  on  the  strange  and  portentous  state  of  things  then  existing,  and  went  on 
to  observe,  that  the  reasons  why  the  minority  of  States  was  so  opposed  to  my  being 
elected,  were,  that  they  apprehended  that,  1.  I  would  turn  all  Federalists  out  of  office  ; 
2.  put  down  the  navy;  3.  wipe  off  the  public  debt.  That  I  need  only  to  declare,  or 
authorize  my  friends  to  declare,  that  I  would  not  take  these  steps,  and  instantly  the  event 
of  the  election  would  be  fixed.  I  told  him,  that  I  should  leave  the  world  to  judge  of  the 
course  I  meant  to  pursue,  by  that  which  I  had  pursued  hitherto,  believing  it  to  be  my 
duty  to  be  passive  and  silent  during  the  present  scene  ;  that  I  should  certainly  make  no 
terms  ;  should  never  go  into  the  olfice  of  President  by  capitulation,  nor  with  my  hands 
tied  by  any  conditions  which  should  hinder  me  from  pursuing  the  measures  which  I 
should  deem  for  the  public  good.  It  was  understood  that  Governeur  Morris  had  entirely 
the  direction  of  the  vote  of  Lewis  Morris,  of  Vermont,  who,  by  coming  over  to  Matthew 
Lyon,  would  have  added  another  vote,  and  decided  the  election.  About  the  same  time, 
I  called  on  Mr.  Adams.  We  conversed  on  the  state  of  things.  I  observed  to  him,  that  a 
very  dangerous  experiment  was  then  in  contemplation,  to  defeat  the  Presidential  election 
by  an  act  of  Congress  declaring  the  right  of  the  Senate  to  name  a  President  of  tne 
Senate,  to  devolve  on  him  the  Government  during  any  interregnum  :  that  such  a  measure 
would  probably  produce  resistance  by  force,  and  incalculable  consequences,  which  it 
would  be  in  his  power  to  prevent  by  negativing  such  an  act.  He  seemed  to  think  such 
an  act  justifiable,  and  observed,  it  was  in  my  power  to  fix  the  election  by  a  word  in  an 
instant,  by  declaring  I  would  not  turn  out  the  F'ederal  officers,  nor  put  down  the  navy, 
nor  spunge  the  national  debt.  Finding  his  mind  made  up  as  to  the  usurpation  of  the 
Government  by  the  President  of  the  Senate,  I  urged  it  no  further,  observed,  the  world 
must  judge  as  to  myself  of  the  future  by  the  past,  and  turned  the  conversation  to  some 
thing  else.  About  the  same  time,  Dwight  Foster,  of  Massachusetts  [Senator  in  Con 
gress],  called  on  me  in  my  room  one  night,  and  went  into  a  very  long  conversation  on  the 
state  of  affairs,  the  drift  of  which  was  to  let  me  understand,  that  the  fears  above  men 
tioned  were  the  only  obstacle  to  my  election,  to  all  of  which  I  avoided  giving  any 
answer  the  one  way  or  the  other.  From  this  moment  he  became  most  bitterly  and  per 
sonally  opposed  to  me,  and  so  has  ever  continued.  I  do  not  recollect  that  I  ever  had 
any  particular  conversation  with  General  Samuel  Smith  on  this  subject.  Very  possibly  I 
had,  however,  as  the  general  subject  and  all  its  parts  were  the  constant  themes  of  con 
versation  in  the  private  tete  a  tetes  with  our  friends.  But  certain  I  am,  that  neither  he 
nor  any  other  Republican  ever  uttered  the  most  distant  hint  to  me  about  submitting  tc 
any  conditions,  or  giving  any  assurances  to  anybody;  and  still  more  certainly,  was 
neither  he  nor  any  other  person  ever  authorized  by  me  to  say  what  I  wouJd  or  would 
not  do." 


600  THE    STRUGGLE    ENDED.  [CHAP.  XI. 

thought  by  waiting  to  the  llth  I  might  possibly  be  able  to  communicate  something 
on  the  subject  of  the  election.  However,  a'fter  four  days  of  balloting  they  are 
exactly  where  they  were  on  the  first.  There  is  a  strong  expectation  in  some  that 
they  will  coalesce  to-morrow ;  but  I  know  no  foundation  for  it.  Whatever  event 
happens,  I  think  I  shall  be  at  Monticello  earlier  than  I  formerly  mentioned  to  you. 
I  think  it  more  likely  I  may  be  able  to  leave  this  place  by  the  middle  of  March.  I 
hope  I  shall  find  you  at  Monticello.  The  scene  passing  here  makes  me  pant  to  be 
away  from  it ;  to  fly  from  the  circle  of  cabal,  intrigue,  and  hatred,  to  one  where  all 
is  love  and  peace.  Though  I  never  doubted  of  your  affections,  my  dear,  yet  the 
expressions  of  them  in  your  letter  give  me  ineffable  pleasure.  No,  never  imagine 
that  there  can  be  a  difference  with  me  between  yourself  and  your  sister.  You  have 
both  such  dispositions  as  engross  my  whole  love,  and  each  so  entirely  that  there 
can  be  no  greater  degree  of  it  than  each  possesses.  Whatever  absences  I  may  be 
led  into  for  a  while,  I  look  for  happiness  to  the  moment  when  we  can  all  be  settled 
together  no  more  to  separate.  I  feel  no  impulse  from  personal  ambition  to  the 
office  now  proposed  to  me,  but  on  account  of  yourself  and  your  sister  and  those 
dear  to  you.  I  feel  a  sincere  wish  indeed  to  see  our  Government  brought  back  to 
its  republican  principles,  to  see  that  kind  of  government  firmly  fixed  to  which  my 
whole  life  has  been  devoted.  I  hope  we  shall  now  see  it  so  established,  as  that 
when  I  retire  it  may  be  under  full  security,  that  we  are  to  continue  free  and  happy. 
As  soon  as  the  fate  of  the  election  is  over  I  will  drop  a  line  to  Mr.  Eppes.  I  hope 
one  of  you  will  always  write  the  moment  you  receive  a  letter  from  me.  Continue 
to  love  me,  my  dear,  as  you  ever  have  done,  and  ever  have  been  and  will  be  by 
yours  affectionately, 

TE.  JEFFERSON. 

This  is  the  last  expression  we  have  from  him  during  the 
contest.  Here  is  Randolph's  concluding  bulletin  : 

CHAMBER  OP  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

February  \lth. 

On  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  there  appeared  this  day  ten  States  for  Thomas  Jeffer- 
!»on,  four  (New  England)  for  A.  Burr,  and  two  blank  ballots  (Delaware  and  South 
Carolina).  This  was  the  second  time  that  we  balloted  to-day. 

The  four  Burr-ites  of  Maryland  put  blanks  into  the  box  of  that  State.  The  vote 
was  therefore  unanimous.  Mr.  Morris  of  Vermont  left  his  seat,  and  the  result  was 
therefore  Jeffersonian.  Adieu.  Tuesday,  two  o'clock  P.M. 

J.  R.,  JR. 
I  need  not  add  that  Mr.  J.  was  declared  duly  elected. 

Thus  the  great  struggle  ended,  and  Mr.  Jefterson's  version 
and  view  of  the  closing  scenes  are,  immediately  thereafter,  given, 
in  two  letters  to  his  most  confidential  correspondents.  Subse 
quent  events  will  be  found  to  give  these  letters  a  high  signifi 
cance  : 

To  JAMES  MADISON. 

WASHINGTON,  Feb.  18, 1801. 
DEAR  SIR: 

Notwithstanding  the  suspected  infidelity  of  the  post,  I  must  hazard  this  com 
munication.     The  minority  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  after  seeing  the  impoa- 


CHAP  XI.]       CONTEMPORANEOUS  EXPLANATIONS.  601 

sibility  of  electing  Burr,  the  certainty  that  a  legislative  usurpation  would  be 
resisted  by  arms,  and  a  recourse  to  a  convention  to  reorganize  and  amend  the  Gov 
ernment,  held  a  consultation  on  this  dilemma,  whether  it  would  be  better  for  them 
to  come  over  in  a  body,  and  go  with  the  tide  of  the  times,  or  by  a  negative  conduct 
suffer  the  election  to  be  made  by  a  bare  majority,  keeping  their  body  entire  and 
unbroken,  to  act  in  phalanx  on  such  ground  of  opposition  as  circumstances  shall 
oifer ;  and  I  know  their  determination  on  this  question  only  by  their  vote  of  yester 
day.  Morris  of  Vermont  withdrew,  which  made  Lyon's  vote  that  of  his  State.  The 
Maryland  Federalists  put  in  four  blanks,  which  made  the  positive  tickets  of  their 
colleagues  the  vote  of  the  State.  South  Carolina  and  Delaware  put  in  six  blanks. 
So  there  were  ten  States  for  one  candidate,  four  for  another,  and  two  blanks.  We 
consider  this,  therefore,  as  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  this  band.  But  their 
conduct  appears  to  have  brought  over  to  us  the  whole  body  of  Federalists,  who, 
being  alarmed  with  the  danger  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Government,  had  been  made 
most  anxiously  to  wish  the  very  Administration  they  had  opposed,  and  to  view  it, 
when  obtained,  as  a  child  of  their  own. 

****** 


To  N.  R . 

WASHINGTON,  February  19, 1S01. 

After  exactly  a  week's  balloting,  there  at  length  appeared  ten  States  for  me,  four 
for  Burr,  and  two  voted  blanks.  This  was  done  without  a  single  vote  corning  over. 
Morris  of  Vermont  withdrew,  so  that  Lyon's  vote  became  thr.t  of  the  State.  The 
four  Maryland  Federalists  put  in  blanks,  so  then  the  vote  of  the  four  Republicans 
became  that  of  their  State.  Mr.  Huger  of  South  Carolina  (who  had  constantly 
voted  for  me)  withdrew  by  agreement,  his  colleagues  agreeing  in  that  case  to  put  in 
blanks.  Bayard,  the  sole  member  of  Delaware,  voted  blank.  They  had  before 
deliberated  whether  they  would  come  over  in  a  body,  when  they  saw  they  could 
not  force  Burr  on  the  Republicans,  or  keep  their  body  entire  and  unbroken  to  act 
in  phalanx  on  such  ground  of  opposition  as  they  shall  hereafter  be  able  to  conjure 
up.  Their  vote  showed  what  they  had  decided  on,  and  is  considered  as  a  declara 
tion  of  perpetual  war;  but  their  conduct  has  completely  left  them  without  support. 
Our  information  from  all  quarters  is  that  the  whole  body  of  Federalists  concurred 
with  ths  Republicans  in  the  last  elections,  and  with  equal  anxiety.  They  had  been 
made  to  interest  themselves  so  warmly  for  the  very  choice,  which,  while  before  the 
people,  they  opposed,  that  when  obtained  it  came  as  a  thing  of  their  own  wishes, 
and  they  find  themselves  embodied  with  the  Republicans,  and  their  quondam  leaders 
separated  from  them,  and  I  verily  believe  they  will  remain  embodied  with  us,  so 
that  this  conduct  of  the  minority  has  done  in  one  week  what  very  probably  could 
hardly  have  been  effected  by  years  of  mild  and  impartial  administration.  A  letter 
from  Mr.  Eppes  informs  me  that  Maria  is  in  a  situation  which  induces  them  not  to 
risk  a  journey  to  Monticello,  so  we  shall  not  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  them 
here.  I  begin  to  hope  I  may  be  able  to  leave  this  place  by  the  middle  of  March. 
My  tenderest  love  to  my  ever  dear  Martha,  and  kisses  to  the  little  one.  Accept 
yourself  sincere  and  affectionate  salutation.  Adieu.1 

1  The  last  sentences  seem  to  show,  without  a  doubt,  what  we  have  before  suggested, 
that  this  correspondent  (whose  initials  cannot  be  identified  as  belonging  to  any  of 
Mr.  Jefferson's  friends)  was  really  his  son-in-law,  Colonel  Thomas  Mann  Randolph.  Tho 


602  FEDERALISTS    CLAIM   THE    CEEDIT.  [CHAP.  XI. 

It  lias  been  assumed  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  under  deep  obli 
gations  of  gratitude  to  those  Federalists  who  finally  threw  away 
their  votes  and  permitted  his  election.  He  appears  to  have  been 
indebted  to  them  in  the  same  manner  and  degree  that  he  wlio  is 
not  blown  up  by  a  mine  on  which  he  stands,  is  indebted  to  the 
forbearance  of  his  foe  who  could  not  fire  it  without  rendering 
himself  the  first  and  certain  victim. 

Two  weeks  more  would  have  ended  the  constitutional  Gov 
ernment.  In  the  event  of  interregnum  and  anarchy,  what  hopes 
would  there  have  been  for  the  authors  of  the  evil  ?  In  Mary 
land,  where  the  Presidential  vote  had  been  balanced,  the  Re 
publicans  had  carried  the  legislature  elected  since  the  acting 
members  of  Congress.  New  Jersey,  nearly  balanced  in  the  pre 
sent  House,  had  been  triumphantly  swept  by  the  Republicans  in 
the  last  Congressional  elections.  The  popular  majority  in  Penn 
sylvania  was  large.  New  York  had  been  carried  by  the  same 
party.  The  southern  and  western  States  were  overwhelmingly 
Republican. 

Nor  were  election  statistics  any  real  test  of  relative  strength. 
During  that  week  of  dread  suspense,  as  mail  after  mail  spread 
the  intelligence  of  the  scene  going  on  at  the  capital,  the  light 
snow  never  wasted  under  the  sun  of  June  as  wasted  away  the 
Federal  party.  The  people  west  and  south  of  the  Hudson,  with 
almost  united  voice,  declared  the  conduct  of  the  Federal  mem 
bers  of  Congress  a  most  gross,  dangerous  and  wanton  violation 
of  the  spirit  of  our  Constitution  and  system  of  Government. 
Astonishment,  alarm,  and  rage  swept  like  succeeding  waves  over 
the  land.  If  the  effect  was  less  apparent  on  the  compact  Fede 
ral  masses  of  New  England,  there,  too,  it  had  weakened  that 
party  most  seriously  and  created  a  formidable  minority. 

And  the  Republicans  were  fortunately  situated  for  the  crisis 
in  some  incidental  particulars.  The  two  great  central  States 
which  held  the  capital  wedged  between  them — containing  more 
population  than  all  New  England,  and  considerably  upwards  of 
one-fourth  of  the  entire  population  of  the  Union1 — were  not  only 
strongl}7  Republican,  but  they  had  Executives  as  well  adapted  to 
such  an  emergency  as  if  it  had  been  foreseen  and  formed  the 

fictitious  direction  mnst,  we  think,  have  been  given  for  the  reasons  alluded  to  in  the  first 
sentence  of  the  preceding  letter  to  Madison, 
i  See  United  States  Census  of  1800. 


CHAP.  XI.]  THE    ALTERNATIVES    THEY    HAD. 

especial  ground  of  their  selection.  For  intellectual  and  executive 
ability,  combined  with  iron  will  and  that  high  energy  which 
always  takes  the  initiative  where  contest  is  unavoidable,  Gover 
nor  McKean  probably  had  not  his  superior  in  the  United  States. 
Governor  Monroe  was  of  milder  frame,  but  was  as  resolute  a 
man  as  there  was  on  earth  when  his  judgment  bade  him  act. 
He  had  military  experience,  he  had  the  profound  love  and  con 
fidence  of  his  people.  When  either  of  these  Executives  un 
furled  the  banner  of  his  State  against  a  usurpation,  there  would 
be  left  no  minority  in  that  State. 

It  would  be  vain  to  deny  that  both  parties  had  the  arbitra 
tion  of  arms  distinctly  in  contemplation,  as  the  sequel  to  a  usurpa 
tion,  or  tD  settle,  if  necessary,  the  anarchy  of  an  interregnum.  We 
find  Porcupine's  Gazette  abounding  in  extracts  from  Federal 
newspapers  exhorting  their  partisans  to  stand  firm  and  defy  the 
threats  of  the  Republicans,  declaring  that  any  member  of  their 
party  "would  consecrate  his  name  to  infamy"  who  should 
u  meanly  and  inconsistently  lend  his  aid  to  promote"  Jefferson's 
election.  One  Federal  statistician,  after  enumerating  the 
Massachusetts  militia,  declaring  that  Connecticut  and  New 
Hampshire  are  united  almost  to  a  man,  and  that  at  least  half 
the  citizens  of  eleven  other  States  are  "  ranged  under  the  Fede 
ral  banner  in  support  of  the  Constitution,"  wishes  to  know 
u  what  could  Pennsylvania,  aided  by  Virginia,"  do  under  such 
circumstances? 

Cobbet  thus  discoursed  on  this  topic  in  his  paper  on  the  14th 

or  15th  of  February  : 

4 

"  The  alarmists  have  been  systematic  in  the  work.  At  a  meeting  of  them  in 
Philadelphia  some  weeks  since,  it  was  threatened,  nor  has  the  menace  been  recalled, 
that  they  would  march  to  Washington  and  settle  the  election  with  the  bayonet. 
The  same  menaces  were  thrown  out  in  a  toast  and  sung  at  a  Republican  festival  at 
Petersburg  [Virginia],  when  the  Governor  [Monroe]  himself  made  one  of  the  party, 
and  they  have  been  repeated  at  a  number  of  other  meetings  held  pretendedly  to 
celebrate  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  before  he  was  ever  chosen !  but  in  reality 
to  stir  up  mad  spirits  of  the  nation  to  action. 

"  The  Washington  Federalist  [the  Federal  organ  at  the  capital]  has  noticed  those 
repeated  menaces  in  its  last  number,  and  in  exhibiting  the  superior  strength  of  the 
Federalists,  in  an  extremity  which  their  opponents  are  so  ready  in  inviting  (but  in 
which  they  will  take  care  to  leave  their  dupes  only  to  act).  The  Federalists  are 
charged  with  threatening  war ;  and  those  observations  of  an  individual  editor  arc 
termed  a  manifesto  of  the  party  for  war  Bella,  horrida  Bella  I 

''  But  let  them  denominate  the  piece  either  a  manifesto  or  a  declaration  of  waz, 


604  BURR'S  CONDUCT.  [CHAP.  xi. 

they  may  thank  themselves  for  it ;  and  let  the  consequences  be  what  they  may,  the 
guilt  will  lie  at  their  own  doors  as  being  the  aggressors,  and  bringing  forward  the 
lex  talionis  of  the  Federalists." 

We  have  seen  in  Jefferson's  letter  to  Monroe,  February  15th, 
that  the  Republicans  in  Congress  had  "  declared  openly  and 
firmly  one  and  all  "  to  their  opponents  that  the  day  "  an  act  was 
passed  for  putting  the  government  into  the  hands  of  an  officer, 
"  the  middle  States  would  arm,  and  that  no  such  usurpation,  even 
for  a  single  day,  should  be  submitted  to."  He  said  but  for  this, 
"  they  would  have  prevented  an  election."  We  soon  shall  bring 
some  very  authoritative  testimony  from  the  other  side  to  con 
firm  the  last  statement. 

Jefferson  wrote  Governor  McKean,  March  9th,  that  he  would 
have  cheerfully  taken  the  place  of  Vice-President,  had  Burr 
been  elected  ;  u  because,  however,  it  might  have  been  variant 
from  the  intentions  of  the  voters,  yet  it  would  have  been  agree 
able  to  the  Constitution."  "  But,"  he  added,  "  in  the  event  of 
a  usurpation,  he  was  decidedly  of  those  who  were  determined 
not  to  permit  it ;  because  that  precedent  once  set,  would  be  arti 
ficially  reproduced  and  end  soon  in  a  dictator.  Virginia  was 
bristling  up  he  believed.  He  should  know  the  particulars  from 
Governor  Monroe."  If  we  had  the  letter  of  McKean  to  which 
this  is  an  answer,  we  suspect  we  should  find  in  it  some  particu 
lars  of  the  "  bristling  up  "  of  Pennsylvania. 

Burr's  conduct  during  the  long  struggle  in  the  House  was 
characteristic.  His  tools  wrote  wheedling  letters,  and  he 
remained  at  Albany  shrouded  in  mystery.1  When  he  found  the 
•Federalists  were  preparing  to  disregard  his  letter  to  General 
Smith  (and  we  suspect  he  well  knew  why  they  disregarded  it), 
it  was  his  duty  equally  to  his  party,  to  himself,  and  to  his  coun 
try,  to  repair  at  once  to  the  seat  of  Government,  or  take  other 
equally  effectual  means  to  assure  friend  and  foe  that  he  depre 
cated  the  meditated  attempt  to  make  him  President,  and  would 
under  no  circumstances  avail  himself  of  an  election  thus  secured.' 
This  would  have  nipped  the  scheme  in  the  bud. 

He  has  only  the  merit  of  not  having  promised  to  embrace 
Federal  doctrines  in  the  event  of  his  election,  and  of  not  having 

1  Hammond's  Political  History  of  New  York,  vol.  i.  p.  142. 

*  His  immediate  resignation  or  refusal  to  qualify,  in  case  of  an  election,  would  have 
devolved  the  Presidency  on  the  Vice-President,  who  would,  necessarily,  have  been 
Jefferson. 


CHAP,  xi.]  BURR'S  CONDUCT.  605 

directly  interfered,  so  far  as  is  known,  to  induce  Republicans  to 
abandon  the  support  of  Jefferson  and  vote  for  him.  The  first 
merit  could  not  be  a  great  one,  so  long  as  the  Federalists  sup 
ported  him,  to  the  pitch  of  desperation,  without  any  such  pro 
mises.  There  was^but  one  State  (Maryland)  in  which  the 
change  of  a  single  vote  would  secure  him  another  State,  and 
where  anybody  pretended  he  could  obtain  such  vote.  He 
lacked  three  States  of  a  majority.1  There  is  no  real  rea 
son  for  believing  that  his  most  desperate  personal  attempts, 
his  most  profuse  promises,  could  have  secured  him  the  election. 
Others,  at  least,  were  free  enough  to  promise  for  him.  It  would 
have  been  a  very  serious  thing  for  any  Republican  to  have 
changed  his  vote  in  that  terrible  struggle.  Great  would  have 
been  the  reward  sufficient  to  ternpt  even  a  corrupt  man,  unless 
he  had  nerves  of  steel,  to  make  himself  a  by-wrord  of  infamy 
and  be  hissed  and  hooted  at  wherever  he  exhibited  his  dis 
honored  head. 

There  is  no  proof  (even  the  extent  of  their  own  allegations) 
that  Burr  did  not  secretly  try  every  joint  of  the  moral  armor  of 
such  Republicans  as  he  dared  to  approach.  We,  at  least, 
know  that  his  most  confidential  agent  commenced  to  tamper 
with  some  of  them.  Had  the  prospect  of  success  looked  invit 
ing,  all  the  analogies  of  his  corrupt  career  lead  to  the  inference 
he  would  have  followed  it  up.  It  would  be  a  fanciful  hypothe 
sis  that  a  man  ever  found  so  ready  to  perpetrate  baseness  on 
slight  temptation,  would  have  shrunk  from  it  with  so  high  a 
prize  in  view  as  the  Presidency.  If  he  left  others  to  act  for  him, 
we  may  presume  he  considered  that  degree  of  precaution  neces 
sary  for  his  safety.  We  allude  not  to  physical  safety.  But 
without  any  efficient  minority  to  sustain  him — with  a  Senate  to 
reject  the  nominations,  and  a  House  to  treat  with  scorn  the 
recommendations  of  the  detected  briber — with  the  open  con 
tumely  of  a  Congress  and  nation  poured  upon  him  personally 
and  officially,  the  Presidency  would  have  been  too  dear  a  bar 
gain  for  even  Aaron  Burr. 

i  No  one  familiar  -with  the  history  of  men  or  parties  at  the  time,  will  believe  that  Burr 
could  have  procured  the  single  vote  cast  for  Jefferson  in  either  Vermont,  Georgia  or  Ten 
nessee.  Two  members  changing  their  votes  in  New  York,  two  in  New  Jersey,  and  one 
in  Maryland,  would  have  given  him  those  States,  and  it  has  been  assumed  that  he  could 
have  procured  them  by  corrupt  appliances  in  some  cases  and  deceit  in  others;  but  aa 
already  said,  there  is  no  proof  whatever  of  that  fact,  and  all  the  real  probabilities  are 
the  other  way. 


CHAPTEE    XII- 

1801. 

Inside  View  of  Federal  Camp  during  closing  Election  Scenes— Bayard  to  Hamilton- 
Proof  that  the  Federalists  contemplated  desperate  Measures — Jefferson's  Statements  in 
Ana  in  regard  to  Bayard — Clayton's  Interrogatories  to  Smith  and  Livingston  in  the 
Senate  on  the  Subject — Their  Replies  and  Remarks  of  Hayne  and  others — The  fair  Con 
clusion  derivable  from  the  Facts — Burr's  Libel  Suit  against  Cheetham — Bayard's 
Affidavit — The  Wager  Suit  between  Gillespie  and  Smith — Bayard's  and  Smith's  Affi 
davits — Burr's  Agency  in  obtaining  these  while  visiting  and  holding  out  Menaces  to  Jef 
ferson — He  attempts  surreptitiously  to  alter  Smith's  Affidavit — Jefferson's  Comments 
on  Bayard's  Affidavit  in  Ana — General  Smith's  Letter  explanatory  of  his  Affidavit — Its 
valuable  Explanations  in  other  particulars — Later  Disquisitions  and  Madison's  Reply — 
The  real  Attitude  of  Jefferson  and  his  Opponents  towards  each  other  at  the  close  of  the 
Election  in  1801 — Bayard's  later  Letters  and  Speeches  illustrative  of  this — Closing  Acts 
of  Adams's  Administration — French  Treaty  ratified  with  an  Exception — The  Judiciary 
Bill — Wolcott  appointed  one  of  the  Judges — His  and  the  President's  Correspondence — 
Wolcott's  Conduct  characterized — Marshall's  anomalous  Official  Position — Expiration 
of  Sedition  Law — Its  Decease  contemporaneous  with  that  of  the  National  Federal 
Party — How  the  News  of  Jefferson's  Election  was  publicly  Received — His  Feelings 
towards  the  Body  of  the  Federalists — His  Farewell  to  the  Senate  and  its  answering 
Address — His  Reputation  as  a  Presiding  Officer — Inaugural  Ceremonies — His  Inaugural 
Address — Its  Character  as  a  Literary  and  Political  Production — President's  Letter  to 
John  Dickinson — Explanatory  Letter  to  Governor  Monroe — The  Cabinet  Appointments 
— Mr.  Madison — Sketch  of  Colonel  Dearborn — Sketch  of  Mr.  Lincoln — Character  of 
Gallatin — Samuel  and  Robert  Smith — Mr.  Granger — Dawson  dispatched  to  France 
with  Treaty — President's  Letter  to  Thomas  Paine— Permits  him  to  Return  to  United 
States  in  a  Public  Vessel — Comments  of  the  Federal  Press  and  Clergy  thereon— Justice 
of  their  Strictures  considered — Paine's  Visit  to  Monticello — Jefferson  to  Priestley — His 
Letter  to  Robinson— He  was  not  understood  in  New  England,  and  did  not  understand 
the  New  England  Character — Least  of  all  did  he  understand  its  Clergy — Character  of 
the  Virginia  Clergy — Different  Circumstances  of  New  England  Clergy — Religious 
Character  of  New  England  Emigrations — The  Religious  Principle  paramount  in  the 
Social  Organization — The  Government  essentially  Hierocratic — The  Clergy  extended 
their  Supervision  to  all  Moral  Subjects — The  System  towards  the  close  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century— Character  of  the  Clergy  at  that  period— Sources  of  their  Hostility  to  Jeffer 
son — The  Mistake  of  both  sides. 

THE  best  inside  view  of  the  closing  scenes  in  the  Federal 
camp  preceding  the  late  election,  is  derived  from  a  letter  from 
Bayard  to  Hamilton,  which  we  present  entire.  It  is  entitled 

606 


CHAP,  xii.]       BAYARD'S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  ELECTION.  607 

to   calm   and    close   scrutiny   in    its   several   parts,    and    as    a 
whole : 

WASHINGTON,  8th  March,  1801. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  left  Washington  on  the  5th  and  arrived  here  last  evening.  The  letter  which 
you  did  me  the  honor  to  write  the  22d  ultimo,  reached  me  on  the  4th,  when  I  was 
occupied  in  arrangements  for  leaving  the  seat  of  Government. 

I  remained  in  Washington  on  the  4th  through  necessity,  though  not  without 
some  curiosity  to  see  the  inauguration  and  to  hear  the  speech.  The  scene  was  the 
same  as  exhibited  upon  former  occasions,  and  the  speech,  in  political  substance, 
better  than  we  expected ;  and  not  answerable  to  the  expectations  of  the  partisans 
of  the  other  side. 

After  the  inaugural  ceremonies,  most  of  the  Federal  gentlemen  paid  their 
respects  to  the  President  and  the  Vice,  and  were  received  with  very  decent  respect. 
Mr.  Adams  did  not  attend.  He  has  been  sufficiently  humbled  to  be  allowed  to 
be  absent.  Your  views  in  relation  to  the  election  differed  very  little  from  my  own, 
but  I  was  obliged  to  yield  to  a  torrent  which  I  perceived  might  be  diverted,  but 
could  not  be  opposed. 

In  one  case  I  was  willing  to  take  Burr,  but  I  never  considered  it  as  a  case  likely 
to  happen.  If  by  his  conduct  he  had  completely  forfeited  the  confidence  and  friend 
ship  of  his  party,  and  left  himself  no  resort  but  the  support  of  the  Federalists,  there 
are  many  considerations  which  would  have  induced  me  to  prefer  him  to  Jefferson. 
But  I  was  enabled  soon  to  discover  that  he  was  determined  not  to  shackle  himself 
with  Federal  principles ;  and  it  became  evident  that  if  he  got  in  without  being 
absolutely  committed  in  relation  to  his  own  party,  that  he  would  be  disposed  and 
obliged  to  play  the  game  of  McKean  upon  an  improved  plan  and  enlarged  scale. 

In  the  origin  of  the  business  I  had  contrived  to  lay  hold  of  all  the  doubtful 
votes  in  the  House,  which  enabled  me  according  to  views  which  presented  them 
selves,  to  protract  or  terminate  the  controversy. 

This  arrangement  was  easily  made,  from  the  opinion  readily  adopted  from  the 
consideration,  that  representing  a  small  State  without  resources  which  could  supply 
the  means  of  self-protection,  I  should  not  dare  to  proceed  to  any  length  which 
would  jeopardize  the  Constitution  or  the  safety  of  any  State.  When  the  experiment 
was  fully  made,  and  acknowledged  upon  all  hands  to  have  completely  ascertained 
that  Burr  was  resolved  not  to  commit  himself,  and  that  nothing  remained  but  to 
appoint  a  President  by  law,  or  leave  the  Government  without  one,  I  came  out  with 
the  most  explicit  and  determined  declaration  of  voting  for  Jefferson.  You  cannot 
well  imagine  the  clamor  and  vehement  invective  to  which  I  was  subjected  for  some 
days.  We  had  several  caucuses.  All  acknowledged  that  nothing  but  desperate  mea 
sures  remained,  which  several  were  disposed  to  adopt,  and  but  few  were  willing 
openly  to  disapprove.  We  broke  up  each  time  in  confusion  and  discord,  and  the 
manner  of  the  last  ballot  was  arranged  but  a  few  minutes  before  the  ballot  was 
given.  Our  former  harmony,  however,  has  since  been  restored. 

The  public  declarations  of  my  intention  to  vote  for  Jefferson,  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  were  made  without  a  general  consultation,  knowing  that  it  would  be  an 
easier  task  to  close  the  breach  which  I  foresaw,  when  it  was  the  result  of  an  act 
done  without  concurrence,  than  if  it  had  proceeded  from  one  against  a  decision 
of  the  purty.  Had  it  not  been  for  a  single  gentleman  from  Connecticut,  the  eastern 
States  would  finally  have  voted  in  blank,  in  the  same  manner  as  done  by  South 


608  DESPERATE    DESIGNS    PROVEN.  [CHAP.  XII. 

Carolina  and  Delaware ;  but  because  he  refused,  the  rest  of  the  delegation  refused , 
and  because  Connecticut  insisted  on  continuing  the  ballot  for  Burr,  New  Hamp 
shire,  Massachusetts,  and  Rhode  Island,  refused  to  depart  from  their  former  vote. 

The  means  existed  of  electing  Burr ;  but  this  required  his  cooperation.  By 
deceiving  one  man  (a  great  blockhead),  and  tempting  two  (not  incorruptible),  he 
might  have  secured  a  majority  of  the  States.  He  will  never  have  another  chance 
of  being  President  of  the  United  States ;  and  the  little  use  he  has  made  of  the  one 
which  has  occurred,  gives  me  but  an  humble  opinion  of  the  talents  of  an  unprinci 
pled  man.1 

It  will  be  observed  that  Mr.  Bayard  asserts  that  at  the  last 
caucus  of  the  Federalists,  it  was  admitted  that  Burr  could  not  be 
elected — that  nothing  but  "  desperate  measures  "  remained  to 
defeat  Jefferson — that  several  were  disposed  to  adopt,  and  that 
"  few  were  willing  openly  to  disapprove  "  of  them.  Mr.  Bayard, 
some  years  after,  declared  in  an  affidavit  that:  "In  the  morn 
ing  of  the  day  (on  which  the  last  ballot  was  taken)  there  was  a 
general  meeting  of  the  party,  where  it  was  generally  admitted 
that  Mr.  Burr  could  not  be  elected ;  but  some  thought  it  better 
to  persist  in  our  vote,  and  to  go  without  a  President  rather  than 
to  elect  Mr.  Jefferson." 

The  preceding  letter  to  Hamilton  clearly  conveys  the  infer 
ence  that  Bayard  ultimately  acted  against  the  wishes  of  a 
decided  majority  of  his  own  party,  and  that  they  received  his 
determination  with  continued  "  clamor  and  invective." 

His  testimony  concurs  with  Morris's,  in  proving  that  "  des 
perate  measures  "  were  contemplated  to  defeat  Jefferson.  Mor 
ris  declares  what  the  desperate  measure  was.  Adams's  letter  to 
Gerry,  already  quoted,3  leaves  no  doubt  that  he  too  was  informed 
of  its  nature. 

Professor  Tucker,  in  his  Life  of  Jefferson,  says :  "  General 
Lee,  of  Virginia,  it  is  said,  was  earnest  in  advising  this  desper 
ate  measure."  This  specific  statement  has  been  before  the 
public  twenty  years,  and  we  are  not  aware  that  it  has  been 
contradicted.8 

Yet  when  an  imputation  against  the  Federalists  of  such 
designs  appeared  in  Jefferson's  contemporaneous  correspon 
dence,  published  after  his  death,  they  were  fiercely  denied  and 
pronounced,  as  usual,  wicked  fabrications.  Certificate  makers, 

i  For  this  letter,  see  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  522.  The  word  Washington,  in 
the  datex  is  an  obvious  misprint.  a  See  ante,  p.  588. 

>  It  is  possible  that  a  public  contradiction  has  escaped  our  notice. 


CHAP,  xn.]         JEFFERSON'S  CHARGES  QUESTIONED.  609 

and  affidavit  makers,  we  believe,  as  usual,  took  the  field  against 
his  veracity ! l 

"We  have  already  quoted  the  following  passage  from  Mr. 
Jefferson's  Ana  in  its  chronological  order  of  occurrence : 

"February  the  12^,1801. — Edward  Livingston  tells  me,  that  Bayard  applied 
to-day  or  last  night  to  General  Samuel  Smith,  and  represented  to  him  the  expediency 
of  his  coming  over  to  the  States  who  vote  for  Burr,  that  there  was  nothing  in  the 
way  of  appointment  which  he  might  riot  command,  and  particularly  mentioned  the 
secretaryship  of  the  navy.  Smith  asked  him  if  he  was  authorized  to  make  the 
offer.  He  said  he  was  authorized.  Smith  told  this  to  Livingston,  and  to  W.  C. 
Nicholas  who  confirms  it  to  me.  Bayard  in  like  manner  tempted  Livingston,  not  by 
offering  any  particular  office,  but  bv  representing  to  him  his,  Livingston's,  intimacy 
and  connection  with  Burr ;  that  from  him  he  had  everything  to  expect,  if  he  would 
come  over  to  him.  To  Dr.  Linn  of  New  Jersey,  they  have  offered  the  government 
of  New  Jersey.  See  a  paragraph  in  Martin's  Baltimore  paper  of  February  the 
10th,  signed,  'A  LOOKER  ON,'  stating  an  intimacy  of  views  between  Harper  and 
Burr." 

i 

It  appears  from  Gales  and  Beaton's  Register  of  Debates  in 
Congress,  that  on  the  28th  day  of  January,  1830,  in  the  debate 
on  Foote's  resolution,  Mr.  Clayton,  of  Delaware,  asked  Senator 
Benton,  who  was  entitled  to  the  floor,  to  give  way  to  allow  him 
to  call  the  attention  of  two  Senators  to  a  passage  in  a  book 
which  had  been  cited  in  the  debate  by  a  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  (Colonel  Hayne)  ;  and  he  then  read  from  the  fourth 
volume  of  Jefferson's  works,  page  515  (Randolph's  edition),  the 
preceding  extract  to  the  words  "  confirms  it  to  me." 2 

The  report  proceeds  : 

"Mr.  Clayton  then  called  upon  the  Senators  from  Maryland  and  Louisiana, 
referred  to  in  this  passage,  to  disprove  the  statement  here  made. 

1  One  of  the  filial  biographers,  Mr.  Gibbs,  grows  loose  and  violent  in  his  assertions 
towards  the  close  of  his  work.  Did  he  derive  the  following  ideas  from  "  warm-hearted  " 
Wolcott  ? 

"There  is  one  allegation  touching  the  intentions  of  the  Federalists  in  this  election 
[1801],  which  cannot  too  often  be  stamped  with  falsehood.  It  was  that  they  contem 
plated  preventing  any  choice  of  President,  and  by  force  of  their  majority  [majority 
counting  by  heads]  in  Congress  placing  the  office  in  commission.  The  charge  is  sup 
ported  only  by  the  assertions  of  Jefferson,  is  without  corroboration  from  any  source,  and 
nas  been  contradicted  by  the  oaths  of  men  whose  bare  word  was  worth  more  than  his 
most  solemn  adjurations  [!  !]  But  what  shall  be  said  of  the  charges  of  the  anti-Federalists 
against  each  other — the  secrets  of  their  party  which  time  has  disclosed  or  vindictiveness 
invented  ?  What  of  the  duplicity  of  Jefferson,  as  exhibited  in  the  contemporaneous 
letters  to  his  friend  and  rival  ?  What  of  his  alleged  fraudulent  declaration  of  the  vote  of 
Georgia?  What  of  the  intrigues  which  it  is  said  that  Burr  carried  on  with  the  enemy? 
The  sins  of  Federalism  were  at  least  not  those  of  dishonesty ! !" — Gibbs's  Memoirs,  etc., 
vol.  ii.  p.  489. 

a  The  quotation  in  Gales  and  Seaton's  report  breaks  off  here,  but  the  character, 
"etc.,"  is  placed  at  the  end  of  it.  We  should  suppose,  therefore.  Mr.  Clayton  stopped 
reading  at  that  point,  adding  "and  so  forth."  If  this  is  so.  the  omission  of  what  followed 
is  curious. 

VOL.  II. — 39 


610  HIS    CHARGES    QUESTIONED    IN    SENATE.  [CHAP.  XIi. 


r.  Smith  of  Maryland,  rose  and  said,  that  he  had  read  the  paragraph  before 
he  came  here  to-day,  and  was,  therefore,  aware  of  its  import.  He  had  not  the  most 
distant  recollection  that  Mr.  Bayard  had  ever  made  such  a  proposition  to  him.  Mr. 
Bayard  [said  he]  and  myself,  though  politically  opposed,  were  intimate  personal 
friends,  and  he  was  an  honorable  man.  Of  all  men,  Mr.  Bayard  would  have  been  the 
last  to  make  such  a  proposition  to  any  man  ;  and  I  am  confident  that  he  had  too 
much  respect  for  me  to  have  made  it,  under  any  circumstances.  I  never  received 
from  any  man  any  such  proposition. 

"  Mr.  Livingston  of  Louisiana,  said  that,  as  to  the  precise  question  which  had 
been  put  to  him  by  the  Senator  from  Delaware,  he  must  say,  that  having  taxed  his 
recollection,  as  far  as  it  could  be  on  so  remote  a  transaction,  he  had  no  remembrance 
of  it." 

What  followed  was  not  of  much  consequence,  and  we  shall 
glean  but  a  few  passages.  Mr.  Clayton  declared  that  "  it  was 
no  part  of  his  purpose  to  'tarnish  the  fame  of  Mr.  Jefferson." 
Mr.  Benton  replied  with  warmth,  "  denouncing  the  proceeding 
as  an  attack  upon  Mr.  Jefferson."  '  Colonel  Hayne  commented 
on  what  had  transpired  two  days  afterwards.  After  mentioning 
that  "  by  his  political  friends  no  man  was  ever  so  much  admired, 
respected,  and  beloved  "  as  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  "  he  was  feared 
and  hated,  slandered  and  reviled  by  his  enemies,"  he  added  : 

"  In  one  respect,  however,  he  was  certainly  the  most  fortunate  of  men.  Not 
having  outlived  the  gratitude  and  affection  of  his  friends,  he  lived  down  the  hosti 
lity  of  his  enemies.  Time  and  opportunity  convinced  all  parties  that,  in  that  great 
and  good  man  were  found,  in  happy  combination,  all  those  extraordinary  endow 
ments  and  rare  virtues  which  made  him  an  honor  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Sir, 
he  descended  to  the  tomb,  not  only  '  full  of  years  and  full  of  honors,'  but  occupy 
ing  at  the  moment  when  he  closed  his  mortal  career,  the  very  first  place  in  the 
hearts  of  millions  of  freemen. 

Colonel  Hayne  also  spoke  handsomely  of  Mr.  Bayard,  and  he 
offered  a  theory  of  explanation  between  Mr.  Jefferson's  memo 
randum  of  February  12th,  1801,  and  the  statements  of  General 
Smith  and  Mr.  Livingston.  He  said: 

"  For  my  own  part  I  can  have  no  doubt,  when  Mr.  Jefferson  made  the  entry  in 
his  note  book,  on  the  very  day  on  which  the  transaction  took  place,  that  he  actually 
received  the  impression  which  he  states  from  the  conversation  of  one  at  least  of  the 
gentlemen  named  ;  and  yet,  sir,  what  can  be  more  natural  than  to  suppose  that  a 
loose  and  careless  conversation,  reaching  Mr.  Jefferson  through  circuitous  chan 
nels,  may  have  been  entirely  misunderstood?  A  familiar,  a  pleasant  conversation, 
between  Mr.  Bayard  and  his  friend  General  Smith,  on  the  political  prospects  of  the 
latter  gentleman  (then  as  bright  as  those  of  any  man  in  the  country),  repeated  by 

1  These  words  are  quoted  by  Mr.  Clayton.    Mr.  Benton's  remarks  are  not  reported 


CHAP.  XII.]  DEBATE  THEREON.  611 

him  carelessly,  or  probably  in  jest,  may  have  for  a  short  time  made  an  impression 
on  the  minds  of  Mr.  Livingston  and  Wilson  Gary  Nicholas,  which  these  gentlemen, 
or  one  of  them,  assuredly  conveyed  to  Mr.  Jefferson."  1 

Mr.  Clayton  replied,  again  disavowing  that  he  intended  to 
say  aught  against  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  declaring  that  "he  en 
tertained  as  high  an  opinion  of  the  reputation  of  that  great 
statesman  as  others  who  made  much  greater  professions,  and 
would  not  pluck  a  flower  from  the  chaplet  of  his  fame."  But 
"  at  every  hazard,  let  the  consequences  fall  where  they  might," 
he  would  protect  the  memory  of  Mr.  Bayard  from  such  impu 
tations.  Here  the  matter  dropped. 

The  frank  answer  of  General  Smith  to  Mr.  Clayton,  and  his 
well-known  character,  leave  no  doubt  of  his  sincerity  ;  and  we 
hardly  need  to  add  that  he  entertained  none  of  Mr.  Jefferson's, 
on  this  subject — as  we  are  informed  by  his  son,  General  J. 
Spear  Smith,  of  Baltimore. 

When  Mr.  Clayton  put  his  questions  in  the  Senate,  one  of 
Mr.  Jefferson's  alleged  informants  was  dead  ;  and  the  other  said 
that  "as  to  the  precise  question  that  had  been  put  to  him,"  he 
had  "  no  remembrance  of  it."  No  man  used  the  English  lan 
guage  more  accurately  or  significantly  than  Edward  Livingston. 
The  bearing  of  the  word  "  precise  "  in  his  answer  cannot  be 
very  well  mistaken. 

Jefferson's  record  of  the  conversation  was  made  at  the  time. 
He  might,  however,  have  misapprehended  the  "precise  "  tenor 
of  the  propositions  imputed  to  Bayard.  There  was  evidently  a 
mistake  somewhere,  and  we  are  willing  to  believe  that  it  was  an 
unintentional  one  all  round.  Bayard  stands  fairly  acquitted  of 
the  particular  charge,  and  as  no  other  one  was  substituted  by 
those,  if  any,  who  were  qualified  to  make  it,  we  are  bound  to 
leave  him  exonerated  from  all  imputations  in  the  matter. 2 

Some  other  topics  connected  with  the  election  of  1801  have 
been  made  the  subjects  of  later  controversy.  So  far  as  we  enter 

1  This  same  theory,  of  a  playful  conversation  between  Smith  and  Bayard,  was,  we 
think,  hinted  at  by  a  Federal  member  of  the  sixth  Congress,  in  a  statement  made  to 
defend  the  memory  of  Mr.  Bayard  from  the  imputations  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 

3  We  shall  find  Bayard  swearing  that  "it  was  reported"  that  Livingston  was  "the 
confidential  agent "  of  Burr  in  the  election  scene  of  1801 — that  he  [Bayard]  "  took  an 
occasion  to  sound  Livingston  on  the  subject,"  intimating  "  that  having  it  in  his  power  to 
terminate  the  contest,  he  should  do  so,  unless  he  [Livingston]  could  give  him  some 
assurance  "  that  the  Federalists  "might  calculate  upon  the  change  in  the  votes  of  some 
members  of  his  party,"  etc.  etc.  This  shows  that  pretty  free  conversations  took  place 
between  Bayard  and  Livingston  on  the  occasion,  and  it  also  points  to  a  Mnd  of  conver&a 
tions,  which  left  a  wide  door  open  for  misconceptions. 


612  SHAM    SUITS    TO    TAKE   TESTIMONY.  [CHAP.  XIL 

upon  their  examination,  we  will  do  it  now,  while  all  the  main 
facts  are  fresh  in  our  narrative. 

Aaron  Burr  was  scourged  out  of  the  Republican  party  for 
his  conduct  in  the  election  of  1801.  Among  his  most  bitter 
assailants  was  James  Cheetham,  editor  of  the  American  Citizen, 
the  organ  of  the  main  body  of  the  Republicans  in  New  York. 
Burr  commenced  a  prosecution  against  Cheetham  for  a  libel  in 
1804,  and  the  testimony  of  James  A.  Bayard  was  taken  by  com 
mission.  Its  main  tenor  was  a  denial  that  Burr,  so  far  as  the 
knowledge  of  the  witness  went,  took  any  steps  whatever  to 
secure  his  election,  and  an  explanation  of  the  particular  circum 
stances  and  motives  under  which  Mr.  Bayard  and  his  friends 
acted  in  terminating  the  contest.  It  is  too  long  for  insertion 
here,  but  as  a  curious  and  reliable  contribution  to  the  minute 
history  of  that  great  struggle,  we  present  it  entire  in  Appendix.1 

Having  obtained  this  affidavit,  Burr  suffered  the  suit  to 
drop. 

Davis,  in  his  Memoirs  of  Burr,  gives  the  following  explana- 
nations  in  regard  to  this  and  a  later  case  : 

"  In  the  year  1804,  a  suit  was  instituted  by  Colonel  Burr  against  James  Cheet 
ham,  editor  of  the  American  Citizen,  for  a  libel,  in  charging  him  with  intriguing  for 
the  Presidency.  This  suit  was  commenced  by  Mr.  Burr  with  reluctance,  and  only 
to  gratify  personal  friends.  It  progressed  tardily,  impediments  having  been  thrown 
in  the  way  of  bringing  it  to  trial  by  the  defendant,  and  probably  the  cause  not 
sufficiently  pressed  by  the  complainant.  In  1805  or  1806,  some  persons  who 
were  really  desirous  of  ascertaining  not  only  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  charge,  but 
whether  there  was  any  foundation  for  it,  determined  on  having  a  wager-suit  placed 
at  issue  on  the  records  of  the  court,  and  then  take  out  a  commission  to  examine 
witnesses.  Accordingly,  the  names  of  James  Gillespie,  plaintiff,  and  Abraham 
Smith,  defendant,  were  used.  The  latter  at  the  time  being  a  clerk  in  the  store  of 
Mathew  L.  Davis,  then  in  the  mercantile  business,  trading  under  the  firm  of  Strong 

and  Davis. 

#  #  #  ******* 

A  commission  was  accordingly  taken  out,  and,  on  the  3d  of  April.  1806,  Mr. 
Bayard  and  Mr.  Smith  were  examined.  No  use,  however,  was  made  of  these  depo 
sitions  until  December,  1830,  being  a  period  of  nearly  twenty-five  years."8 

One  of  the  interrogatories  propounded  to  both  Bayard  and 
Smith,  was  as  follows  : 

FIFTH  INTERROGATORY. 

Fifth. — Do  you  or  do  you  not  know,  or  have  you  heard  so  that  you  believe,  of 
a  iv  negotiations,  bargains,  or  agreements  in  the  year  1800  or  1801,  after  the  said 

1  Se3  APPENDIX,  No.  19.  a  Vol.  ii.  pp.  100,  101 


CHAP.  XII.]  DEPOSITION    OF   JAMES    A.    BAYARD.  613 

equality  became  known,  and  before  the  choice  of  the  President,  by  or  on  behalf  ot 
any  person,  and  whom,  with  the  parties  called  Federal  or  Republican,  or  with  eithei 
of  them,  or  -with  any  individual  or  individuals,  and  whom,  of  either  of  the  said 
parties,  relative  to  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States?  If  yea,  declare 
the  particulars  thereof,  and  the  reasons  of  such  your  belief. 

"We  give  their  depositions  entire  : 

Deposition  of  the  Honorable  James  A.  Bayard,  a  witness  produced,  sworn,  and 
examined  in  a  cause  depending  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
between  James  Gillespie,  plaintiff,  and  Abram  Smith,  defendant,  on  the  part  of 
the  plaintiff,  follows  : 

To  the  first  interrogatory,  deponent  answers  and  says  :  I  do  not  know  either  the 
plaintiff  or  defendant. 

To  the  second  interrogatory,  he  answers  and  says:  I  was  personally  acquainted 
with  Thomas  Jefferson  before  he  became  President  of  the  United  States,  the  pre 
cise  length  of  time  I  do  not  recollect.  The  acquaintance  did  not  extend  beyond 
the  common  salutation  upon  meeting,  and  accidental  conversation  upon  such 
meetings 

To  the  third  interrogatory,  he  answers  and  says :  I  was  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  during  the  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  Cou- 
gresses,  from  the  3d  of  March,  1797,  to  the  3d  of  May,  1803. 

To  the  fourth  interrogatory,  he  answers  and  says :  The  electoral  votes  for 
Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr,  for  President  of  the  United  States,  were  equal, 
and  that  the  choice  of  one  of  them  as  President  did  devolve  on  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

To  the  fifth  interrogatory,  he  answers  and  says:  I  presume  this  interrogatory 
points  to  an  occurrence  which  took  place  before  the  choice  of  President  was  made, 
and  after  the  balloting  had  continued  for  several  days,  of  which  I  have  often  publicly 
spoken.  My  memory  enables  me  to  state  the  transaction,  in  substance,  correctly, 
but  not  to  be  answerable  for  the  precise  words  which  were  used  upon  the  occasion. 
Messrs.  Baer  and  Craig,  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Maryland/ 
and  General  Morris,  a  member  of  the  House  from  Vermont,  and  myself,  having  the 
power  to  determine  the  votes  of  the  States,  from  similarity  of  views  and  opinions 
during  the  pendency  of  the  election,  made  an  agreement  to  vote  together.  We 
foresaw  that  a  crisis  was  approaching  which  might  probably  force  us  to  separate,  in 
our  votes,  from  the  party  with  whom  we  usually  acted.  We  were  determined  to 
make  a  President,  and  the  period  of  Mr.  Adams's  Administration  was  rapidly 
approaching. 

In  determining  to  recede  from  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  it  occurred  to 
us,  that  probably  instead  of  being  obliged  to  surrender  at  discretion,  we  might 
obtain  terms  of  capitulation.  The  gentlemen  whose  names  I  have  mentioned, 
authorized  me  to  declare  their  concurrence  with  me  upon  the  best  terms  that  could 
be  procured.  The  vote  of  either  of  us  was  sufficient  to  decide  the  choice.  With 
a  view  to  the  end  mentioned,  I  applied  to  Mr.  John  Nicholas,  a  member  of  thn 
House  from  Virginia,  who  was  a  particular  friend  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  I  stated  to  Mr. 
Nicholas,  that  if  certain  points  of  the  future  Administration  could  be  understood 
and  arranged  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  I  was  authorized  to  say  that  three  States  wpuj« 


614  DEPOSITION    OF   JAMES    A.    BAYAKD.  [ciIAP.  XII. 

withdraw  from  an  opposition  to  his  election.  He  asked  me  what  those  points  were. 
I  answered,  first,  sir,  the  support  of  public  credit ;  secondly,  the  maintenance  of  the 
naval  system ;  and,  lastly,  that  subordinate  public  officers  employed  only  in  the 
execution  of  details,  established  by  law,  shall  not  be  removed  from  office  on  the 
ground  of  their  political  character,  nor  without  complaint  against  their  conduct.  I 
explained  myself,  that  I  considered  it  not  only  reasonable,  but  necessary,  that 
offices  of  high  discretion  and  confidence  should  be  filled  by  men  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
choice.  1  exemplified  by  mentioning,  on  the  one  hand,  the  offices  of  the  Secreta 
ries  of  State,  Treasury,  foreign  ministers,  etc.,  and,  on  the  other,  the  collectors  of 
ports,  etc.  Mr.  Nicholas  answered  me,  that  he  considered  the  points  as  very  rea<- 
sonable;  that  he  was  satisfied  that  they  corresponded  with  the  views  and  intentions 
of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  knew  him  well.  That  he  was  acquainted  with  most  of  the 
gentlemen  who  would  probably  be  about  him  and  enjoying  his  confidence,  in  case 
he  became  President,  and  that  if  I  would  be  satisfied  with  his  assurance,  he  could 
solemnly  declare  it  as  his  opinion,  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  administration,  would 
not  depart  from  the  points  I  had  proposed.  I  replied  to  Mr  Nicholas,  that  I  had 
not  the  least  doubt  of  the  sincerity  of  his  declaration,  and  that  his  opinion  was 
perfectly  correct,  but  that  I  wanted  an  engagement,  and  that  if  the  points  could  in 
any  form  be  understood  as  conceded  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  election  should  be  ended, 
and  proposed  to  him  to  consult  Mr.  Jefferson.  This  he  declined,  and  said  he  could 
do  no  more  than  give  me  the  assurance  of  his  own  opinion  as  to  the  sentiments  and 
designs  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  friends.  I  told  him  that  was  not  sufficient,  that 
we  should  not  surrender  without  better  terms.  Upon  this  we  separated,  and  I 
shortly  after  met  with  General  Smith,  to  whom  I  unfolded  myself  in  the  same  man 
ner  that  1  had  done  to  Mr.  Nicholas.  In  explaining  myself  to  him  in  relation  to 
the  nature  of  the  offices  alluded  to,  I  mentioned  the  offices  of  George  Latimer, 
collector  of  the  port  of  Philadelphia,  and  Allen  McLane,  collector  of  Wilmington. 
General  Smith  gave  me  the  same  assurance  as  to  the  observance,  by  Mr.  Jefferson, 
of  the  points  which  I  had  stated,  which  Mr.  Nicholas  had  done.  I  told' him  I  should 
not  be  satisfied,  nor  agree  to  yield,  till  I  had  the  assurance  from  Mr.  Jefferson  him 
self;  but  that  if  he  would  consult  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  bring  the  assurance  from  him, 
the  election  should  be  ended.  The  General  made  no  difficulty  in  consulting  Mr. 
Jefferson,  and  proposed  giving  me  his  answer  next  morning.  The  next  day,  upon 
our  meeting,  General  Smith  informed  me  that  he  had  seen  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  stated 
to  him  the  points  mentioned,  and  was  authorized  by  him  to  say,  that  they  corres 
ponded  with  his  views  and  intentions,  and  that  we  might  confide  in  him  accordingly. 
The  opposition  of  Vermont,  Maryland,  and  Delaware  was  immediately  withdrawn, 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  was  made  President  by  the  votes  of  ten  States. 

To  the  sixth  interrogatory  the  deponent  answers  and  says :  I  was  introduced  to 
Mr.  Burr  the  day  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  inauguration  as  President  I  had  no  acquaint 
ance  with  him  before,  and  very  little  afterwards,  till  the  last  winter  of  his  Vice-Pre- 
aidency,  when  I  became  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

To  the  seventh  interrogatory  deponent  answers  and  says :  I  do  not  know,  nor 
did  I  ever  believe,  from  any  information  I  received,  that  Mr.  Burr  entered  into  any 
negotiation  or  agreement  with  any  member  of  either  party,  in  relation  to  the  Presi 
dential  election,  which  depended  before  the  House  of  Representatives. 

To  the  eighth  interrogatory  the  deponent  answers  and  says:  Upon  the  subject 
of  this  interrogatory  I  can  express  only  a  loose  opinion,  founded  upon  the  conjec 
tures,  at  the  time,  of  what  could  be  effected  by  Mr.  Burr  by  mortgaging  the  patron- 
ape  of  the  Executive.  I  can  only  say,  generally,  that  I  did  believe  at  the  time  thai 


CHAP.  XII.]  DEPOSITION    OF    GENERAL    SMITH.  615 

he  had  the  means  of  making  himself  President.  But  this  opinion  has  no  other 
ground  than  conjecture,  derived  from  a  knowledge  of  means  which  existed,  and,  if 
applied,  their  probable  operation  on  individual  characters.  In  answer  to  the  last 
part  of  the  interrogatory,  deponent  says:  I  know  of  nothing  of  which  Mr.  Burr  was 

ipprised  which  related  to  the  election. 

J.  A.  BAYARD. 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA,  WASHINGTON. 

The  deposition  of  the  Honorable  James  A.  Bayard,  consisting  of  six  pages,  was 
taken  and  sworn  to  before  us  this  3d  day  of  April,  A.D.  1806. 

STEPHEN  R.  BRADLEY. 
GEORGE  LOGAN. 


DEPOSITION  OF  SAMUEL  SMITH. 

Deposition  of  the  Honorable  Samuel  Smith,  Senator  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
State  of  Maryland,  a  witness  produced,  sworn,  and  examined  in  a  cause  depending 
in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York,  between  James  Gillexpie,  plain 
tiff,  and  Abram  Smith,  defendant,  on  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  defendant,  as 
follows : 

1st.  I  knew  Thomas  Jefferson  some  years  previous  to  1800.  The  precise  time 
when  our  acquaintance  commenced  I  do  not  recollect. 

2d  and  3d.  I  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
in  1800  and  1801,  and  know  that  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr  had  an  equal 
number  of  the  votes  given  by  the  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States. 

4th.  Presuming  that  this  question  may  have  reference  to  conversations  (for  T 
know  of  no  bargains  or  agreements)  which  took  place  at  the  time  of  the  balloting, 
I  will  relate  those  which  I  well  recollect  to  have  had  with  three  gentlemen,  sepa 
rately,  of  the  Federal  party.  On  the  Wednesday  preceding  the  termination  of  tho 
election,  Colonel  Josiah  Parker  asked  a  conversation  with  me  in  private  He  said 
that  many  gentlemen  were  desirous  of  putting  an  end  to  the  election ;  that  they 
only  wanted  to  know  what  would  be  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  case  he  should 
be  elected  President,  particularly  as  it  related  to  the  public  debt,  to  commerce,  and 
navy.  I  had  heard  Mr.  Jefferson  converse  on  all  those  subjects  lately,  and  informed 
him  what  I  understood  were  the  opinions  of  that  gentleman.  I  lived  in  the  house 
with  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  that  I  might  be  certain  that  what  I  had  said  was  correct,  I 
sought  and  had  a  conversation  that  evening  with  him  on  those  points ;  and  I  pre 
sume,  though  I  do  not  precisely  recollect,  that  I  communicated  to  him  the  conver 
sation  which  I  had  had  with  Colonel  Parker. 

The  next  day,  General  Dayton  (a  Senator),  after  some  jesting  conversation, 
asked  me  to  converse  with  him  in  private.  We  retired.  He  said  that  he,  with  some 
other  gentlemen,  wished  to  have  a  termination  put  to  the  pending  election  ;  but  he 
wished  to  know  what  were  the  opinions  or  conversations  of  Mr.  Jefferson  respecting 
the  navy,  commerce,  and  public  debt.  In  answer,  I  said  that  I  had  last  night  had 
conversation  with  Mr.  Jefferson  on  all  those  subjects.  That  he  had  told  me  that 
uny  opinion  he  should  give  at  this  time  might  be  attributed  to  improper  motives. 
That  to  me  he  had  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  as  to  the  public  debt,  he  had  been 


616  DEPOSITION    OF    GENERAL    SMITH.  [dlAP.  XII. 

averse  to  the  manner  of  funding  it,  but  that  he  did  not  believe  there  was  any  man 
who  respected  his  own  character,  who  would  or  could  think  of  injuring  its  credit  at 
this  time.  That,  on  commerce,  he  thought  that  a  correct  idea  of  his  opinions  on  that 
subject  might  be  derived  from  his  writings,  and  particularly  from  his  conduct  while 
he  was  Minister  at  Paris,  when  he  thought  he  had  evinced  his  attention  to  the  com 
mercial  interests  of  his  country.  That  he  had  not  changed  opinion,  and  still  did 
consider  the  prosperity  of  our  commerce  as  essential  to  the  true  interest  of  the 
nation.  That,  on  the  navy,  he  had  fully  expressed  his  opinion  in  his  Notes  on  Vir 
ginia  ;  that  he  adhered  still  to  his  ideas  then  given.  That  he  believed  our  growing 
commerce  would  call  for  protection ;  that  he  had  been  averse  to  a  too  rapid 
increase  of  our  navy ;  that  he  believed  a  navy  must  naturally  grow  out  of  our  com 
merce,  but  thought  prudence  would  advise  its  increase  to  progress  with  the  increase 
of  the  nation,  and  that  in  this  way  he  was  friendly  to  the  establishment.  General 
Dayton  appeared  pleased  with  the  conversation,  and,  I  think,  said  that  if  this  con 
versation  had  taken  place  earlier,  much  trouble  might  have  been  saved,  or  words  to 
that  effect. 

At  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Jones  of  Georgia,  I  walked  with  Mr.  Bayard  of  Delaware. 
The  approaching  election  became  the  subject  of  conversation.  I  recollect,  no  part  of 
that  conversation,  except  his  saying  that  he  thought  that  a  half  hour's  conversation 
between  us  might  settle  the  business.  That  idea  was  not  again  repeated.  On  the  day 
after  I  had  held  the  conversation  with  General  Dayton,  I  was  asked  by  Mr.  Bayard  to 
go  into  the  committee-room.  He  then  stated  that  he  had  it  in  his  power  (and  was  so 
disposed)  to  terminate  the  election,  but  he  wished  information  as  to  Mr.  Jefferson's 
opinions  on  certain  subjects,  and  mentioned  (I  think)  the  same  three  points  already 
alluded  to,  as  asked  by  Colonel  Parker  and  General  Dayton,  and  received  from  me 
the  same  answer  in  substance  (if  not  in  words)  that  I  had  given  to  General  Dayton. 
He  added  a  fourth,  to  wit :  What  would  be  Mr.  Jefferson's  conduct  as  to  the  public 
officers?  He  said  he  did  not  mean  confidential  officers,  but,  by  way  of  elucidating 
his  question,  he  said,  such  as  Mr.  Latimer  of  Philadelphia,  and  Mr.  M'Lane  of  Dela 
ware.  I  answered  that  I  never  had  heard  Mr.  Jefferson  say  anything  on  that  sub 
ject.  He  requested  that  I  would  inquire,  and  inform  him  the  next  day.  I  did  so ; 
and  the  next  day  (Saturday)  told  him  that  Mr.  Jefferson  had  said  that  he  did  not 
think  that  such  officers  ought  to  be  dismissed  on  political  grounds  only,  except  in 
cases  where  they  had  made  improper  use  of  their  offices,  to  force  the  officers  under 
them  to  vote  contrary  to  their  judgment.  That  as  to  Mr.  M'Lane,  he  had  already 
been  epoken  to  in  his  behalf  by  Major  Eccleston,  and  from  the  character  given  him 
by  that  gentleman,  he  considered  him  a  meritorious  officer;  of  course,  that  he  would 
not  be  displaced,  or  ought  not  to  be  displaced.  I  further  added  that  Mr.  Bayard 
might  rest  assured  (or  words  to  that  effect)  that  Mr.  Jefferson  would  conduct,  as  to 
thoae  points,  agreeably  to  the  opinions  I  had  stated  as  his.  Mr.  Bayard  then  said, 
we  will  give  the  vote  on  Monday,  and  we  separated.  Early  in  the  election,  my  col 
league.  Mr.  Baer,  told  me  that  we  should  have  a  President,  that  they  would  not  get 
up  without  electing  one  or  the  other  gentleman.  Mr.  Baer  had  voted  against  Mr. 
Jefferson  until  the  final  vote,  when,  I  believe,  he  withdrew,  or  voted  blank,  but  do 
iiot  perfectly  recollect. 

5th.  I  became  acquainted  with  Colonel  Burr  sometime  in  the  Revolutionary 
War. 

6th.  I  know  of  no  agreement  or  bargain  in  the  year  1800  and  1801,  with  any 
person  or  persons  whatsoever,  respecting  the  office  of  President  in  behalf  of  Aaron 
Burr,  nor  ave  I  anv  reason  to  believe  that  any  such  existed. 


CHAr.  XII.]     BURR    ATTEMPTS    TO    ALTER    DEPOSITION,    ETC.  617 

nth.  I  received  a  letter  from  Colonel  Burr,  dated,  I  believe,  16th  December 
1800,  in  reply  to  one  which  I  had  just  before  written  him.  The  letter  of  Colone* 
Burr  is  as  follows: 

"  It  is  highly  improbable  that  I  shall  have  an  equal  number  of  votes  with  Mr 
Jefferson  ;  but  if  such  should  be  the  result,  every  man  who  knows  me  ought  to 
know  that  I  would  utterly  disclaim  all  competition.  Be  assured  that  the  Federal 
party  can  entertain  no  wish  for  such  an  exchange.  As  to  my  friends,  they  would 
dishonor  my  views  and  insult  my  feelings,  by  a  suspicion  that  I  would  submit  to  be 
instrumental  in  counteracting  the  wishes  and  the  expectations  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  And  I  now  constitute  you  my  proxy  to  declare  these  sentiments,  if 
the  occasion  shall  require." 

I  have  not  now  that  letter  by  me,  nor  any  other  letter  from  him,  to  refer  to — 
the  preceding  is  taken  from  a  printed  copy,  which  corresponds  with  my  recollection, 
and  which  I  believe  to  be  correct.  My  correspondence  with  him  continued  until  the 
close  of  the  election.  In  none  of  his  letters  to  me,  or  to  any  other  person  that  I 
saw,  was  there  anything  that  contradicted  the  sentiments  contained  in  that  letter. 

S.  SMITH. 

City  of  Washington  in  the  District  of  Columbia : 

The  deposition  of  the  Honorable  Samuel  Smith,  written  upon  five  pages,  was 
duly  taken  and  sworn  to  before  us,  two  of  the  commissioners  named  in  the  annexed 
commission,  at  the  Capitol,  in  said  city  of  Washington,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  April, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  six,  and  of  the  Independ 
ence  Of  the  United  States  the  thirtieth. 

GEORGE  LOGAN. 
DAVID  STONE. 

Burr  was  present  in  "Washington,  the  active  agent  in  obtain 
ing  these  depositions,  and,  as  we  shall  presently  show,  attempted 
surreptitiously  to  change  the  phraseology  of  Smith's  affidavit, 
after  it  was  made,  in  preparing  a  fair  copy  for  his  signature. 

General  Smith  showed  a  press  copy  of  his  affidavit  to  Presi 
dent  Jefferson  the  day  it  was  made  ; 1  and  the  latter  made  an 
entry  in  his  Ana,  the  same  day,  mentioning  that  about  a 
month  earlier  Burr  had  solicited  an  office  from  him,  pleaded  his 
services,  intimated  "  that  he  could  do  him  (Jefferson)  much 
harm."  Jefferson  records  that  he  declined  to  meet  Colonel 
Burr's  wishes  on  the  ground  "that  the  public  had  withdrawn 
their  confidence  from  him  ;"  that  he  knew  no  cause  why  Burr 
should  desire  to  harm  him,  but  that  "  at  the  same  time  he  feared 
no  injury  which  any  man  could  do  him."  He  mentioned  that 
Burr  dined  with  him  on  the  8th  of  April,  and  called  to  take  hig 
leave  two  or  three  days  afterwards  ;  that  is  to  say  after  and 
within  a  week  of  the  time  the  latter  was  employed  in  procuring 

1  Tliis  will  soon  appear  by  a  letter  of  Smith. 


618  SMITH'S  FULL  EXPLANATIONS.  [CHAP.  xn. 

the  preceding  affidavit  of  Bayard,  and  just  before  he  attempted 
to  change  the  tenor  of  Smith's.  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  concludes 
the  entry  : 

"  I  did  not  commit  these  things  to  writing  at  the  time,  but  I  do  it  now  [April 
15,  180(5],  because,  in  a  suit  between  him  (Burr)  and  Cheetham,  he  has  had  a  depo 
sition  of  Mr.  Bayard  taken,  which  seems  to  have  no  relation  to  the  suit,  nor  to  any 
other  object  than  to  calumniate  me.  Bayard  pretends  to  have  addressed  to  me 
during  the  pending  of  the  Presidential  election  in  1801,  |ftrough  General  Samuel 
Smith,  certain  conditions  on  which  my  election  might  be  obtained,  and  that  General 
Smith,  after  conversing  with  me,  gave  answers  from  me.  This  is  absolutely  false. 
No  proposition  of  any  kind  was  ever  made  to  me  on  that  occasion  by  General  Smith, 
nor  any  answer  authorized  by  me.  And  this  fact  General  Smith  affirms  at  this 
moment." 

The  reference  to  the  case  of  Burr  and  Cheetham,  instead  of 
Gillespie  and  Smith,  is  an  obvious  slip  of  the  pen. 

If  Burr  had  designed  to  carry  out  his  menace  towards  Jeffer 
son,  by  publishing  these  affidavits,  the  contradiction  between 
them  thwarted  his  purpose. 

Some  doubt  appears  to  have  arisen  as  to  the  proper  interpre 
tation  of  General  Smith's  affidavit.  We  are  enabled  to  settle 
all  the  questions  which  have  been  raised  on  this  subject  by  a 
letter  of  his  own,  which  we  find  in  a  correspondence  between  R. 
II.  and  J.  A.  Bayard,  jr.,  Aaron  Burr,  M.  L.  Davis,  etc.,  in 
Davis's  Life  of  Burr. 

GENERAL  SAMUEL  SMITH  TO  RICHARD  H.  BAYARD  AND  JAMES  A.  BAYARD, 

WASHINGTON,  April  8<f,  1880. 
GENTLEMEN: 

111  health  and  disinclination   to   go  back  to   circumstances  which    happened 
thirty  years  past,  has  prevented  an  earlier  answer  to  your  letter. 

In  the  extract  you  have  sent  me  from  Mr.  Jefferson's  writings,  it  is  said 
"Bayard"  (alluding  to  his  deposition)  "pretends  to  have  addressed  to  me,  during 
the  pending  of  the  Presidential  election  in  February,  1801,  through  General  Smith, 
certain  conditions  on  which  my  election  might  be  obtained,  and  that  General  Smith, 
after  conversing  with  me,  gave  answer  for  me.  This  is  absolutely  false.  No  pro 
position  of  any  kind  was  ever  made  to  me  on  that  occasion  by  General  Smith,  or 
any  answer  authorized  by  me;  and  this  fact  General  Smith  affirms  at  this  moment'' 
—to  wit,  15th  of  April,  1806. 

Yes,  Gentlemen,  it  was  (I  believe)  on  that  day  I  put  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
eon  a  pre>s  copv  of  my  deposition  in  the  case  of  Cheetham,1  in  which  I  perfectly 

1  Tliis,  as  what  follows  will  show,  is  an  obvious  slip  of  the  pen,  like  Jefferson'?!, 
makinii  the  title  of  the  suit  Burr  vs.  Cheetliam,  instead  of,  as  it  should  have  been,  Gil- 
v,espie  vs.  Smith. 


CHAP.  XII.]         COMPLETE    VINDICATION    OF   JEFFERSON.  619 

recollect  that  I  deny  ever  having  received  from  Mr.  Jefferson  any  proposition  of 
any  kind  to  be  made  by  me  to  Mr.  Bayard  or  any  other  person.  Not,  perhaps,  in 
those  words,  but  in  detail  to  that  effect ;  or  having  ever  communicated  any  propo« 
sition  of  the  kind  as  from  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Bayard. 

My  experience  in  life  has  shown  that  few  men  take  advice  unless  it  comport? 
with  their  own  views.  I  will,  however,  recommend  that  you  let  well  enough  alone. 
Your  father  was  a  bitter,  most  bitter  enemy  of  Mr.  Jefferson  ;  his  enmity  was  known 
to  all,  and,  I  presume,  to  Mr.  Jefferson;  it  was  therefore  very  natural  for  him  to  con 
clude  that  the  suit  of  Cheetham  had  been  got  up  for  the  express  purpose  of 
obtaining  the  oath  of  your  father  with  the  view  of  injuring  him,  and  that  your 
father  had  advised  such  a  course.  My  recollection  of  what  passed  on  the  occasion 
is  as  strong  as  if  it  had  happened  yesterday.  I  will  give  you  a  detail  in  as  few 
words  as  possible. 

Two  or  three  days  before  the  election  was  terminated,  a  member  who  I  suppose 
had  been  deputed  by  the  Federal  party,  called  on  me  to  converse  on  the  subject.  I 
held  little  conversation  with  him.  Your  father  then  called  on  me,  and  said  that  he 
was  anxious  to  put  an  end  to  the  controversy  ;  that  in  case  of  dissolution,  Delaware 
never  could  expect  to  obtain  her  present  advantages ;  that,  if  satisfied  on  certain 
points,  he  would  terminate  the  contest.  He  then  went  on  to  state  those  points : 
they  were  three  or  four.  I  can  now  remember  only  three,  to  wit — the  funding  sys 
tem,  the  navy,  and  the  retaining  or  dismissal  of  Federalists  then  in  office.  I 
answered  promptly  that  I  could  satisfy  him  fully  on  two  of  the  points  (which  two  I 
do  not  now  recollect),  for  that  I  had  had  frequent  conversations  with  him  on  them, 
and  I  stated  what  I  understood  and  believed  to  be  his  opinions,  and  what  I  thought 
would  be  his  rule  of  conduct ;  with  which  explanation  your  father  expressed  his 
entire  satisfaction,  and  on  the  third  requested  that  I  would  inform  myself. 

I  lodged  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  that  night  had  a  conversation  with  him,  without 
his  having  the  remotest  idea  of  my  object.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  a  gentleman  of  extreme 
frankness  with  his  friends  ;  he  conversed  freely  and  frankly  with  them  on  all  sub 
jects,  and  gave  his  opinions  without  reserve.  Some  of  them  thought  that  he  did  so 
too  freely.  Satisfied  with  his  opinion  on  the  third  point,  I  communicated  to  your 
father  the  next  day — that  from  the  conversation  that  I  had  had  with  Mr.  Jefferson, 
I  was  satisfied  in  my  own  mind  that  his  conduct  on  that  point  would  be  so  and  so. 
But  I  certainly  never  did  tell  your  father  that  I  had  any  authority  from  Mr.  Jefferson 
to  communicate  anything  to  him  or  to  any  other  person. 

During  the  session  of  Congress  of  1805-6,  your  father  told  me  that  a  little  lawyer 
in  Delaware  had  (he  supposed  at  the  instance  of  Colonel  Burr)  endeavored  to  get 
from  him  a  deposition  touching  a  conversation  with  me  ;  that  he  had  refused  it ; 
that  Burr  had,  however,  trumped  up  a  suit  for  the  sole  purpose  of  coercing  his 
deposition  and  mine,  and  said  that  a  commission  to  take  testimony  was  now  in  the 
city,  and  that  lie  apprised  me  that  I  might  be  prepared.  I  asked  him  what  he  would 
state  in  his  deposition.  He  answered  similar  to  the  quotation  you  have  sent.  I 
told  him  instantly  that  I  had  communicated  to  him  my  own  opinion,  derived  from 
conversation  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  not  one  word  from  him  to  your  father ;  and 
that  my  testimony  would,  as  to  that  point,  be  in  direct  hostility.  He  then  said,  the 
little  fellow  will  have  our  testimony  by  some  means  or  other,  and  I  will  give  mine. 
I  answered  that  I  would  also.  A  few  nights  after,  Colonel  Burr  called  on  me.  I 
told  him  that  I  had  written  my  deposition,  and  would  have  a  fair  copy  made  of  it. 

He  said,  trust  it  to  me,  and  I  will  get  Mr. to  copy  it.  I  did  so,  and,  on  hia 

returning  it  to  me,  found  words  not  mine  interpolated  in  the  copy.  I  struck  or.t 


620  ENTRY    IX    ANA    EXPLAINED.  [CHAP.  XII. 

those  words,  had  it  copied  again,  and  to  prevent  all  plea  of  false  copying,  I  had  a 
press  copy  taken  of  it.  When  I  appeared  before  the  commission,  I  found  a  deposi 
tion  attached  to  that  of  your  father,  and  asked  how  they  came  by  that.  They 
answered  that  it  had  been  sent  to  them.  I  requested  them  to  take  it  off;  that  I 
had  the  deposition  in  my  hand  to  which  alone  I  would  swear ;  they  did  so,  and  my 
deposition  was  attached.  The  next  day  (I  think)  I  called  and  told  Mr.  Jefferson 
what  had  passed,  read  to  him  the  press  copy,  and  asked  him  if  he  recollected  having 
given  to  me  the  opinions  I  had  detailed.  He  answered  that  he  did  not,  but  it  might 
be  so,  for  that  they  were  opinions  he  held  and  expressed  to  man^  of  his  friends,  and 
as  probably  to  me  as  any  other,  and  then  said  that  he  would  wish  to  have  a  copy. 
I  told  him  that  I  had  no  use  for  it ;  he  might,  and  I  gave  him  the  press  copy. 

You  have  now  a  tolerable  full  view  of  the  case,  and  will  see  that  no  possible 
censure  can  attach  to  Mr.  Jefferson;  that  a  diversity  of  opinion  will  arise  from  pub 
lication  as  to  your  fathers  credibility  or  mine,  and  that  both  may  suffer  in  the 
public  estimation.  I  will  conclude  that,  during  my  long  life,  I  have  scarcely  ever 
known  an  instance  of  newspaper  publication  between  A.  and  B.  that  some  obloquy 
did  not  attach  to  both  parties. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  with  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

S    SMITH. 

As  remarked  by  General  Smith  in  the  last  paragraph,  Mr 
Jefferson  stands  completely  exonerated  from  any  possible  charge 
in  the  matter ;  and  the  question  of  veracity,  if  there  is  one,  lies 
wholly  between  Smith  himself  and  Bayard. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  suppose  that  both  of  them  were  perfectly 
sincere  in  their  affidavits.  The  nature  of  the  subject,  the  excit- 
ment  of  the  occasion,  the  strong  feelings  of  the  parties  left 
ample  room  for  a  misunderstanding  of  each  other's  language. 
Smith  was  the  soul  of^honor.  We  know  less  of  Bayard,  but  we 
believe  his  reputation  was  equally  high  in  the  same  particular. 

Without  the  explanations  contained  in  Smith's  letter,  it  has 
been  thought  that  Jefferson's  entry  in  his  Ana  of  April  15th, 
1806,  was  a  cold  blooded  and  aggressive  attack  on  Mr.  Bayard, 
laid  aside  for  posthumous  use.  Smith's  letter  shows  it  to  have 
been  purely  defensive. 

Able  disquisitions  have  appeared  on  this  subject,  in  which, 
under  the  influence  probably  of  strong  preconceived  views,  the 
authors  keep  up  that  issue  of  veracity  between  Jefferson  and 
Smith,  which  the  latter  expressly  disavows.  They  were  suffi 
ciently  answered  by  Mr.  Madison,  in  1831,  without  any  knowl 
edge  of  Smith's  explanatory  letter.1  They  furnish  some  testi- 

1  Mr.  Madison's  article  was  publishe  1  in  the  National  Gazette,  February  5tli,  1830. 
The  article  was  dated  January  25th. 


OIJAP.  XII.]  LATER    DISQUISITIONS    AND    REPLIES.  621 

mony  which  tends  to  show  that  Bayard  contemporaneously  put 
the  same  construction  he  does  in  his  affidavit,  on  his  conversa 
tions  with  Smith  ;  but  none  of  the  witnesses  mention  having 
heard  a  word  on  the  subject  from  Smith,  much  less  from  Jeffer 
son.  The  parties  to  the  issue  therefore  remain  unchanged ;  and 
the  issue  itself  is  untouched  by  this  testimony. 

Mr.  Madison,  in  his  answer,  takes  substantially  the  same 
view  we  have  done  of  the  replies  of  Smith  and  Livingston  to  the 
interrogatories  of  Mr.  Clayton  in  the  Senate  in  1830. '  In  every 
essential  particular  his  theories  and  arguments  accord  with  the 
facts  furnished  by  later  developments. 

Jefferson's  correspondence  and  the  general  cast  of  the  circum 
stances  during  the  momentous  struggle  in  the  House  would  have 
been  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  mistaken  allegations  of  Bayard,  in 
the  absence  of  the  decisive  testimony  we  have  adduced.  .His 
constant  and  most  confidential  declarations  are  that  he  will  not 
receive  the  Government  on  capitulation.  His  next  friend  and 
personal  organ,  John  Nicholas,  refused  even  to  communicate  to 
him  such  a  proposal.  He  said  in  advance  substantially  all 
he  said  to  Smith,  in  regard  to  removals,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Bar 
ton,  written  under  no  necessity,  and  only  for  private  arid 
friendly  inspection.  His  trust  in  a  legitimate,  and,  to  himself, 
successful  termination,  was  very  little  shaken.  Not  understand- 

1  We  will  give  the  paragraphs  of  Mr.  Madison's  reply,  pertaining  to  this  topic,  pre 
serving  his  italicization  : 

"  Opposed  to  this  memorandum  of  Mr.  Jefferson  is,  first-^the  declaration  of  Mr.  Living 
ston  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  after  a  lapse  of  about  twenty -nine 
years,  'that  as  to  the  precise  question  put  to  him  [touching  the  application  of  Mr.  Bay 
ard  to  General  Smith],  he  must  say  that  after  having  taxed  his  recollection,  as  far  as  it 
could  go,  on  so  remote  a  transaction,  he  had  no  remembrance  of  it;'  implying  that  he 
might  have  had  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Jefferson  relating  to  the  remote  transaction,  not 
within  the  scope  of  the  precise  question.  Second — the  declaration  of  General  Smith  in 
the  same  place,  and  after  the  same  lapse  of  time,  '  that  he  had  not  the  most  distant  recol 
lection  that  Mr.  Bayard  had  ever  made  such  a  proposition  to  him,'  adding,  'that  he 
never  received  from  any  man  any  such  proposition.' 

"  On  comparing  these  declarations,  made  after  an  interval  of  so  many  years,  with  the 
statement  of  Mr.  Jefferson  reduced  to  writing  at  the  time,  it  is  impossible  to  regard  them 
as  proof,  that  communications  were  not  made  to  him  by  Mr.  Livingston  and  Mr.  W.  C. 
Nicholas,  which  he  (Mr.  Jefferson)  understood  to  import  that  Mr.  Bayard  had  made  to 
General  Smith  the  application  as  stated.  And  if  Mr.  Jefferson  was  under  that  impression, 
however  erroneous  it  might  be,  his  subsequent  opinion  and  language  in  reference  to 
Mr.  Bayard,  are  at  once  accounted  for.  *  *  * 

"That  there  has  been  a  great  error  somewhere  is  apparent;  that  respect  for  the 
several  parties  requires  it  to  be  viewed  as  involuntary,  must  be  admitted ;  that  being 
involuntary,  it  must  have  proceeded  from  misapprehensions  or  failures  of  memory :  that 
there  having  been  no  interval  for  the  failure  of  the  memory  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  error,  if 
with  him,  must  be  ascribed  to  misapprehension.  The  resulting  question,  therefore,  is 


between  the  probability  of  misapprehensions  by  Mr.  Jefferson  of  the  statements  made  to 
him  at  the  time  by  Mr.  Livingston  and  Mr.  Nicholas,  and  the  probability  of  misapprehen 
sions  or  failures  of  memory  in  some  one  or  more  of  the  other  parties  ;  and  the  decision 


19.9, 


[CHAP.  XIL 


ing  Burr,  he  had  no  apprehension  from  his  intrigues  ;  and  he 
was  convinced  that  the  Federalists  did  not  dare  to  brave  the 
consequences  of  either  a  usurpation  or  interregnum. 

His  personal  bearing  must  have  reflected  the  serenity  of  his 
mind.  No  letter  writer,  so  far  as  we  have  observed,  mentions 
that  he  was  eiiher  present  or  absent  at  the  ballotings,  or  makes 
any  allusion  whatever  to  his  appearance  or  acts.  We  infer  from 
this  that  they  exhibited  nothing  that  attracted  notice — that  he 
wore  the  appearance  of  a  passive  and  unconcerned  spectator. 
This  only  would  add  to  the  proof  that  he  was  neither  in  the 
frame  of  mind,  nor  the  man,  to  be  intimidated  into  a  submission 
to  dictated  terms. 

The  degree  of  gratitude  Mr.  Jefferson  owed  the  Federalists 
on  this  occasion  has  already  been  a  subject  of  some  comment. 
His  own  estimate  of  it  appears  in  his  letter  to  Madison,  of  18th 
February.  No  Federal  actor  in  the  scene,  we  believe,  ever 
made  any  such  claim  on  him,  or  fell  but  with 

"  unclosed  eye, 

Yet  lowering  on  his  enemy." 

Bayard,  chivalric  towards  those  he  had  separated  from,  was 
not  willing  to  be  even  suspected  of  any  implied  admission  that 
Jefferson  possessed  legal,  moral,  or  personal  claims  over 
Burr.  On  the  day  on  which  Jefferson  was  elected,  President 
Adams  nominated  Bayard  as  Minister  to  France,  and  on  the 
19th  February,  the  Senate  unanimously  confirmed  the  appoint 
ment.  The  latter  wrote  the  President  the  same  day,  with  his 
eye  evidently  on  the  fact  that  the  vote  of  the  Republican 
Senators  in  his  favor  might  be  understood  to  signify  that  they 
considered  him  as  having  made  some  generous  concession  to 
Mr.  Jefferson  in  the  election  : 

"  Under  most  circumstances,  I  should  have  been  extremely  gratified  with  such 
an  opportunity  of  rendering  myself  serviceable  to  the  country.  But  the  delicate 
situation  in  which  the  late  Presidential  election  has  placed  me,  forbids  my  exposing 
myself  to  the  suspicion  of  having  adopted,  from  impure  motives,  the  line  of  conduct 
which  I  pursued.  Representing  the  smallest  State  in  the  Union,  without  resources 
which  could  furnish  the  means  of  self-protection.  I  was  compelled  by  the  obligation 
of  a  sacred  duty,  so  to  act,  as  not  to  hazard  the  Constitution  upon  which  the  political 
existence  of  the  State  depends. 

"  The  service  which  I  should  have  to  render,  by  accepting  the  appointment, 
would  be  under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  having  been  in  the  number 


CHAP.  XII.]  CLOSING    ACTS    OF    SIXTH    CONGRESS.  623 

of  those  who  withdrew  themselves  from  the  opposition  to  his  election,  it  is  Impos 
sible  for  me  to  take  an  office,  the  tenure  of  which  would  be  at  his  pleasure. 

"  You  will,  therefore,  pardon  me,  sir,  for  begging  you  to  accept  my  resignation 
of  the  appointment." 

This  was  to  the  purpose,  and  manly. 

In  a  speech  made  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  February 
20th,  1802,  Mr.  Bayard,  in  speaking  of  the  Presidential  election 
of  the  preceding  year,  declared  "he  gave  his  vote  to  the  one 
whom  he  thought  was  the  greater  and  better  man."  J  In  his  affi 
davit  in  the  case  of  Burr  vs.  Cheetham,  1805,  he  said  uhe  con 
sidered  Mr.  Burr  personally  better  qualified  to  fill  the  office  of 
President  than  Mr.  Jefferson."  His  affidavit  in  1806  will  not 
probably  be  adjudged  to  exhibit  any  relenting. 

A  few  more  of  the  closing  acts  of  President  Adams's  admin 
istration,  and  of  the  sixth  Congress,  demand  our  notice,  before 
we  reach  the  period  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Presidency. 

The  new  French  treaty  encountered  various  objections,  but 
was  finally  approved,  with  the  exception  of  Article  2d,  which 
provided  that  the  indemnities  mutually  claimed  under  former 
treaties  should  be  the  subject  of  future  negotiation,  and  that  in 
the  meantime  the  former  treaties  "  should  have  no  operation." 
And  the  American  Government  added,  in  its  ratification,  that 
the  convention  should  be  (unconditionally)  in  force  for  the  space 
of  eight  years.  Bonaparte  accepted  these  modifications.  "  pro 
vided  that  by  this  retrenchment  the  two  States  renounce  the  re 
spective  pretensions,  which  were  the  objegt  of  the  said  [second] 
article." 

The  "  engine  of  government,"  which  we  have  seen  so  warmly 
urged  by  Hamilton,  Wolcott,  and  others — an  extension  of  the 
judiciary — was  carried;  but  utterly  shorn  of  the  magnificent 
proportions  of  the  original  scheme  marked  out  by  its  projector. 
An  act  passed  February  13th,  reducing  the  justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  from  six  to  five,  as  soon  as  a  vacancy  should 
ensue,  and  relieving  them  from  circuit  duty  ;  dividing  the 

1  Annals  of  Congress,  1801-2,  p.  638.  The  following  is  the  passage  entire  : 
"  The  public  will,  thus  manifested,  gave  to  the  House  of  Representatives  the  choice 
of  the  two  men  for  President.  Neither  of  them  was  the  man  whom  I  wished  to  make 
President ;  but  my  election  was  confined,  by  the  Constitution,  to  one  of  the  two,  and  I 
gave  my  vote  to  the  one  whom  I  thought  was  the  greater  and  better  man.  That  vote  1 
repeated,  and  in  that  vote  I  should  have  persisted,  had  I  not  been  driven  from  it  by 
imperious  necessity.  The  prospect  ceased  of  the  vote  being  effectual,  and  the  alternative 
only  remained  of  taking  one  man  for  President,  or  having  no  President  at  all.  I  chose: 
as  I  then  thought,  the  lesser  evil." 


THE   JUDICIARY   BILL.  [CHAP.  XII 

United  States  into  twenty-three  judicial  districts  (each  State  and 
the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  comprising  one,  with  the 
exception  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Yirginia  and  Tennessee, 
which  comprised  two  each),  and  classing  these  districts  into  six 
circuits ;  providing  for  the  appointment  in  each  circuit  of  a 
chief  judge  and  two  associate  judges,  except  in  the  sixth,1 
wherein  but  one  was  to  be  appointed,  who  was  to  be  associated 
with  the  district  judges  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  ;  and  vest 
ing  in  these  circuit  courts  all  the  powers  before  granted  to  the 
circuit  courts  of  the  United  States,  unless  otherwise  provided. 

There  may  have  been  some  good  grounds  for  claiming. that 
the  supreme  court  judges  were  overburdened  with  circuit  duties 
prior  to  the  enactment  of  this  law.  But  no  one  will  seriously 
urge  that  any  such  judicial  force  as  that  created  by  this  bill 
was  then  necessary  to  perform  the  legitimate  duties  of  the  fede 
ral  courts  among  less  than  six  millions  of  people.  If  any  such 
serious  claim  was  urged,  at  the  time,  by  the  originators  of  the 
law,  in  their  private  correspondences — nay,  if  they  in  such  corre 
spondences  put  the  act  at  all  on  the  basis  of  the  inability  of  the 
existing  judiciary  to  transact  all  the  business  brought  before 
them — we  have  overlooked  the  facts.  They  do,  however,  assign 
a  reason,  and  a  pressing  reason — the  creation  of  an  "engine  of 
government,"  the  source  of  "  salutary  patronage,"  etc.  Though 
but  a  shred  of  Hamilton's  original,  it  was  a  most  potent  instru 
ment  for  both  these  objects. 

The  bill  passed  so  late  that  Mr.  Adams  had  little  time  enough 
(fifteen  days)  to  consider  the  claims  of  the  partisans  with  whom 
he  had  determined  exclusively  to  fill  the  offices.  Some  nomi 
nations  of  judges  were  sent  into  the  Senate  as  late  as  nine  o'clock 
at  night  of  the  third  of  March,  and  hence  the  new  bench  re 
ceived  the  popular  designation  of  "  John  Adams's  midnight 
judges." 

Among  the  judicial  appointees  was  Wolcott,  late  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  and  this  "  warm-hearted  "  individual  readily 
accepted  this  "distinguished  proof"  of  the  President's  "confi 
dence,"  which,  he  said,  he  learned  from  his  friends  "  with  the 
highest  satisfaction  "  he  owed  to  Mr.  Adams's  "  favorable  opi 
nion,"  and  "in  no  degree  to  their  solicitation."  "Believing," 
he  continued,  "that  gratitude  to  benefactors  was  among  the 

1  Consisting  of  the  districts  of  East  Tennessee,  West  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  Ohio. 


CHAP.  XII.]  THE    PRESIDENT    AND    WOLCOTT.  625 

most  amiable  and  ought  to  be  among  the  most  indissoluble  ot 
social  obligations,  he  should,  without  reserve,  cherish  the  emo 
tions  which  were  inspired  by  a  sense  of  duty  and  honor  on  this 
occasion." 

Mr.  Adams's  reply  shows  that  not  a  flash  of  suspicion  had 
ever  crossed  his  mind  of  Wolcott's  real  conduct ;  and  his  sending 
the  "friendly  regards-"  of  "his  family,"  leads  to  the  inference 
that  there,  too,  the  intriguer  had  been  at  pains  carefully  to  play 
his  usual  specious  role? 

Mr.  Adams's  feelings  relented  towards  McIIenry,  and  he  in 
timated  that  he  would  have  made  provision  also  for  him  had  he 
not  learned  that  the  latter  possessed  an  ample  fortune. 

Streaks  of  fine  gold  ever  gleam  out  from  among  the  clay  of 
the  fallen  President's  character.  We  may  scorn  his  inconsis 
tencies,  and  foibles  which  no  charity  can  pronounce  venial — but 
none  will  ever  detest  him  in  the  concrete. 

When  we  commenced  these  pages,  Wolcott  was  to  us  only 
nominis  umbra — one  of  a  passed-away  party  and  race.  To  en 
tertain  feelings  of  personal  hostility  against  him  merely  because 
he  served  his  party  thoroughly,  and  partook  in  their  measures 
and  prejudices  against  Mr.  Jefferson  and  the  other  Republican 
leaders  of  that  day,  would  be  much  on  a  par  with  conceiving  a 
hostility  against  a  picture  hanging  in  some  old  gallery — a 
shadow — a  sound — or  a  handful  of  mouldering  earth  and  bones 
in  a  coffin.  Among  some  of  the  early  races  of  the  North, 
each  man  who  passed  the  tomb  of  a  hero  cast  a  stone  upon  it — 
his  contribution  to  a  commemoratory  monument.  As  the  pile 
rose  higher,  it  constituted  a  more  impressive  lesson  to  new  gene 
rations — appealing  to  them  in  like  manner  to  secure  the  grateful 
remembrance  of  mankind.  There  is  occasionally  a  deviation  from 
rectitude  so  deliberate,  so  insidious,  so  fatal  to  all  the  ties  of 
human  brotherhood  if  tolerated  into  an  example,  that  every 
after-comer  is  called  upon  to  cast  a  stone  upon  the  grave  of  the 
offender,  as  he  would  upon  the  cairn  of  a  hero.  But  every  stone 
cast  should  be  inscribed  with  words  of  indignant  condemnation. 
In  any  possible  view  we  are  able  to  take  of  the  self-proved 
conduct  of  Wolcott  towards  Adams,  it  richly  deserves  to  be 
made  such  a  negative  example  to  posterity.8 

1  This  letter  will  be  found  entire  in  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  99.        s  Ib.  p.  100. 
1  And  the  more  so  from  the  matchless  and  aggressive  effrontery  of  his  authorized 
"VOL.  II. 40 


626  APPOINTMENTS — SEDITION    LAW,    ETC.  [CHAP.  XII. 

On  the  last  day  of  January,  John  Marshall  was  commissioned 
Chief  Justice,  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Jay,  who  declined  the  appoint 
ment.  As  the  former  was  Secretary  of  State,  and  intended  to 
continue  to  act  as  such  to  the  close  of  Mr.  Adams's  term,  Mr. 
Dexter,  Secretary  of  War,  was  appointed  Secreiary  of  State,  pro 
hdc  vice,  to  make  out  and  sign  his  judicial  commission.  It  has 
been  already  mentioned  that  the  latter  filled  both  of  the  oih'ces, 
at  the  same  time,  and  presided  as  Chief  Justice  from  the  4th  to 
the  9th  of  February,  1801,  while  acting  as  Secretary  of  State. 
This  was  a  somewhat  anomalous  combination  of  the  executive 
and  judiciary  departments  of  the  government,  and  an  extension 
of  the  principle  would  lead  to  curious  results  in  practice.  Bou- 
dinot  proposed  to  Mr.  Adams  to  appoint  himself  Chief  Justice, 
with  a  commission  to  take  effect  as  soon  as  his  Presidential 
tenure  terminated.1 

The  Sedition  Law  was  to  expire  by  by  its  own  limitation 
with  the  present  Congress.  Some  of  the  Federalists  were  in 
favor  of  renewing  it,  but  others  saw  much  less  need  of  it  under 
a  Republican  administration.  As  the  Republicans  had  not 
experienced  any  change  of  views  in  regard  to  this  law,  in  conse 
quence  of  their  success,  there  was  not  a  majority  for  its  continu 
ance.  Its  decease  was  contemporaneous  with  that  of  the 
Federal  party  as  a  national  organization. 

That  party  had  now  been  tried  out  to  a  sufficient  develop 
ment,  to  make  its  spirit  and  the  general  bearing  and  tendency 
of  its  policies  understood.  These  were  in  conflict  with  the 
settled  ideas  of  the  American  people.  It  fell,  therefore,  com 
pletely  and  irrevocably. 

It  needed  but  that  tierce  dying  effort  of  the  Federal  leaders 
to  hold  on  to  power,  after  being  overwhelmingly  beaten  in  an 
election  where  they  had  taken  every  practicable  advantage  of 
their  opponents — an  effort  persisted  in  to  the  verge  of  civil  war, 
and  only  abandoned  from  fear — to  deprive  that  party  of  the  last 
vestige  of  popular  respect  and  sympathy.  No  party  apparently 

family  biographer.  He  claims  that  Mr.  Adams  conferred  this  last  office  "with  IJie  full 
knowledge  of  Wolcott's  political  views,"  and  he  even  hints  that  it  was  an  "atonement 
voluntarily  offered  for  individual  injury!"  (See  Gibbs's  Administrations,  etc.,  vol.  ii. 
p.  496.)  The  whole  page  from  which  we  have  culled  these  ideas,  is  a  literary  and  moral 
curiosity — especially  if  it  is  to  be  supposed  it  presents  us  Wolcott's  version  of  things. 

i  We  take  this  to  be  Boudinot's  idea  :  it  certainly  was  so,  unless  this  Federal  gentle 
man  supposed  that  Adams  was  to  leave  the  office  unfilled,  and  that  Jefferson  was  to  offer 
the  nomination  to  Mr.  Adams.  (See  Boudinot's  letter  aud  Adams's  answer,  Adanr.s's 
Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  93,  and  note.) 


CHAP.  XII.]          EXHIBITIONS    OF   PUBLIC    FEELING,    ETC.  627 

ever  took  so  much  pains  to  cover  itself  with  unnecessary  odium. 
None  starting  with  such  advantages,  real  and  apparent,  ever  so 
speedily  ran  through  its  career  and  perished. 

The  news  of  Jefferson's  election  was  received,  in  most  parts 
of  the  Union,  with  the  liveliest  demonstrations  of  public  joy ; 
and  great  numbers  everywhere  joined  in  this  who  had  voted  for 
his  competitor.  As  the  mails  diffused  the  intelligence,  crowds 
congregated,  cannons  thundered,  the  welkin  rung  with  exulting 
huzzas,  and  everywhere  was  heard,  swelled  by  innumerable 
voices,  a  political  song  "  for  Jefferson  and  Liberty."  More 
elaborate  manifestations,  illuminations,  balls,  banquets,  and  ora,- 
tions,  followed.1 

Strong  as  Mr.  Adams  had  comparatively  been  made  to 
appear  in  the  electoral  vote,  he  fell  almost  without  a  popular 
sympathy  throughout  a  great  portion  of  the  Republic,  crushed 
under  his  own  follies  and  other  men's  far  grosser  misdeeds — 
crushed  under  a  mountain's  weight  of  popular  odium  and  preju 
dice  which  nothing  could  remove  until  the  generation  which 
were  his  coactors  on  the  scene,  and  even  their  immediate  chil 
dren,  had  principally  passed  away.  Fierce  and  mortal  had  been 
the  struggle.  A  continent  had  been  the  stake.  The  wounds 
were  too  deep  to  "  close  without  a  scar." 

Immediately  after  Jefferson's  election,  Dexter — who  had 
succeeded  from  the  War  to  the  Treasury  department  on  the 
retirement  of  Wolcott — proffered  his  resignation,  but  offered  to 
remain  at  his  post  until  it  could  be  filled  agreeably  to  the  Presi 
dent's  inclinations.  This  appears  to  have  been  done  with  that 
high  courtesy  and  frank  liberality  which  marked  Dexter's  fine 
character.  Jefferson's  reply  (February  20th),  though  brief, 
shows  how  justly  he  appreciated  the  man  and  his  proposal. 
Stoddert,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  also  always  a  liberal,  and,  for 
aught  we  can  discover  to  the  contrary,  a  high-principled  and 
just  man,  made  the  same  proffer  with  Dexter,  and  received  an 
equally  respectful  answer. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  Jefferson  wrote  Chancellor  Livings 
ton  (who  had  meanwhile  declined  the  tendered  Navy  depart 
ment)  offering  him  the  nomination  of  Minister  Plenipotentiary 

1  Judge  Hammond  states,  in  his  Political  History  of  New  York,  that  "  on  the  4th 
of  March  meetings  were  held,  processions  were  formed,  and  orations  were  delivered  in 
almost  every  city  and  village  in  the  State"  of  New  York,  to  celebrate  Jefferson'i 
election." 


628  JEFFERSON'S  PARTY  FEELINGS.  [CHAP.  xn. 

to  France — the  same  post  offered  to  him  by  President  Wash 
ington  before  the  appointment  of  Monroe,  and  then  declined. 
He  now  accepted.  On  Bayard's  non-acceptance,  Mr.  Adams 
had  not  again  attempted  to  fill  the  office. 

If  Mr.  Jefferson  came  into  the  Presidency,  feeling  that  he 
owed  nothing  to  the  Federal  leaders,  and  particularly  the 
Federal  leaders  in  Congress,  far  other  were  his  sentiments 
towards  the  popular  body  of  that  party.  He  wrote  his  early 
friend,  Lomax,  February  25th ;  and  the  following  may  stand  for 
a  hundred  similar  expressions  on  the  same  subject: 

"The  suspension  of  public  opinion  from  the  llth  to  the  17th,  the  alarm  into 
which  it  threw  all  the  patriotic  part  of  the  Federalists,  the  danger  of  the  dissolution 
of  our  Union,  and  the  unknown  consequences  of  that,  brought  over  the  great  bod}7 
of  them  to  wish  with  anxiety  and  solicitation  for  a  choice  to  which  before  they  had 
been  strenuously  opposed.  In  this  state  of  mind,  they  separated  from  their  Con 
gressional  leaders,  and  came  over  to  us ;  and  the  manner  in  which  the  last  ballot 
was  given,  has  drawn  a  fixed  line  of  separation  between  them  and  their  leaders. 
When  the  election  took  effect,  it  was  the  most  desirable  of  events  to  them.  This  made 
it  a  thing  of  their  choice,  arid  finding  themselves  aggregated  with  us  accordingly, 
they  are  in  a  state  of  mind  to  be  consolid  ited  with  us,  if  no  intemperate  measures 
on  our  part  revolt  them  again.  I  am  persuaded  that  weeks  of  ill-judged  conduct 
here,  has  strengthened  us  more  than  years  of  prudent  and  conciliatory  administra 
tion  could  have  done.  If  we  can  once  more  get  social  intercourse  restored  to  its 
pristine  harmony,  I  shall  believe  we  have  not  lived  in  vain  ;  and  that  it  may,  by 
rallying  them  to  true  Republican  principles,  which  few  of  them  had  thrown  off,  I 
sanguinely  hope." 

This  needs  no  comment. 

On  the  21st  of  February,  Mr.  Pinckney,  from  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  reported  they  had 
notified  Mr.  Jefferson  of  his  election,  and  his  answer.  The 
latter  is  couched  in  highly  conciliatory  language. 

On  the  28th  day  of  February,  Mr.  Jefferson  retired  from  the 
chair  of  the  Senate.  The  following  was  his  brief  address  on  the 
occasion : 

To  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE. 

To  give  the  usual  opportunity  of  appointing  a  President  pro  tempore,  I  now 
propose  to  retire  from  the  chair  of  the  Senate ;  and,  as  the  time  is  near  at  hand 
when  the  relations  will  cease  which  have  for  some  time  subsisted  between  this 
honorable  house  and  myself,  I  beg  leave,  before  I  withdraw,  to  return  them  my 
grateful  thanks  for  all  the  instances  of  attention  and  respect  with  which  they  have 
been  pleased  to  honor  me.  In  the  discharge  of  my  functions  here,  it  has  been  my 
conscientious  endeavor  to  observe  impartial  justice,  without  regard  to  persons  or 


CHAP.  XII.]  HIS    PASTING    WITH    THE    SENATE.  629 

subjects,  and  if  I  have  failed  in  impressing  this  on  the  mind  of  the  Senate,  it  will 
be  to  me  a  circumstance  of  the  deepest  regret.  I  may  have  erred  at  times — no 
doubt  I  have  erred ;  this  is  the  law  of  human  nature.  For  honest  errors,  however, 
indulgence  may  be  hoped.  I  owe  to  truth  and  justice  at  the  same  time  to  declare 
that  the  habits  of  order  and  decorum,  which  so  strongly  characterize  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  Senate,  have  rendered  the  umpirage  of  their  president  an  office  of  little 
difficulty ;  that  in  times  and  on  questions  which  have  severely  tried  the  sensibilities 
of  the  house,  calm  and  temperate  discussion  has  rarely  been  disturbed  by  departures 
from  order. 

Should  the  support  which  I  have  received  from  the  Senate,  in  the  performance 
of  my  duties  here,  attend  me  into  the  new  station  to  which  the  public  will  has 
transferred  me,  I  shall  consider  it  as  commencing  under  the  happiest  auspices. 

With  these  expressions  of  my  dutiful  regard  to  the  Senate,  as  a  body,  I  ask 
leave  to  mingle  my  particular  wishes  for  the  health  and  happiness  of  the  individuals 
who  compose  it,  and  to  tender  them  my  cordial  and  respectful  adieu. 

This  was  referred  to  a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Morris  of  New  York,  Mason  of  Massachusetts,  and  Dayton  of 
New  Jersey,  with  instructions  to  report  the  draft  of  an  address 
and  answer  thereto. 

The  committee  reported  the  following  address,  March  2d : 

"SiR: — While  we  congratulate  you  on  those  expressions  of  the  public  will, 
which  called  you  to  the  first  office  in  the  United  States,  we  cannot  but  lament  the 
loss  of  that  intelligence,  attention,  and  impartiality  with  which  you  have  presided 
over  our  deliberations.  The  Senate  feel  themselves  much  gratified  by  the  sense  you 
have  been  pleased  to  express  of  their  support  in  the  performance  of  your  late 
duties.  Be  persuaded  that  it  will  never  be  withheld  from  a  Chief  Magistrate  who, 
in  the  exercise  of  his  office,  shall  be  influenced  by  a  due  regard  to  the  honor  and 
interests  of  our  country. 

"  In  the  confidence  that  your  official  conduct  will  be  directed  to  these  great 
objects,  a  confidence  derived  from  past  events,  we  repeat  to  you,  sir,  the  assurance 
of  our  coi.stitutional  support  in  your  future  administration." 

A  motion  to  strike  out  the  words,  "  a  confidence  derived 
from  past  events,"  received  nine  votes  out  of  twenty-eight.1 
The  same  committee  were  directed  to  present  the  address  of  the 
Senate,  and  on  the  next  day  they  communicated  Mr.  Jefferson's 
answer.  It  was  brief,  and  highly  courteous. 

The  disposition  evinced  by  a  minority  to  carp  at  the 
favorable  expressions  of  the  Senate's  address,  and  the  fact  that 
they  took  no  exceptions  to  the  high  tribute  paid  to  him  as  a 
presiding  officer,  would  seem  to  show  that  his  deportment  in  the 
<atter  capacity  was  regarded  as  above  complaint.  It  is  believed, 

1  The  yeas  were  Messrs.  Chipman,  IT'ndman.  Howard,  Livermore,  Paine,  Read.  Boss, 
Tracy  and  Wells.  The  nays  were,  Messrs.  Anderson,  Armstrong.  Baldwin,  Bloodworth. 
Brown,  Cocke,  Dayton,  T/Foster,  D.  Foster,  Franklin,  Greene,  Gunn,  Hillhouse,  Mar 
BhalJ.  S.  T.  Mason,  J.  Mason,  Morris,  Nicholas  and  Pinckney. 


630  INAUGURATION    CEREMONIES.  [CHAP.  XII. 

indeed,  tlat  during  the  four  years  of  unexampled  party  heat 
and  bitterness,  during  which  he  had  presided  over  the  Senate, 
his  official  conduct  was  not  the  subject  of  a  single  complaint. 

And  we  venture  to  affirm,  that  when  all  the  circumstances 
of  the  times  are  fairly  weighed,  every  man  versed  in  that  kind 
of  literature  will  be  ready  to  admit  that  his  personal  diary 
during  the  same  period  (the  Ana),  betrays  an  uncommon  degree 
of  mildness — an  uncommon  freedom  from  harsh  and  relentless 
vituperation.  His  retaliations  on  the  whole  circle  of  his  assail 
ants  scarcely  equal  those  which  single  individuals  are  known, 
by  casual  disclosures  in  their  letters,  to  have  poured  on  him. 
Whatever  other  charges  against  Mr.  Jefferson  may  be  persisted 
in,  we  think  it  is  about  time  for  sensible  men  to  cease  turning 
up  their  eyes  at  his  imaginary  ferocity  and  tomb-surviving 
malice  as  a  politician  ! 

The  President  elect  was  anxious  that  the  ceremonies  of  his 
inauguration  be  as  few  and  simple  as  practicable — but  the  feel 
ings  of  his  friends  who  had  flocked  to  the  capital,  would  riot 
permit  him  to  go  unattended  to  the  Senate  Chamber  to  take  the 
oath  of  office.  An  English  eye-witness  thus  describes  his  ap 
pearance  on  the  occasion  :  "  His  dress  was  of  plain  cloth,  and  he 
rode  on  horseback  to  the  Capitol  without  a  single  guard  or  even 
servant  in  his  train,  dismounted  without  assistance,  and  hitched 
the  bridle  of  his  horse  to  the  palisades."  ] 

On  his  entering  the  Senate  Chamber,  Burr,  who  had  already 
taken  the  oath  of  office,"  gave  up  his  chair,  and  took  his  seat  on 
the  right.  On  the  left  sat  the  Chief-Justice.  Two  imposing  and 
usual  figures  on  such  occasions  were  absent — the  late  President 
and  the  late  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Mr. 
Adams  had  made  an  abrupt  and  ungraceful  departure  from  the 
city  early  in  the  morning.  Sedgwick's  absence  is  also,  so  far  as 
we  know,  unexplained.  The  act,  in  both  cases,  perhaps,  suffi- 
cientlv  explains  itself.  But  there  was  the  customary  attendance 
of  other  officials — and  the  usual  crowd  of  friends  and  spectators. 
Mr.  Jefferson  rose  and  delivered  the  following 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZKNS  : — Called  upon  to  undertake  the  duties  of  tntj 
first  Executive  office  of  our  country,  I  avail  myself  of  the  presence  of  that  portion 

»  "  Travels  of  Four  Years  and  a  Half  in  the  United  States  of  America,  during  1798- 
99-1800-1-2,  by  John  Davis."  London,  1803. 


CHAP.  XII.]  HIS    INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  631 

of  my  fellow- citizens  which  is  here  assembled,  to  express  my  grateful  thanks  for 
the  favor  with  which  they  have  been  pleased  to  look  towards  me,  to  declare  a  sin 
cere  consciousness  that  the  task  is  above  my  talents,  and  that  I  approach  it  with 
those  anxious  and  awful  presentiments  which  the  greatness  of  the  charge  and  the 
weakness  of  my  powers  so  juetly  inspire.  A  rising  nation,  spread  over  a  wide  and 
fruitful  land,  traversing  all  the  seas  with  the  rich  productions  of  their  industry, 
engaged  in  commerce  with  nations  who  feel  power  and  forget  right,  advancing 
rapidly  to  destinies  beyond  the  reach  of  mortal  eye — when  I  contemplate  these 
transcendent  objects,  and  see  the  honor,  the  happiness,  and  the  hopes  of  this 
beloved  country  committed  to  the  issue  and  the  auspices  of  this  day,  I  shrink  from 
the  contemplation  and  humble  myself  before  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking. 
Utterly  indeed  should  I  despair,  did  not  the  presence  of  many  whom  I  here  see 
remind  me,  that  in  the  other  high  authorities  provided  by  our  Constitution  I  shall 
find  resources  of  wisdom,  of  virtue,  and  of  zeal,  on  which  to  rely  under  all  diffi 
culties.  To  you,  then,  gentlemen,  who  are  charged  with  the  sovereign  functions 
of  legislation,  and  to  those  associated  with  you,  I  look  with  encouragement  for  that 
guidance  and  support  which  may  enable  us  to  steer  with  safety  the  vessel  in  which 
we  are  all  embarked  amid  the  conflicting  elements  of  a  troubled  world. 

During  the  contest  of  opinion,  through  which  we  have  passed,  the  animation 
of  discussion  and  of  exertions  has  sometimes  worn  an  aspect  which  might  impose  on 
strangers  unused  to  think  freely  and  to  speak  and  to  write  what  they  think;  bnt 
this  being  now  decided  by  the  voice  of  the  nation,  announced  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  Constitution,  all  will,  of  course,  arrange  themselves  under  the  will  of 
the  law,  and  unite  in  common  efforts  for  the  common  good.  All,  too,  will  bear  in 
mind  this  sacred  principle,  that  though  the  will  of  the  majority  is  in  all  cases  to 
prevail,  that  will,  to  be  rightful,  must  be  reasonable  ;  that  the  minority  posses  their 
equal  rights,  which  equal  laws  must  protect,  and  to  violate  which  would  be  oppres 
sion.  Let  us,  then,  fellow-citizens,  unite  with  one  heart  and  one  mind.  Let  us 
restore  to  social  intercourse  that  harmony  and  affection  without  which  liberty  and 
even  life  itself  are  but  dreary  things.  And  let  us  reflect  that  having  banished  from 
our  land  that  religious  intolerance  under  which  mankind  so  long  bled  and  suffered, 
we  have  yet  gained  little  if  we  countenance  a  political  intolerance  as  despotic,  as 
wicked,  and  capable  of  as  bitter  and  bloody  persecutions.  During  the  throes  and 
convulsions  of  the  ancient  world,  during  the  agonizing  spasms  of  infuriated  man, 
seeking  through  bood  and  slaughter  his  long-lost  liberty,  it  was  not  wonderful  that 
the  agitation  of  the  billows  should  reach  even  this  distant  and  peaceful  shore  ;  that 
this  should  be  more  felt  and  feared  by  some,  and  less  by  others  ;  that  this  should 
divide  opinions  as  to  measures  of  safety.  But  every  difference  of  opinion  is  not 
a  difference  of  principle.  We  have  called  by  different  names  brethren  of  the  same 
principle.  We  are  all  Republicans — we  are  all  Federalists.  If  there  be  any  among 
us  who  would  wish  to  dissolve  this  Union,  or  to  change  its  republican  form,  let  them 
stand  undisturbed  as  monuments  of  the  safety  with  which  error  of  opinion  may  be 
tolerated  where  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  it.  I  know,  indeed,  that  some  honest 
men  fear  that  a  Republican  Government  cannot  be  strong;  that  this  Government  is 
not  strong  enough.  But  would  the  honest  patriot,  in  the  full  tide  of  successful 
experiment,  abandon  a  government  which  has  so  far  kept  us  free  and  firm,  on  tho 
theoretic  and  visionary  fear  th  ,t  this  Government,  the  world's  best  hope,  may  by 
possibility  want  energy  to  preserve  itself?  I  trust  not.  I  believe  this,  on  the  con 
trary,  the  strongest  Government  on  earth.  I  believe  it  the  only  one  where  every 
man,  at  the  call  of  the  laws,  would  fly  to  the  standard  of  the  law,  and  would  meet 


632  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  [CHAP.  XII. 

invasions  of  the  public  order,  as  his  own  personal  concern.  Sometimes  it  is  said 
that  man  cannot  be  trusted  with  the  government  of  himself  Can  he  then  be  trusted 
with  the  government  of  others?  Or  have  we  found  angels  in  the  forms  of  kings 
to  govern  him  ?  Let  history  answer  this  question. 

Let  us,  then,  with  courage  and  confidence,  pursue  our  own  Federal  and  Repub 
lican  principles,  our  attachment  to  our  Union  and  representative  government. 
Kindly  separated  by  nature  and  a  wide  ocean  from  the  exterminating  havoc  of  one 
quarter  of  the  globe;  too  high-minded  to  endure  the  degradations  of  the  others; 
possessing  a  chosen  country,  with  room  enough  for  our  descendants  to  the  hun 
dredth  and  thousandth  generation  ;  entertaining  a  due  sense  of  our  equal  rights  to 
the  use  of  our  own  faculties,  to  the  acquisitions  of  our  industry,  to  honor  and  confi 
dence  from  our  fellow-citizens,  resulting  not  from  birth  but  from  our  actions  and 
their  sense  of  them ;  enlightened  by  a  benign  religion,  professed,  indeed,  and  prac 
tised  in  various  forms,  yet  all  of  them  including  honesty,  truth,  temperance,  grati 
tude,  and  the  love  of  man  ;  acknowledging  and  adoring  an  overruling  Providence, 
which  by  all  its  dispensations  proves  that  it  delights  in  the  happiness  of  man  here 
and  his  greater  happiness  hereafter;  with  all  these  blessings,  what  more  is  neces 
sary  to  make  tis  a  happy  and  prosperous  people?  Still  one  thing  more,  fellow- 
citizens — a  wise  and  frugal  government,  which  shall  restrain  men  from  injuring  one 
another,  which  shall  leave  them  otherwise  free  to  regulate  their  own  pursuits  of 
industry  and  improvement,  and  shall  not  take  from  the  mouth  of  labor  the  bread  it 
has  earned.  This  is  the  sum  of  good  government,  and  this  is  necessary  to  close  the 
circle  of  our  felicities. 

About  to  enter,  fellow-citizens,  on  the  exercise  of  duties  which  comprehend 
everything  dear  and  valuable  to  you,  it  is  proper  that  you  should  understand  what 
I  deem  the  essential  principles  of  our  government,  and  consequently  those  which 
ought  to  shape  its  administration.  I  will  compress  them  within  the  narrowest  com 
pass  they  will  bear,  stating  the  general  principle  but  not  all  its  limitations.  Equal 
and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  of  whatever  state  or  persuasion,  religious  or  political ; 
peace,  commerce,  and  honest  friendship,  with  all  nations — entangling  alliances  with 
none  ;  the  support  of  the  State  governments  in  all  their  rights,  as  the  most  compe 
tent  administrations  for  our  domestic  concerns  and  the  surest  bulwarks  against 
anti-republican  tendencies;  the  preservation  of  the  General  Government  in  its 
whole  constitutional  vigor,  as  the  sheet  anchor  of  our  peace  at  home  and  safety 
abroad;  a  jealous  care  of  the  right  of  election  by  the  people — a  mild  and  safe 
corrective  of  abuses  which  are  lopped  by  the  sword  of  revolution  where  peaceable 
remedies  are  unprovided  ;  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the  majority — 
the  vital  principle  of  republics,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal  but  to  force,  the  vital 
principle  and  immediate  parent  of  despotism  ;  a  well-disciplined  militia— our  best 
reliance  in  peace  and  for  the  first  moments  of  war,  till  regulars  may  relieve  them  ; 
the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authority  ;  economy  in  the  public 
expense,  that  labor  may  be  lightly  burdened  ;  the  honest  payment  of  our  debts 
and  sacred  preservation  of  the  public  faith  ;  encouragement  of  agriculture,  and 
of  commerce  as  its  handmaid ;  the  diffusion  of  information  and  the  arraignment 
of  all  abuses  at  the  bar  of  public  reason ;  freedom  of  religion  ;  freedom  of  the 
press;  freedom  of  person  under  the  protection  of  the  habeas  corpus;  and  trial  by 
juries  impartially  selected — these  principles  form  the  bright  constellation  which  has 
gone  before  us,  and  guided  our  steps  through  an  age  of  revolution  and  reformation. 
The  wisdom  of  our  sages  and  the  blood  of  our  heroes  have  been  devoted  to  their 
attainment.  They  should  be  the  creed  of  our  political  faith — the  text  of  civil 


CHAP.  XII.]  THE    RECEPTION    BY    THE    PUBLIC.  633 

instruction — the  touchstone  by  which  to  try  the  services  of  those  we  trust ;  and 
should  we  wander  from  them  in  moments  of  error  or  alarm,  let  us  hasten  to  retrace 
our  steps  and  to  regain  the  road  which  alone  leads  to  peace,  liberty,  and  safety. 

I  repair,  then,  fellow-citizens,  to  the  post  you  have  assigned  me.  With  expe 
rience  enough  in  subordinate  offices  to  have  seen  the  difficulties  of  this,  the  greatest 
of  all,  I  have  learned  to  expect  that  it  will  rarely  fall  to  the  lot  of  imperfect  man 
to  retire  from  this  station  with  the  reputation  and  the  favor  which  bring  him  into 
it.  Without  pretensions  to  that  high  confidence  reposed  in  our  first  and  great 
Revolutionary  character,  whose  preeminent  services  had  entitled  him  to  the  first 
place  in  his  country's  love,  and  destined  for  him  the  fairest  page  in  the  volume  of 
faithful  history,  I  ask  so  much  confidence  only  as  may  give  firmness  and  effect  to 
the  legal  administration  of  your  affairs.  I  shall  often  go  wrong  through  defect  of 
judgment.  When  right,  I  shall  often  be  thought  wrong  by  those  whose  positions 
will  not  command  a  view  of  the  whole  ground.  I  ask  your  indulgence  for  my  own 
errors,  which  will  never  be  intentional ;  and  your  support  against  the  errors  of 
others,  who  may  condemn  what  they  would  not  if  seen  in  all  its  parts.  The  appro 
bation  implied  by  your  suffrage  is  a  consolation  to  me  for  the  past ;  and  my  future 
solicitude  will  be  to  retain  the  good  opinion  of  those  who  have  bestowed  it  in 
advance,  to  conciliate  that  of  others  by  doing  them  all  the  good  in  my  power,  and 
to  be  instrumental  to  the  happiness  and  freedom  of  all. 

Relying,  then,  on  the  patronage  of  your  good  will,  I  advance  with  obedience  to 
the  work,  ready  to  retire  from  it  whenever  you  become  sensible  how  much  better 
choice  it  is  in  your  power  to  make.  And  may  that  Infinite  Power  which  rules  the 
destinies  of  the  universe,  lead  our  councils  to  what  is  best,  and  give  them  a  favor 
able  issue  for  your  peace  and  prosperity. 

After  the  delivery  of  his  address,  he  was  sworn  into  office  by 
the  Chief-Justice.  On  the  close  of  the  ceremonies,  the  usual 
calls  were  made  on  the  President  and  Vice-President.  "  Most 
of  the  Federal  gentlemen  "  joined  in  these  civilities,  and  thev 
appear  to  have  been  received  to  their  satisfaction.1 

President  Jefferson's  inaugural  address  is  an  elaborate  and 
somewhat  rhetorical  production  ;  but  few,  we  apprehend,  would 
like  to  exchange  it  for  a  modern  "King's  speech,"  where  dry- 
ness  is  as  sedulously  studied  as  if  it  were  undignified  for  a  Chief 
Magistrate  to  condescend  to  use  flowing  English,  or  to  please 
the  public  ear.  Its  manner  certainly  struck  the  people  of  the 
United  States  most  favorably  ;  and  the  number  of  its  phrases 
which  have  passed  into  popular  axioms — which  are  constantly 
reproduced  in  political  newspapers  and  addresses,  as  at  the  same 
time  the  most  authoritative  and  most  felicitous  expressions  of 
the  ideas  they  embody — is  astonishing,  and  perhaps  unequalled 
in  the  instance  of  any  similar  production. 

The  moderate  and  tolerant  spirit  it  displayed  took  many  ot 

'  See  Bayard  to  HamiltoD.  March  8.  1801,  already  quoted. 


634  LETTEKS    TO   DICKINSON    AND   MONEOE.  [CHAP.  XIL 

both  the  I  resident's  friends  and  opponents  by  surprise  ;  and  it 
is  not  to  bu  denied  that  it  displeased  some  of  the  former.  There 
was  a  division  in  policy  between  Jefferson  and  a  wing  of  his 
party  on  the  question  throughout  his  entire  administration.  We 
shall  present  some  further  facts  on  this  subject  when  we  come 
to  the  topic  of  appointments  and  removals. 

On  the  6th  of  March  the  President  wrote,  in  answer  to  a 
letter  of  congratulation  from  his  old  friend,  John  Dickinson  : 

"  The  slorm  through  which  we  have  passed  has  been  tremendous  indeed.  The 
tough  sides  of  our  Argosie  have  been  thoroughly  tried.  Her  strength  has  stood  the 
waves  into  which  she  was  steered,  with  a  view  to  sink  her.  We  shall  put  her  on 
her  republican  tack,  and  she  will  now  show,  by  the  beauty  of  her  motion,  the  skill 
of  her  builders.  Figure  apart,  our  fellow-citizens  have  been  led  hood-winked  from 
their  principles,  by  a  most  extraordinary  combination  of  circumstances.  But  the 
band  is  removed,  and  they  now  see  for  themselves.  I  hope  to  see  shortly  a  perfect 
consolidation,  to  effect  which  nothing  shall  be  spared  on  my  part,  short  of  the  aban 
donment  of  the  principles  of  our  Revolution.  A  just  and  solid  republican  govern- 
ment  maintained  here  will  be  a  standing  monument  and  example  for  the  aim  and 
imitation  of  the  people  of  other  countries;  and  I  join  with  you  in  the  hope  and 
belief  that  they  will  see,  from  our  example,  that  a  free  government  is  of  all  others 
the  most  energetic ;  that  the  inquiry  which  has  been  excited  among  the  mass  of 
mankind  by  our  Revolution  and  its  consequences,  will  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
man  over  a  great  portion  of  the  globe.  What  a  satisfaction  have  we  in  the  contem 
plation  of  the  benevolent  effects  of  our  efforts,  compared  with  those  of  the  leaders 
on  the  other  side,  who  have  discountenanced  all  advances  in  science  as  dangerous 
innovations,  have  endeavored  to  render  philosophy  and  republicanism  terms  of 
reproach,  to  persuade  us  that  man  cannot  be  governed  but  by  the  rod,  etc.  I  shall 
have  the  happiness  of  living  and  dying  in  the  contrary  hope." 

He  wrote  Governor  Monroe  the  next  day,  and  we  here  get 
the  full  meaning  and  aim  of  the  inaugural ;  as  well  as  his  deter 
mination  of  how  its  professions  were  to  be  carried  into  practice 
in  the  delicate  question  of  removals.  He  commences  with  an 
allusion  to  certain  erroneous  rumors : 

• 

41 1  am  in  hopes  my  inaugural  address  will  in  some  measure  set  this  to  rights,  as 
it  will  present  the  leading  objects  to  be  conciliation  and  adherence  to  sound  princi 
ple.  This  I  know  is  impracticable  with  the  leaders  of  the  late  faction,  whom  I 
abandon  as  incurables,  and  will  never  turn  an  inch  out  of  my  way  to  reconcile  them. 
But  with  the  main  body  of  the  Federalists  I  believe  it  very  practicable.  You  know 
that  the  manoeuvres  of  the  year  XYZ  carried  over  from  us  a  great  body  of  the 
people,  real  republicans,  and  honest  men  under  virtuous  motives.  The  delusion 
lasted  a  while.  At  length  the  poor  arts  of  tub-plots,  etc.,  were  repeated  till  the 
designs  of  the  party  became  suspected.  From  that  moment,  those  who  had  left  us 
began  to  come  back.  It  was  by  their  return  to  us  that  we  gained  the  victory  in 
November,  1800,  which  we  should  not  have  gained  in  November,  1799.  But 


CHAP.  XH.J  THE   CABINET.  635 

during  the  suspension  of  the  public  mind  from  the  llth  to  the  17th  of  February, 
and  the  anxiety  and  alarm  lest  there  should  be  no  election,  and  anarchy  ensue,  a 
wonderful  effect  was  produced  on  the  mass  of  Federalists  who  had  not  before  come 
over.  Those  who  had  before  become  sensible  of  their  error  in  the  former  change, 
and  only  wanted  a  decent  excuse  for  coming  bank,  seized  that  occasion  for  doing 
so.  Another  body,  and  a  large  one  it  is,  who,  from  timidity  of  constitution,  had 
gone  with  those  who  wished  for  a  strong  executive,  were  induced  by  the  same 
timidity  to  come  over  to  us  rather  than  risk  anarchy :  so  that,  according  to  the 
evidence  we  receive  from  every  direction,  we  may  say  that  the  whole  of  that  por 
tion  of  the  people  which  were  called  Federalists  were  made  to  desire  anxiously  the 
very  event  they  had  just  before  opposed  with  all  their  energies,  and  to  receive  the 
election  which  was  made  as  an  object  of  their  earnest  wishes,  a  child  of  their  own. 
These  people  (I  always  exclude  their  leaders)  are  now  aggregated  with  us,  they 
look  with  a  certain  degree  of  affection  and  confidence  to  the  Administration,  ready 
to  become  attached  to  it,  if  it  avoids  in  the  outset  acts  which  might  revolt  and 
throw  them  off.  To  give  time  for  a  perfect  consolidation  seems  prudent.  I  have 
firmly  refused  to  follow  the  counsels  of  those  who  have  desired  the  giving  offices  to 
some  of  their  leaders,  in  order  to  reconcile.  I  have  given,  and  will  give  only  to 
Republicans,  under  existing  circumstances.  But  I  believe  with  others,  that  depri 
vations  of  office,  if  made  on  the  ground  of  political  principles  alone,  would  revolt 
our  new  converts,  and  give  a  body  to  leaders  who  now  stand  alone.  Some,  I  know, 
must  be  made.  They  must  be  as  few  as  possible,  done  gradually,  and  bottomed  on 
some  malversation  or  inherent  disqualification.  Where  we  shall  draw  the  line 
between  retaining  all  and  none,  is  not  yet  settled,  and  will  not  be  till  we  get  our 
Administration  together;  and  perhaps  even  then  we  Shall  proceed  d  tdtons, 
balancing  our  measures  according  to  the  impression  we  perceive  them  to  make." 

The  last  intercommunication  which  took  place  between  the 
President  and  his  predecessor,  then  w  for  a  long  subseqent 
period,  was  contained  in  a  note  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  March  8th, 
(inclosing  a  letter  for  Mr.  Adams,  carried  by  its  official  direc 
tion  to  the  hands  of  the  former)  and  Mr.  Adams's  reply  of 
March  24th.  The  latter  closes  with  the  remark :  "  This  part 
of  the  Union  is  in  a  state  of  perfect  tranquillity,  and  1  see 
nothing  to  obscure  your  prospect  of  a  quiet  and  prosperous 
administration,  which  I  heartily  wish  you."  1 

On  the  5th  of  March,  the  President  nominated  James  Madi 
son,  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Henry  Dearborn,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  Secretary  of  War  ;  and  Levi  Lincoln,  of  Massachusetts, 
Attorney-General — all  of  whom  wrere  confirmed  by  the  Senate 
and  appointed  on  the  same  day.  In  the  succeeding  recess  of  the 
Senate  (May  14th),  Albert  Gallatin,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  ap 
pointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Samuel  Smith,  of  Maryland, 
acted  as  Secretary  of  the  Navy  from  the  1st  of  April  to  the  15th 

1  For  both  letters,  see  Adams's  Works,  vol.  ix.  p.  581. 


636  THE    CABINET.  [CHAP.  XII. 

of  July,  and  was  then  succeeded  by  Robert  Smith  of  the  same 
State.  Gideon  Granger,  of  Connecticut,  was  appointed  Post 
master-General  on  the  28th  day  of  November.  These  nomina 
tions  were  confirmed  on  the  26th  of  January,  1802. 

Mr.  Madison's  preceding  history  has  been  too  closely  con 
nected  with  that  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  to  require  a  further  notice 
here. 

Colonel  Dearborn  was  born  at  Hampton,  New  Hampshire, 
in  March,  1751.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  He  volution  he  was 
a  physician  of  three  years'  practice,  settled  in  Nottingham,  in 
the  same  State.  The  next  day  after  the  battle  of  Lexington,  he 
mustered  and  led  sixty  volunteers  to  Cambridge — advancing 
sixty-five  miles  in  twenty-four  hours.  He  was  immediately 
commissioned  a  Captain  in  Colonel  (afterwards  General)  Stark's 
New  Hampshire  regiment.  He  commanded  the  flank  guard  as 
it  marched  across  Charlestown  Neck,  under  the  terrible  fire  of  the 
British  shipping,  June  17th,  1775,  to  take  part  in  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill.  Throughout  the  latter  action,  Dearborn  carried  a 
musket  and  fired  with  his  men. 

He  exchanged  places  with  another  captain,  to  obtain  the 
opportunity  of  following  Arnold  to  Quebec.  On  reaching  the 
Chaudiere,  he  was  seized  with  a  violent  fever,  and  was  com 
pelled  to  stop  at  a  poor  hut  where  he  refused  to  allow  one  of  his 
weeping  soldiers  to  remain  behind  to  take  care  of  him.  He  suf 
fered  for  the  want  of  everything,  but  his  powerful  constitution 
triumphed.  He  obtained  a  horse  and  appeared  before  his  men 
just  before  the  assault  on  Quebec.  He  fought  writh  his  custo 
mary  determination,  but  his  company  were  overwhelmed  in  the 
sortie  led  by  Captain  Law,  and  he  was  made  a  prisoner.  He 
was  released  on  parole  in  1776,  and  the  following  spring  ex 
changed.  He  was  appointed  Major  in  the  third  (Scammell's) 
New  Hampshire  regiment.  He  was  at  Ticonderoga,  and  led  the 
rear  guard  when  St.  Glair  retreated  before  Bnrgoyne. 

Gn  the  heights  of  Saratoga  he  was  made  a  Lieutenant 
Colonel,  and  commanded  a  corps  of  observation,  intended  for 
such  desperate  service  as  occasion  might  demand.  He  was  in 
the  advance  under  Morgan  on  the  19th  of  September,  and  on  the 
7th  of  Gctober  was  with  Arnold  when  he  made  his  attack  on 
the  British  right.  Eight  heavy  cannon  were  playing  on  the 
American  line  from  an  eminence  in  the  rear  of  the  foe,  and 


rUAP.  XTT.]  THE    CABINET.  637 

Arnold  ordered  Dearborn  to  pass  round  the  enemy's  right  and 
seize  this  battery.  He  met  a  corps  of  infantry  on  the  way,  but 
swept  them  out  of  his  path  with  the  bayonet,  took  the  cannon  and 
the  corps  attached  to  them,  and  having  disposedof  them,  advanced 
on  the  British  rear  before  being  discovered,  and  delivered  his 
fire,  aiding  materially  in  compelling  their  precipitous  retreat. 

When  Arnold  led  the  assault  on  the  British  intrench  ments, 
with  such  maniacal  bravery,  he  was  closely  followed  by  Dear 
born.  From  dawn  until  late  at  night  of  that,  day,  the  latter 
neither  sat  down  nor  tasted  food.  He  was  particularly  noticed 
in  the  dispatches  of  General  Gates. 

He  passed  the  succeeding  winter  amidst  the  horrors  of 
Valley  Forge.  He  attracted  the  particular  notice  of  Washing 
ton  for  his  gallantry  at  M  on  mouth.  He  followed  Sullivan  in 
his  Indian  Campaign,  in  1779 — was  in  the  army  in  New  Jersey 
in  1780 — was  appointed  deputy  Quarter-Master-General,  with 
rank  of  Colonel,  in  1781,  in  which  capacity  he  served  at  York- 
town  ;  and  was  in  the  command  of  the  then  frontier  post  of 
Saratoga  when  peace  was  declared. 

In  1784  he  settled,  as  farmer,  on  the  banks  of  the  Kenne- 
beck.  Washington  appointed  him  marshal  of  Maine  in  1789. 
He  had  been  twice  elected  a  member  of  Congress. 

He  was  a  man  of  as  much  coolness  as  nerve ;  possessed 
excellent  sense  ;  was  of  a  kind,  frank,  loyal  temper ;  and  his 
honor  was  unquestioned  by  friend  or  foe.  He  was  large  and 
commanding  in  person.1 

Mr.  Lincoln's  previous  career,  having  been  that  of  a  civilian, 
presents  fewer  noticeable  points.  He  was  born  in  1749  ;  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1772;  studied  law  and 
entered  into  its  practice  at  Worcester,  where  he  rose  rapidly  to 
eminence  in  his  profession  and  as  a  party  leader.  He  was  an 
ardent  Kepublican  from  the  first  formation  of  parties,  and  was 
the  author  of  some  very  effective  political  papers,  published 
during  Mr.  Adams's  Administration.  He  had  been  elected  to 
Congress  from  his  district,  to  fill  a  vacancy  during  the  late 
session,  after  a  contest  which  called  out  the  most  vehement  efforts 
of  the  other  party.  No  Kepublican  in  Massachusetts  occupied 
a  more  conspicuous  and  leading  position  ;  and  he  wras  the  head 

i  The  details  we  have  given  are  drawn  from  Allen's  Biographical  Dictioiiary   Amen 
can  Military  Biography,  and  various  perfectly  reliable  personal  sources. 


THE   CABINET.  fcHAP.  XII 

of  a  family  as  celebrated  for  its  talents  and  political  influence 
as  for  its  devotion  to  the  principles  of  that  party.  He  was  an 
estimable  man  in  public  and  private  life  ;  faithful  to  official 
duty,  full  of  energy,  staunch  to  his  cause,  true  to  his  friend,  and 
honorable  to  his  enemy. 

Mr.  Gallatin,  like  Mr.  Madison,  had  already  been  much 
before  the  public.  His  foreign  birth,  his  early  emigration  to 
Pennsylvania,  his  important  connection  with  the  political  his 
tory  of  that  State  for  some  years  preceding  his  appointment  to 
Mr.  Jefferson's  Cabinet,  are  matters  of  notoriety.  His  con 
gressional  career,  and  his  transcendent  ability  and  courage  in 
that  field  have  already  found  some  mention  in  these  pages. 

He  was  a  man  of  profound,  logical,  and  clear  understanding 
in  any  department  of  investigation — but  perhaps  his  forte  lay  in 
political  economy,  and  particularly  in  the  figures,  statistics  and 
philosophy  of  finance.  Here  he  was  neither  a  copyist,  nor  an 
oracular  talker,  employing  instruments  to  work  out  practical 
details.  He  neither  found  nor  invented  mysteries.  He  did 
not  borrow,  lend,  transfer,  etc.,  between  an  army  of  differently 
named  "  funds  "  (like  a  thimble  player,  transferring  his  ball 
from  one  cup  to  another)  to  bewilder  scrutiny,  and  end  in  bewil 
dering  himself.  Least  of  all  did  Gallatin  consider  the  Treasury 
department  a  huge  turtle  to  lay  eggs  constantly  in  the  sand  to 
feed  those  carnivorous  political  birds  which  might  otherwise 
flesh  their  hungry  beaks  in  the  carcass  of  the  Administration. 
!Nor  did  he  consider  it  like  the  turtle  of  the  mythology  of  cer 
tain  Indian  tribes  which  carries  the  world  on  its  back. 

He  understood  finance  in  its  highest  theory  and  in  its 
minutest  practice,  with  that  comprehensiveness  and  accuracy 
which  enabled  him  to  adapt  it  to  any  special  circumstances. 
He  was  cautious,  averse  to  projects,  and  had  no  ambition  for 
display.  His  integrity  was  above  even  suspicion.  He  had 
precisely  the  sagacity,  the  decision,  and  the  prudence  necessary 
to  change  a  bad  system  so  gradually,  and  under  circumstances 
and  explanations  which  carried  so  clear  a  conviction  of  improve 
ment,  that  not  only  danger  but  alarm  was  avoided.  In  every 
point  of  view  he  was  singularly  adapted  to  execute  the  precise 
line  of  policy  the  new  President  desired  to  carry  into  the 
Treasury  department. 

It  has  been  seen  the  Navy  department  was  first  offered  to 


CHAP.  XII.]  THE   CABINET.  639 

R.  R.  Livingston.  Mr.  Jefferson's  next,  if  not  his  first,  choice  was 
a  most  intimate  personal,  as  well  as  political  friend,  General 
Samuel  Smith,  of  Maryland.  This  gentleman  was  the  son  of  a 
great  merchant,  who  was  one  of  the  principal  founders  of  the 
commercial  prosperity  of  Baltimore,  and  who  was  also  a  dis 
tinguished  politician  of  that  State  throughout  the  Revolutionary 
epoch.  He  was  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  Maryland  in 
1776,  and  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carollton,  said  of  him  :  "I  have 
John  Smith  on  my  committee  for  shaping  the  Senate,  and  it 
will  be  the  safeguard  of  liberty  and  order."  He  was  chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  in  the  House  of  Delegates 
throughout  most  of  the  Revolution. 

General  Smith  was  bred  to  his  father's  occupation,  and  in 
1771  the  latter  sent  him  to  Europe  in  one  of  his  own  vessels. 
He  travelled  in  England,  France,  Portugal,  Spain,  and  Italy, 
studying  the  commerce  and  character  of  those  countries.  He 
took  a  very  active  and  conspicuous  part  in  the  Revolution  ;  but 
we  will  here  omit  the  details  of  his  career,  as  we  purpose  in 
another  part  of  this  work  to  present  a  full  and  connected  sketch 
of  this  able  and  useful  public  man,  drawn  up  by  an  authorized 
hand.1 

We  will  only  add  here  that  Mr.  Smith's  private  affairs 
became  completely  shattered  by  the  war  ;  that  he  was  compelled 
to  rebuild  the  fortunes  of  the  commercial  house  from  the  foun 
dation  ;  that  he  did  so  with  rapid  success ;  that  he  fully  made 
good  his  father's  place  as  a  merchant,  his  ships  traversing  every 
sea;  that  he  was  repeatedly  elected  to  the  Legislature  of 
Maryland  ;  and  that  he  was  transferred  from  thence  to  Congress 
in  1792,  where,  either  in  the  House  or  the  Senate,  he  was  to 
continue  upwards  of  forty  years. 

While  he  remained  in  the  Navy  department  he  declined  hav 
ing  any  commission  made  out  for  him,9  and  refused  to  accept 
any  compensation.  It  is  understood  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was 
very  anxious  for  his  permanent  continuance  ;  but  private  affairs, 
and  particularly  the  concerns  of  his  commercial  house,  would 

1  See  APPKNDIX,  No.  20. 

*  Until  the  moment  of  penning  these  remarks,  it  had  not  occurred  to  us  to  examine  by 
what  arrangement  his  service,  under  such  circumstances,  was  rendered  practicable  ;  and 
we  have  no  authorities  at  hand  to  settle  the  point.  It  may  have  been  by  arrangement 
with  Stoddert,  and  by  using  his  name.  At  all  events,  we  are  certain  that  Smith  di?- 
Charged  the  duties  of  the  office,  as  stated  in  the  text. 


640  THE    CABIXET.  [CHAP.  XH. 

allow  him  to  stay  only  until  a  satisfactory  ultimate  disposition 
could  be  made  of  the  office. 

Colonel  Bentonjin  his  Thirty  Year's  Yiew,  thus  sketches  the 
legislative  career  and  character  of  General  Smith  : 

•*  He  was  thoroughly  a  business  member,  under  all  the  aspects  of  the  character; 
intelligent,  well-informed,  attentive^  upright  ;  a  very  effective  speaker,  without  pre 
tending  to  oratory  ;  well  read  :  but  all  his  reading  subordinate  to  common  sense 
and  practical  views  ;  .  .  .  .  was  particularly  skilled  in  matters  of  finance  and 
commerce,  to  which  his  clear  head  and  practical  knowledge  lent  light  and  order  in 
the  midst  of  the  most  intricate  statements  .....  Patriotism,  honor,  and 
integrity  were  his  eminent  characteristics  ;  and  utilitarian  the  turn  of  his  mind, 
and  beneficial  results  the  object  of  his  labors  .....  He  was  a  working  mem 
ber,  and  worked  diligently,  judiciously,  and  honestly  for  the  public  good." 

The  Xavy  bureau  was  in  the  meantime  offered  to  and 
declined  by  William  Jones  of  Pennsylvania  and  John  Langdon 
of  Xew  Hampshire.1  Robert  Smith  of  Maryland  was  then 
appointed. 

This  gentleman  was  the  third  brother  of  General  Samuel 
Smith,  and  was  born  in  November,  1757.  While  a  student  at 
Newark,  Delaware,  he  bore  arms  as  a  volunteer  at  the  battle  of 
Brandywine.  He  studied  law  and  soon  rose  to  distinction.  He 
was  one  of  the  Presidential  electors  of  his  State  on  Washington's 
second  unanimous  election  to  the  Presidency  ;  and  served  with 
ability  for  several  years  in  the  House  of  Delegates  and  in  the 
Senate  of  Maryland.  As  a  member  of  a  commercial  family  he 
had  a  better  acquaintance  with  maritime  affairs  than  most  of  the 
mere  lawyers  who  have  been  appointed  Secretaries  of  the  Navy, 
and  he  had  the  further  advantage  of  being  able  if  necessary 
to  confer  at  all  times  without  reserve  with  his  more  experienced 
brother  in  respect  to  the  practical  questions  of  his  department. 

He  was  an  able,  upright,  firm  man  —  industrious  and  accurate 
in  business  —  dignified  and  courteous  in  public  life  —  religious,1 
kindly,  accomplished  and  popular  in  private  life.  His  high 
sentiments,  his  noble  appearance,  his  elegant  hospitality,  his  assid 
uous  attentions  to  the  officers  of  the  Navy  of  every  rank,  and  his 


1  See  correspondence  attached  to  APTTS^TDTX.  No.  20. 

9  He  waa  one  of  the  earlier  President*  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  and  held  the 
place  for  several  years.  On  the  resignation  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  he  was  elected  Pro- 
Tost  of  the  University  of  Maryland.  He  wn*  President  of  the  Aj^ricnltnral  Society  of 
Maryland.  After  fcfe  retirement  from  public  life,  he  became  a  large  farmer  anrt  importer 
of  efcofce  vamtie*  of  domestic  animals.  He  was  everywhere  a  public-spirited,  liberal 
' 


CHAP. 


THE   CABOTET.  '  -  -- 


indefatigable  attention  to  their  interests  and  the  interests  of  the 
Xa  v  v.  made  him  a  general  favorite  among  them,  and  his  hou&e 
was  habitually  thronged  by  them.  Our  able  naval  historian, 
Mr.  Cooper,  suspected  of  no  partiality  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  Admin 
istration,1  bears  strong  ami  honorable  testimony  of  Smith's  great 
and  deserved  popularity  in  the  Navy. 

Of  Mr.  Grangers  previous  personal  history  we  know  little. 
He  was  born  at  Suffieid.  Connecticut,  July  19th,  1767,  and  was 
graduated  at  Tale.  College  in  17>7.  He  soon  rose  to  distinction 
as  a  lawyer  and  politician  ;  and  it  is  said  that  it  was  chiefly  to 
his  exertions  in  its  Legislatnre,  that  his  native  State  is  indebted 
for  its  large  school  land.*  He  probably  owed  Ins  selection  in 
part,  also,  to  his  locality.  Mr.  Jefferson,  believing  the  people 
of  Xew  England  were  essentially  Republican,  was  particularly 
anxious  to  break  in  up*>n  the  strength  of  a  Federal  organi 
zation  which  kept  these  States  in  an  attitude  of  perfect  sectional 
unity,  and  in  constant  opposition  to  a  great  majority  of  the  peo 
ple  «-»i  the  rest  of  the  Union.  Bat  the  same  motive  operated, 
equally,  it  is  probable,  in  some  of  the  other  appointments.,  and  it 
is  due  to  Mr.  Granger  to  say  that  he  both  officially  and  person 
ally  secured  and  retained  the  full  confidence  of  his  principal. 
He  was  an  able,  energetic  man,  and  efficient  officer.  Wr  :"..:  k 
that  the  President  at  «»nce  placed  the  Postmaster  General  up»»n 
the  same  footing  with  tbe  other  heads  of  departments,  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Cabinet  for  purposes  of  consultation  ;  am  innovation 
on  preceding  usage,  but  thenceforth  passing  into  a  settled  regu 
lation  or  custom  of  the  government. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  President  Jefferson  ever 
had  occasion  to  regret  or  did  regret  the  choice  of  any  one  of  his 
subordinates  in  the  Administration.  The  Cabinet  was  undoubt 
edly  a  remarkably  strong  one  in  general  talent,  in  the  special 


642  DAWSOX    CARRIES    TREATY    TO   FRANCE.        [CHAP.  XII 

fitness  of  each  officer  for  his  place,  and  in  the  public  and  private 
character  of  all  its  members. 

Chancellor  Livingston  of  New  York  received  the  appoint 
ment  of  Minister  to  France.  Not  being  ready  for  immediate 
departure,  it  was  necessary  to  send  out  the  ratification  of  the 
new  treaty  by  a  diplomatic  messenger.  The  President  dis 
patched  Mr.  Dawson,  a  member  of  Congress,  on  that  errand. 

This  gentleman  was  a  half  brother  of  Governor  Monroe — 
was  a  man  of  parts — but  in  early  life  had  been  a  coxcomb,  nor 
was  he  yet  negligent  of  his  fine  person.  He  had  therefore 
obtained  the  sobriquet  of  "  Beau  Dawson."  His  selection  as  a 
messenger,  with  no  other  pay  than  that  of  a  messenger,  came  as 
a  godsend  to  the  Federal  wits  who  had  lately  found  few  subjects 
of  merriment ;  and  the  old  ballad  of  u  Nancy  Dawson  "  furnished 
them  with  a  groundwork  for  numerous  parodies  and  pasquin 
ades. 

But  Dawson  bore  with,  him  what  was  to  furnish  materials  for 
more  serious  assaults  on  the  President. 

Thomas  Paine  was  then  in  France,  and  was  anxious  to  return 
to  the  United  States.  He  probably  justly  believed  that  being 
an  Englishman  by  birth  he  would  be  a  favorite  subject  for  the 
operations  of  a  British  press-gang.  The  American  merchant 
flag  would  be  no  protection  to  him.  He  had  therefore  solicited 
Mr.  Jefferson,  in  case  of  his  election,  to  grant  him  a  passage  in  a 
national  vessel.  Jefferson  wrote  him  by  Dawson,  and  the  follow 
ing  were  the  only  passages  in  the  letter  pertaining  to  the  pre 
ceding  request : 

"  You  expressed  a  wish  to  get  a  passage  to  this  country  in  a  public  vessel.  Mr. 
Dawson  is  charged  with  orders  to  the  captain  of  the  Maryland  to  receive  and 
accommodate  you  with  a  passage  back,  if  you  can  be  ready  to  depart  at  such 
ehort  warning."  l 

Paine  got  ready  and  returned  in  the  sloop  of  war.  He  was 
too  much  gratified  by  the  tenor  of  Jefferson's  letter  not  to  pub 
lish  it.  The  occasion  was  considered  an  alarming  one  by  those 
who  had  so  vehemently  denounced  the  President' as  an  infidel, 

1  The  letter  closed  as  follows  : 

"  I  am  in  hopes  you  will  find  us  returned  generally  to  sentiments  worthy  of  former 
times.  In  these  it  will  be  your  glory  to  have  steadily  labored,  and  with  as  much  effect  as 
any  man  living.  That  you  may  long  live  to  continue  your  useful  labors,  and  to  reap  their 
reward  in  the  thankfulness  of  nations,  is  my  sincere  prayer. 

"  Accept  assurances  of  my  high  esteem  and  affectionate  attachment." 


:HAP.  xn.  J          PAINE'S  RETURN  IN  THE  MARYLAND. 

in  the  recent  election.  It  was  asserted  in  the  Federal  news 
papers  generally,  and  preached  from  a  multitude  of  pulpits, 
that  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  President,  after  entering  office, 
was  to  send  a  national  vessel  to  invite  and  bring  "Tom  Paino " 
to  America;  and  this  was  so  persistently  affirmed,  where  Mr. 
Jefferson's  letter,  if  even  seen,  soon  passed  out  of  memory,  that 
in  many  parts  of  the  country  it  became  an  established  tradition. 
Many  old  men,  particularly  of  New  England  birth,  can  now  be 
found,  who  speak  of  it  as  a  circumstance  as  well  settled  as  that 
Independence  was  declared  in  1776  ! 

Paine  was  "  an  infidel."  He  had  written  politically  against 
Washington.  He  was  accused  of  inebriety,  and  a  want  of 
chastity.  But  he  was  the  author  of  "  Common  Sense  "  and  the 
"  Crisis." 

Gates,  Conway  and  Charles  Lee  had  opposed  and  probably 
written  against  "Washington.  Lee  was  suspended  for  disobedi 
ence  and  personal  disrespect  to  the  Commander  in  Chief.  We 
are  not  informed  as  to  the  religious  opinions,  or  private 
morals  of  these  Revolutionary  Major  Generals.  We  will  sup 
pose  them  as  obnoxious  as  Paine's  were  claimed  to  be;  and  then 
we  will  suppose  one  of  these  men  in  France,  asking  the  protec 
tion  of  the  American  National  flag  to  get  back  to  the  land  he 
had  fought  for,  safe  from  insult  and  captivity  as  a  British  born 
subject.1  We  venture  to  assert  no  individual  ever  occupied,  or 
ever  will  occupy  the  Presidential  chair  of  this  republic,  who 
would  hesitate  an  instant  in  granting  the  request.  Yet  neither 
of  these  officers  had  done  as  much  to  produce  the  declaration  of 
American  Independence,  or  sustain  it  in  the  times  ';  which  tried 
the  souls  of  men,"  as  Thomas  Paine. 

Congress  has  passed  several  pension  laws  to  reward  military 
services  in  the  Revolution.  Benefactions  were  more  than  once 
voted  to  Paine  by  State  legislatures  for  his  civil  services  in  the 
same  contest.  We  are  not  aware  that  either  the  national  or  State 
legislatures  have  ever  established  a  preliminary  jury  of  ecclesi 
astical  or  moral  triers  to  decide  under  what  circumstances  pat 
riotic  deeds  cease  to  deserve  reward.  When  they  do,  the  prin 
ciple  on  which  Jefferson  acted  will  stand  condemned,  and  per- 

1  Lee  was  taken  prisoner  in  1776,  and  General  Howe  did  make  a  show  of  treating  him 
as  a  deserter.  He  refused  six  field-officers  offered  by  Washington  in  exchange.  Wash 
ington  then  confined  several  British  officers,  and  held  them  answerable  for  the  treatment 
Lee  received.  This  was  the  argument  that  never  failed. 


644:  PAUSE'S*  VISIT  TO  MONTICELLO.  [CHAP.  xn. 

haps  the  farther  one  be  established  that  he  who  rewards  or 
respects  patriotism  in  "  an  infidel "  or  immoral  man,  thereby 
proves  himself  an  infidel  or  immoral  man. 

We  are  disposed  to  furnish  some  further  proofs  of  the  same 
kind  against  Jefferson.  Paine  wrote  the  latter  that  he  was 
coming  to  visit  him  at  Monticello.  On  this  fact  being  mention 
ed,  Mrs.  Randolph,  and  we  think  Mrs.  Eppes — both  daugh 
ters  of  the  Church  of  England — were  not  careful  to  conceal 
that  they  would  have  much  preferred  to  have  Mr.  Paine  stay 
away.  Mr.  Jefferson  turned  to  the  speaker  with  his  gentlest 
smile  and  remarked,  in  substance :  "  Mr  Paine  is  not,  I  believe, 
a  favorite  among  the  ladies — but  he  is  too  well  entitled  to  the 
hospitality  of  every  American,  not  to  cheerfully  receive  mine." 
Paine  came  and  remained  a  day  or  two.  As  in  their  correspond 
ence,  Jefferson  did  not  talk  with  him  on  the  subject  of  religion. 
He  called  him  out  on  historical,  political  and  similar  topics. 
Paine's  discourse  was  weighty,  his  manners  sober  and  inof 
fensive;  and  he  left  Mr.  Jefferson's  mansion  the  subject  of 
lighter  prejudices  than  he  entered  it. 

Three  days  after  writing  Paine  in  France  (March  21st),  the 
President  wrote  to  Dr.  Priestly : 

u  I  learned  some  time  ago  that  you  were  in  Philadelphia,  but  that  it  was  only 
for  a  fortnight ;  and  I  supposed  you  were  gone.  It  was  not  till  yesterday  I  received 
information  that  you  were  still  there,  had  been  very  ill,  but  were  on  the  recovery. 
1  sincerely  rejoice  that  you  are  so.  Yours  is  one  of  the  few  live?  precious  to  man 
kind,  and  for  the  continuance  of  which  every  thinking  man  is  solicitous.  Bigots 
may  be  an  exception.  What  an  effort,  my  dear  sir,  of  bigotry  in  politics  and 
religion  have  we  gone  through !  The  barbarians  really  flattered  themselves  they 
should  be  able  to  bring  back  the  times  of  Vandalism,  when  ignorance  put  every 
thing  into  the  hands  of  power  and  priestcraft.  All  advances  in  science  were  pro 
scribed  as  innovations.  They  pretended  to  praise  and  encourage  education,  but  it 
was  to  be  the  education  of  our  ancestors.  We  were  to  look  backwards,  not  for 
wards,  for  improvement ;  the  President  himself  declaring,  in  one  of  his  answers  to 
addresses,  that  we  were  never  to  expect  to  go  beyond  them  in  real  science.  This 
was  the  real  ground  of  all  the  attacks  on  you.  Those  who  live  by  mystery  and 
charlatanerie,  fearing  you  would  render  them  useless  by  simplifying  the  Christian 
philosophy — the  most  sublime  and  benevolent,  but  most  perverted  system  that 
ever  shone  on  man — endeavored  to  crush  your  well-earned  and  well-deserved 
fame." 

He  mentions  to  his  correspondent  that  there  was  no  expecta 
tion  of  the  Republicans  resorting  to  force  at  the  late  election,  if 
the  Federalists  did  nothing  more  than  bring  on  an  interregnum. 


CHAP.    XI.]  LETTER    TO    PRIESTLEY,    ETC. 

or  rather,  as  he  more  accurately  describes  it,  bring  the  govern 
luent  into  "  the  situation  of  a  clock  or  watch  run  down."  He 
says  that  on  the  invitation  of  the  Republican  members  of 
Congress  and  the  virtual  President  and  Vice-President,  a  con 
vention  "  would  have  been  on  the  ground  in  eight  weeks,  would 
have  repaired  the  Constitution  where  it  was  defective,  and 
wound  it  up  again." 

He  closed  his  letter  by  warmly  inviting  Priestley  to  visit 
Monticello. 

Another  shade  of  his  ideas  in  regard  to  the  election,  his  im 
pression  of  the  effect  of  the  great  geographical  size  of  our  ter 
ritory  in  political  convulsions — is  presented  in  the  following 
passages  from  a  letter  to  Nathaniel  JSules,  March  22d: 

44  The  times  have  been  awful,  but  they  have  proved  a  useful  truth,  that  the  good 
citizen  must  never  despair  of  the  commonwealth.  How  many  good  men  abandoned 
the  deck,  and  gave  up  the  vessel  as  lost.  It  furnishes  a  new  proof  of  the  falsehood 
01  Montesquieu's  doctrine,  that  a  republic  can  be  preserved  only  in  a  small  territory. 
The  reverse  is  the  truth.  Had  our  territory  been  even  a  third  only  of  what  it 
is,  we  were  gone.  But  while  frenzy  and  delusion,  like  an  epidemic,  gained 
certain  parts,  the  residue  remained  sound  and  untouched,  and  held  on  till  their 
brethren  could  recover  from  the  temporary  delusion ;  and  that  circumstance  has 
given  me  great  comfort. 

******* 

44 1  am  certain  a  convention  would  have  commanded  immediate  and  universal 
obedience.  How  happv  that  our  army  had  been  disbanded  !  What  might  have 
happened  otherwise  seems  rather  a  subject  of  reflection  than  explanation." 

He  expressed  the  opinion  (March  28th)  lo  Mr.  Robinson  that 
the  real  principles  of  the  great  body  of  both  parties  differed  lit 
tle — that  the  Republicans  should  "  be  easy"  with  their  oppo 
nents;  and  he  continued: 

"  The  eastern  States  will  be  the  last  to  come  over,  on  account  of  the  dominion 
of  the  clergy,  who  had  got  a  smell  of  union  between  Church  and  State,  and  begaii 
to  indulge  reveries  which  can  never  be  realized  in  the  present  state  of  science.  If, 
indeed,  they  could  have  prevailed  on  us  to  view  all  advances  in  science  as  danger 
ous  innovations,  and  to  look  back  to  the  opinions  and  practices  of  our  forefathers, 
instead  of  looking  forward  for  improvement,  a  promising  groundwork  would  have 
been  laid.  But  I  am  in  hopes  their  good  sense  will  dictate  to  them,  that  since  the 
mountain  will  not  come  to  them,  they  had  better  go  to  the  mountain ;  that  they 
will  find  their  interest  in  acquiescing  in  the  liberty  and  science  of  their  country, 
and  that  the  Christian  religion,  when  divested  of  (he  rags  in  which  they  have 
enveloped  it,  and  brought  to  the  original  purity  and  simplicity  of  its  benevolent 
institutor,  is  a  religion  of  all  others  most  friendly  to  liberty,  science,  and  the  freest 
expansion  of  the  human  mind." 


646  JEFFERSON    MISUNDERSTOOD    NEW    ENGLAND.     [CHAP.   XII 

AVTe  have  already  expressed  the  opinion  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was 
never  understood  in  New  England  and  that  he  never  understood 
the  'New  England  character  He  was  a  man  of  essentially 
another  mental  race  or  type.  He  was  bred  where  every  pecu 
liarity  of  social  and  political  life  was  as  different  as  if  oceans 
rolled  between  the  two  lands.  He  saw  nothing  of  New  Eng 
land  manners  and  customs  except  in  her  public  men,  and  public 
men  are  apparently  everywhere  very  much  alike.  At  least 
those  who  associate  together,  rub  and  triturate  off  provincial 
peculiarities,  and  if  they  do  not  entirely  lose  the  idiosyncrasies  of 
clan  and  clan  culture,  they  learn  to  keep  them  out  of  sight,  and 
to  present  on  the  surface  the  smooth  evenness  of  cosmopolitanism. 

Least  of  all,  did  Mr.  Jefferson  understand  the  New  Eng 
land  Clergy.  He  had  been  bred  among  the  Scotch  and  Eng 
lish  divines  of  the  Anglican  establishment  of  Virginia,  before 
the  Ke volution.  A  large  proportion  of  them  were  born  in 
Great  Britain  ;  or  were  educated  by  clergymen  born  there. 
They  were  accordingly  accustomed  to  the  forms  of  English 
society.  They  lived  among  a  class  of  wealthy  proprietors, 
to  whom  the  members  of  all  the  learned  professions  looked  up 
rather  than  looked  down.  It  had  never  been  the  custom  in  the 
Anglican  Church  for  its  clergy  to  interfere  actively  in  the  po 
litical  and  other  secular  concerns  of  their  neighborhoods.  They 
were,  as  a  general  thing,  cultivated  gentlemen,  who  preached  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  contented  themselves  the  rest  of  the  time  in 
keeping  classical  schools  or  in  enjoying  the  quiet  of  domestic 
life.  They  educated  the  superior  young  men  of  their  parishes 
— they  united  them  in  marriage — they  baptized  their  children — 
they  read  the  burial  service  over  their  graves.  Their  lives 
glided  along  without  a  ripple  of  contention  or  excitement.  They 
were  welcome  guests  at  the  board  and  never  chilled  its  geniality. 
They  looked  smilingly  on  public  amusements,  if  they  did  not 
personally  join  in  them.  They  took  no  greater  freedoms  than 
other  gentlemen  in  inquiring  into  or  commenting  on  the  private 
concerns  and  conduct  of  their  parishioners. 

Mr.  Jefferson  avers  they  were  indolent  compared  with  the  dis 
senting  clergy.1  This  was  partly  owing  to  the  different  customs  of 
churches,  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  possessors  are  never  so  active 
as  those  who  are  striving  for  possession.  If  they  did  not  med- 

1  In  his  Notes  on  Virginia. 


CHAP.   XII.]        CHARACTER    OF    THE    ANGLICAN    CLERGY.  647 

die  habitually  in  politics,  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  they  be 
lieved  or  practised  the  doctrine  of  political  submission.  We 
have  yet  to  see  the  first  historical  proof  that  the  Anglican 
clergy  of  Virginia  did  not  keep  full  pace  with  the  sentiment  of  the 
country,  and  with  that  of  their  dissenting  brethren,  in  the  pat 
riotic  cause.  It  was  their  discourses  on  the  Fast-day  in  1774, 
which  roused  the  denizens  of  every  hamlet  and  household  in 
Virginia  to  "  take  an  unequivocal  stand  in  the  line  with  Mas 
sachusetts"  on  the  Boston  Port  bill.  Let  us  not  forget  Jefferson's 
emphatic  testimony ;  "  We  [the  members  of  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses]  returned  home  and  in  our  several  counties  invited  the 
clergy  to  meet  assemblies  of  the  people  on  the  first  of  June,  to 
perform  the  ceremonies  of  the  day,  and  to  address  them  dis 
courses  suited  to  the  occasion.  The  people  met  generally,  with 
anxiety  and  alarm  in  their  countenances,  and  the  effect  of  the 
day  through  the  whole  colony,  was  like  a  shock  of  electricity, 
arousing  every  man  and  placing  him  erect  and  solidly  on  his  cen 
tre." 

The  names  of  Anglican  clergymen  are  to  be  found  in  various 
non-importing  and  other  patriotic  associations  of  the  Revolution, 
along  with  those  of  the  foremost  Whig  leaders  of  the  Colony 
and  subsequent  Commonwealth. 

The  early  New  England  clergy  were  the  descendants  in  blood, 
or  by  the  traditions  of  their  order,  of  those  zealous  sectaries  who 
had  been  hunted  to  caverns  like  wild  beasts,  tortured,  exiled, 
and  executed  in  Scotland — and  who  had  prayed,  counselled,  ex 
horted  to  battle,  if  not  literally  fought,  in  the  armies  of  Crom 
well,  in  England.  They  led  their  religious  flocks  to  the  "  wild 
New  England  shore,"  not  as  gentle  shepherds  piping  on  reeds 
in  Arcadian  valleys,  but  like  the  armed  ones  of  the  Pyrenees, 
prepared  to  grapple  with  the  wolf  and  the  robber  in  defence  of 
their  charge.  Like  all  persecuted  men,  they  were  intolerant. 
Like  all  men  who  are  compelled  to  give  up  country  and  kindred 
and  face  danger  and  suffering  for  their  religious  faith,  they  were 
fanatical.  Like  all  leaders  of  new  sects  springing  up  in  corrupt 
and  licentious  eras,  they  were  rigid  and  austere  in  manners,  not 
only  denouncing  the  vices  of  the  times,  but  those  customs  and 
manners  with  which  vice  had  been  particularly  associated — as 
statute  books  impose  penalties  on  healthful  and  innocent  games 
because  they  are  connected  by  custom  with  forbidden  practice 


6J-8  CHARACTER    OF   NEW    ENGLAND    CLERGY.         [CHAP.  XII, 

The  prominent  emigrations  to  New  England  were  purely  reli 
gious  exoduses.  The  exiles  left  their  native  land,  or  that  where 
they  temporarily  sojourned,  and  made  their  settlements  in  New 
England,  as  churches.  They  formed  civil  organizations,  because 
they  were  necessary  for  the  exercise  of  governmental  functions, 
which  prevailing  ideas  among  Protestants  had  kept  separated 
from  those  exercised  by  ecclesiastical  tribunals.  Yet  the  church 
principle  or  influence  was  completely  the  dominant  one  in  these 
societies.  It  made  public  opinion.  It  gave  or  took  away  per 
sonal  influence.  It,  in  effect,  made  the  laws  and  made  the  ma 
gistrates.  "With  the  Puritans,  religion  was,  theoretically,  the 
chief  concern  of  life.  Temporal  matters  were  but  secondary 
and  incidental.  The  Bible  was  the  complete  rule  of  civil  as  well 
as  of  religious  conduct.  The  Puritan  considered  it,  to  borrow 
some  words  of  Hooker,  not  only  perfect  "unto  that  end  whereto 
it  tendeth,"  but  a  perfect  civil  and  social  code,  wherein  "in 
every  action  of  common  life  [he  was  able]  to  rind  out  some  sen 
tence  clearly  and  infallibly  setting  before  his  eyes  what  he  ought 
to  do." ' 

If  the  church  influence  controlled  everything,  "the  minister" 
was  usually  by  far  the  most  influential  person  in  the  church. 
If  a  man  of  ability,  energy,  and  approved  piety — and  none 
others  could  gather  flocks  to  leave  the  quiet  rural  homes  of  Eng 
land  for  transatlantic  wastes — his  influence  amounted  to  a  com 
plete  control.  He  could  alwTays  at  least  carry  a  majority  of  the 
congregation,  and  put  down  all  opposition.  None  would  lightly 
choose  to  take  issue  with  him  who  ruled  the  organization  which 
ruled  everything  else.  The  government  was  then  in  reality 
essentially  hierocratic.  The  outward  form  has  often  caused  it  to 
be  designated  as  democratic.  We  are  told  of  New  England  de 
mocracies  flourishing  long  in  advance  of  the  separation  of  the 
Anglo-American  colonies  from  the  mother  country.  This  is  a 
mere  fancy.  The  name  is  as  great  a  misnomer,  when  the  reali 
ties  are  considered,  as  it  would  be  to  pronounce  those  primitive 
colonial  organizations  pure  Asiatic  despotisms. 

And  the  sway  of  the  religious  potentate  did  not  stop  with  re 
ligious  and  even  with  public  affairs.  lie  constituted  himself  a 
counsellor  and  guide,  and  in  point  of  fact,  a  ruler  in  all  matters 

1  We  quote  from  Richard  Hooker,  the  great  champion  of  the  Anglican  Church  of  the 
sixteenth  century ;  not  from  Thomas,  the  Puritan  founder  of  Connecticut. 


CHAP.  XII.]         CHARACTER    OF    NEW    ENGLAND    CLERGY.  649 

which,  in  his  judgment,  involved  the  moral  interests  of  his  flock, 
He  watched,  he  warned,  he  fulminated.  Restless  and  unceas 
ing  was  his  vigilance  against  that  dreadful  adversary  who 
prowled  around  his  flock,  now  in  the  guise  of  Indian  foes — now 
in  the  more  dangerous  one  of  a  brother  dissenter,  differing  from 
his  own  and  consequently  the  infallible  standard  in  the  admi 
nistration  of  some  holy  rite — now  listened  to  the  incantations  of 
weird  old  women  and  brought  dire  ailments  on  God's  chosen 
people — now  concealed  himself  under  the  broad  brim  of  a  Qua 
ker — now  with  golden  ringlets  and  flying  feet  allured  youths  to 
the  dance  and  other  carnal  amusements,  which  caused  them  to 
make  idols  of  the  things  of  this  world,  and  diverted  them  from 
that  holy  contemplation  wiiich  was  the  constant  duty  of  so- 
journers  in  this  vale  of  tears,  when  not  engaged  in  providing  trr 
the  necessary  wants  of  the  body. 

To  guard  against  this  subtle  foe,  it  was  necessary  to  meet  him 
everywhere — to  meet  him  on  the  threshold  of  the  fold.  Ills 
first  insidious  approach  must  be  descried,  and  the  lambs  of  the 
flock  taught  to  penetrate  all  his  disguises.  The  secret  forbidden 
amusements  must  be  discovered  and  prevented.  The  first  utter 
ing  or  listening  to  profane  or  heterodox  ideas  must  be  sedulously 
repressed.  Improper  attachments,  intimacies  with  carnal  self- 
seekers  or  those  of  unsound  faith,  following  of  vain  babblers, 
preferences  for  magistrates  not  chosen  of  the  church  and  zealous 
unto  slaying,  must  be  known  and  weeded  out  before  they  ac 
quired  dangerous  strength.  All  this  required  perfect  know 
ledge  of  and  a  constant  interference  in  the  most  private  domes 
tic  and  individual  concerns.  All  this  the  zealous  spiritual  guide 
knew  and  interfered  in.  He  admonished  in  private,  and  if  this 
failed,  he  resorted  to  that  pulpit  denunciation  which  soon  ren 
dered  the  persisting  offender  a  sorrow  and  a  scorn  to  his  nearest 
kindred.  lie  thus  controlled  the  social  as  well  as  the  religious 
and  civil  organization. 

The  New  England  Calvinist,  towards  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  had  put  off  the  austerity  and  bigotry  of 
the  Puritan.  Royal  governors  had  made  destructive  inroads  on 
the  hierophantic  authority.  Republican  commonwealths  had 
succeeded  to  royal  governors.  The  civil  administration  hac 
ceased  to  be  absorbed  in  and  entirely  dependent  on  the  church 
The  authority  of  the  spiritual  guide  was  no  longer  paramount 
Still  it  was  powerful. 


')50  CHARACTER  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  CLERGY.    [CHAP.  XH. 

Still  the  New  England  clergy  were  able,  energetic  men,  edu 
cated  well  in  their  profession,  and  versed  in  the  art  of  control 
ling  associations  of  men.  The  iron  New  England  industry  and 
the  compact  New  England  mind,  would  endure  neither  drones 
nor  weak  expounders  of  the  word.  New  England  utilitarianism 
would  have  "the  worth  of  its  money"  even  from  the  pulpit. 
Still  the  New  England  clergyman,  by  tradition  and  custom,  was 
in  all  things  the  moral  adviser  of  his  people. 

How  could  it  be  otherwise  among  such  precedents,  and  with 
a  clergy  thus  constituted?  In  performing  the  daily  duties  of 
their  charge  with  patient  and  unslacking  zeal — in  watching  over 
and  entreating  the  young — in  fearlessly  admonishing  the  old — 
in  undauntedly  attacking  vice  in  high  places — in  guarding  the 
rights  and  administering  to  the  wants  of  the  poor  and  the  father 
less — in  protecting  the  orphans  of  their  people — in  braving 
squalor  and  pestilence  to  stand  over  the  bed-side  of  the  dying — 
in  advancing  within  the  dangerous  verge  of  the  battle,  or  brav 
ing  the  winter  tempest,  to  save  the  life  of  the  bleeding  soldier 
or  the  stranded  mariner,  or  to  administer  the  consolations  of  re 
ligion  to  the  perishing — in  promoting  intellectual  as  well  as 
moral  culture — in  establishing  useful  institutions  of  learning — 
in  founding  noble  charities — in  inculcating  a  resolute  patriotism, 
and  a  sound,  vigorous  moral  system — no  clergy  ever  did  or  ever 
can  excel  that  of  the  Puritan  church  of  New  England. 

Never  did  Mr.  Jefferson  err  more  palpably  than  when  he 
charged  these  men  with  being  the  foes  of  science.  Should  the 
history  of  every  college  and  academy  in  New  England  be  inves 
tigated  (and  New  England  has  as  many  and  as  well  supported 
institutions  of  these  kinds  as  any  equal  number  of  people  on  the 
globe),  we  venture  to  assert  that  it  will  be  ascertained  that  in 
more  than  four  cases  out  of  five,  they  owed  their  foundation  to 
the  efforts  of  clergymen. 

But  these  men  had  their  disagreeable  qualities  and  their 
rough  side.  They  were  thick,  gnarled  New  England  oaks,  which 
had  rooted  in  the  crevices  of  the  rocks,  and  grown  up  under 
bleak  skies  and  amidst  wintry  tempests — not  the  tall,  graceful 
palms  of  the  tropics.  They  lacked  the  finishing  touches  of  that 
elegant  culture  which  softens  while  it  polishes.  They  lacked  the 
amenities  and  delicacies  of  high  social  refinement.  They  re 
tained  a  good  deal  of  the  dogmatism  and  contentiousness  of  the 
Puritan.  They  felt  the  importance  of  their  profession,  and 


CHAP.  XII.]  THEIK   HOSTILITY    TO   JEFFERSON.  65J 

wielded  its  custom-established  prerogatives  rather  as  rights  than 
as  indulgences.  They  were  clannish  in  their  church,  in  their 
local,  in  their  political,  and  even  in  their  personal  feelings. 
When  they  went  up  into  the  temple  they  were  disposed  to  thank 
God  that  they  were  not  born  out  of  New  England  or  out  of  its 
dominant  church.  To  depart  from  either  of  these  standards  was 
to  incur  their  pitying  disapprobation.  Directly  to  oppose  either, 
was  to  provoke  their  vehement  and  simultaneous  attack.  And 
when  the  signal  sounded,  and  some  thousand  New  England  pul 
pits  took  the  same  side,  and  mvoked  the  people  to  take  a  par 
ticular  course  as  one  they  owed  to  moral  duty,  no  resistance  in 
New  England  had  ever  stood  up  successfully  against  them,  or 
could  prevent  the  election  in  that  entire  section  of  the  Union  of 
a  nearly  compact  body  of  civil  officers,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  State  and  federal,  who  represented  the  same  views  and 
the  same  spirit. 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  given  the  New  England  clergy  special 
causes  of  offence.  He  was  of  the  opposite  party.  lie  was  a 
candidate  against  a  New  England  candidate.  He  was  the  head 
of  the  "Virginia  dynasty,"  which  struggled  for  supremacy  with 
"  New  England  influence  "in  the  national  councils.  He  was 
the  leader  of  the  agricultural  interest,  which  contested  various 
points  of  public  policy  with  the  maritime  and  commercial  inte 
rests  of  the  eastern  States.  He  belonged  to  the  party  which 
sympathized  with  France,  and  therefore  he  was  certainly  a  Ja 
cobin,  and,  presumably,  an  infidel.  He  had  ventured  to  offer 
scientific  cosmic  explanations  and  suggestions,  and  consequently 
he  had  questioned  the  Mosaic  record,  and  was  an  "  atheist." 
He  had  "  invited  "  "  Tom  Paine"  over  to  America  in  a  national 
vessel,  and  this  was  undeniable  proof  he  meditated  an  aggressive 
attack  on  the  rights  and  even  the  existence  of  the  church  ! 

No  one  can  complain  at  this  period  of  wide  sweeping  infi 
delity,  that  the  church  made  a  special  and  determined  effort  to 
maintain  its  ground.  No  one  can  complain  or  wonder  that  the 
church  champions  gave  as  well  as  took  rough  and  resolute 
blows.  Buttoned  foils  are  not  the  weapons  to  be  relied  on 
against  sharp  swords  and  in  pressing  extremity. 

But  the  New  England  clergy  attacked  Mr.  Jefferson  per 
sonally — attacked  his  moral  and  religious  character— without 
a  particle  of  aggressive  provocation  and  without  any  rea. 


652  MUTUAL    MISTAKES.  [CHAP.  3U. 

knowledge  concerning  him  in  these  particulars.  If  they  acted 
unjustly,  we  have  no  doubt  they  acted  sincerely.  They  com 
pletely  misunderstood  him.  He  equally  misunderstood  them, 
and  the  motives  of  their  attack.  This  state  of  things  con 
tinued  throughout  the  life  of  that  generation,  and  there  are  not 
wanting  representatives  and  successors  of  both  the  parties,  who 
appear  anxious  to  perpetuate  it  through  all  time  by  fiercely  re 
iterating  invectives  unproven  and  improbable  when  first  uttered 
— absurd  even  in  the  mouths  of  enraged  combatants — and  de 
spicable  and  purely  malicious  when  kept  up  by  men  in  cold 
blood  who  had  no  connection  with  the  original  dispute. 


CHAPTEK    XIII. 

1801—1802. 

Changes  called  for  in  the  Scale  of  our  Narrative— The  first  important  Question  to  be 
determined  by  the  Administration— Appointments  and  Removals— Jefferson  to  Dr.  Rush 
on  the  Subject— His  Moderation  not  relished  by  all  of  his  own  Party— His  Policy  con 
sidered — Its  Success — Federjj^Murmurs — The  Removal  of  Goodrich — Memorial  of  New 
Haven  Merchants  thereon  and  President's  Reply— Spirit  of  Connecticut  Federalism 
exemplified — Correspondence  between  General  Knox  and  the  President — President 
lays  down  a  Rule  in  regard  to  appointing  his  Relatives  to  Office — His  Letter  to  Samuel 
Adams— To  Gerry— He  visits  Home— Domestic  affairs— Letters  to  Mrs.  Eppes— He 
returns  to  Washington— Commodore  Dale  sent  with  a  Fleet  to  the  Mediterranean- 
Insults  of  the  Barbary  Powers— President's  Letter  to  Foreign-born  Citizens— Forms 
and  Maxims  of  Administration  established — Anecdote  of  Abolition  of  Levees — Letters  to 
Mrs.  Eppes — President  passes  the  Unhealthy  Season  at  home — His  inofficial  Letter  to 
Livingston  on  the  Subjects  of  his  Mission — Letter  to  Short  on  the  Impropriety  of  long 
Diplomatic  Tenures— Rules  of  Official  Intercourse  between  President  and  Cabinet 
established— Letter  to  Monroe  in  respect  to  colonizing  Insurgent  Blacks  of  Virginia- 
Letters  to  Mrs.  Eppes— Result  of  State  Elections  of  1801— Meeting  of  Congress— Dis 
tinguished  Members — Organization — President  discontinues  Executive  Speeches — The 
Days  of  State  Ceremonials  passed— President's  first  Annual  Message— Its  Mode  of 
making  Recommendations  to  Congress — Its  Contents-attacked  by  the  Federalists — The 
published  Strictures  of  Hamilton— His  Positions  and  Manner  of  treating  the  President— 
His  Eulogium  on  the  Constitution  which  he  accuses  Jefferson  of  attacking— His  private 
Denunciation  of  the  Constitution  within  two  months  of  same  date — First  Struggle  of 
Parties  in  Congress  on  admitting  Reporters — Breckenridge  moves  the  Repeal  of 
Judiciary  Act  of  preceding  Session— The  Constitutional  Power  to  repeal— President's 
Attitude  on  the  Question— Opposition  of  the  Federalists— Passage  of  the  Bill— A  second  ( 
Judiciary  Bill — The  Census,  and  the  Apportionment  Bill — Military  Peace  Establishment 
—Diminution  of  Civil  Officers  and  Reduction  of  Salaries — Internal  Taxes  abolished — 
The  Naturalization  Laws  restored  to  their  former  Footing — Redemption  of  the  Public 
Debt— Law  to  regulate  Indian  Trade  and  Intercourse — The  general  Change  in  the 
Spirit  of  the  Government — The  Nolo  Episcopari  of  the  President  carried  out — Ran 
dolph's  Tribute  on  this  subject— Sightless  Cyclops  in  the  ascendant,  and  Wise  Ulysses 
grumbling  among  elderly  Ladies  and  writing  History. 

IT  would  perhaps  be  expected,  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
biography,  that  having  reached  the  period  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
own  administration  of  our  government,  our  narrative  of  public 
events,  of  Cabinet  and  Congressional  affairs,  and  of  the  political 
history  of  the  times  generally,  would  become  more  minute  than 


CHANGE    IN    SCALE    OF   NARRATIVE.  [CHAP.  XHI. 

heretofore.  Such  will  not,  however,  be  the  case.  In  some  par 
ticulars  the  scale  of  recital  will  be  abridged — in  others  we  shall 
cease  to  give  any  attention  to  classes  of  facts  which  have  pre 
viously  received  much  attention. 

This  change  appears  to  us  to  be  called  for  by  circumstances 
which  are  intrinsic  to  the  subject.  We  have  been  recording  a 
great  struggle  of  parties.  To  a  clear  understanding  of  it,  it  was 
necessary  to  develop  the  public  and  private  professions,  mo 
tives  and  conduct,  of  the  principal  actors.  This  development  was 
due  to  historic  truth  and  to  individual  character.  The  picture 
cannot  be  perfect  where  the  central  figures  lack  those  accesso 
ries  which  explain  the  action.  If  Ajax  rushes  forth  slaughtering, 
we  should  see,  as  the  mark  of  his  insanity,  his  sword  falling  upon 
beasts  instead  of  the  sons  of  Atreus.  If  Hercules  fiercely  plies 
his  club,  let  us  see  the  sprouting  heads  of  Hydra.  If  Laocoon 
writhes,  Jet  the  enveloping  folds  of  the  serpents  explain  the 
cause  of  his  horror  and  his  agony. 

With  Mr.  Jefferson's  accession  to  the  Presidency,  the  great 
struggle  of  parties  was  substantially  over,  so  far  as  the  national 
theatre  of  action  was  concerned.  Henceforth,  the  Federalists 
were  but  a  local  faction.  For  a  few  more  years  they  were  to 
retain  the  ability  to  make  a  prodigious  clamor,  and,  on  rare 
occasions,  to  embarrass  the  action  of  the  Government ;  but  resting 
under  settled  popular  condemnation — not  able  in  any  exigency 
to  elect  either  a  President  or  a  majority  of  Congress — they 
ceased  to  possess  the  responsibility  or  importance  of  a  party  a 
portion  of  the  time  in  power,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  seriously 
checking  or  influencing  the  action  of  their  opponents.  Individ 
ual  opinions  and  proceedings  also  cease  to  be  interesting,  ex 
cept  occasionally  to  illustrate  the  spirit  of  the  times,  where 
they  only  represent  totally  irresponsible  minorities. 

The  Republican  party  itself  presents  few  points  for  curious 
and  detailed  investigation.  It  had  no  esoteric  creed  differing  from 
its  exoteric  profession — no  curious  system  of  double  meaning 
political  nomenclature  conveying  one  idea  to  the  initiated  and 
another  to  the  multitude.  It  had  no  secret— no  great  hidden 
schemes — no  important  intestine  intrigues — no  personal  cabals 
that  controlled  the  course  of  public  events. 

The  Administration  no  longer  vibrated  between  hostile  policies 
on  the  determination  of  a  casting  vote — it  was  no  longer  aa 


CHAP.  XIII.]  CHANGE    IN    SCALE    OF    NARRATIVE.  655 

association  where  discordance  of  views,  hate  and  treachery  sepa 
rated  the  head  and  the  parts. 

The  Ship  of  State  was  no  longer  beating  up  against  the  deep 
fixed  currents  of  popular  sentiment — depending  upon  casual 
breezes  to  force  her  onward,  and  always  meeting  those  currents 
in  roar  and  in  foam  on  her  bows. 

The  President's  Cabinet  consisted  of  able,  discreet  men,  firmly 
attached  to  their  chief,  and  to  remain  united  in  the  closest  bonds 
of  official  harmony  with  each  other  so  long  as  the  paramount 
influence  of  that  chief  was  felt  in  their  deliberations. — To  the 
period  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  retirement,  there  never  was  a  contest 
in  the  Cabinet,  never  an  opposition  to  his  views  after  they  became 
settled  by  consultation,  never  a  thorn  of  continued  opposition 
left  rankling  between  any  two  members. 

The  Cabinet  was  not  for  a  moment,  or  to  the  slightest  de 
gree,  brought  into  an  attitude  of  opposition,  misunderstanding, 
or  jealousy,  with  the  Republican  majority  in  Congress.  The 
President  was  charged  by  the  opposition  with  ruling  Congress 
with  such  an  absolute  sway  that  he  often  omitted  even  to  assign 
the  reasons  for  the  measures  he  directed.  The  charge  was  with 
out  foundation.  But  the  majority  concurred  with  him  in  senti 
ment,  knew  that  he  represented  the  political  principles  and 
spirit  of  their  constituents,  and  they  deterred  to  his  opinions  as 
prudent  men  of  less  experience  always  defer  to  the  opinions  of 
tried  and  great  statesmen. 

And  the  President  concurred  as  closely  with  the  American 
people  as  wirh  their  representatives.  An  immense  majority  of 
them  su-tained  all  his  executive  measures,  idolized  him  as  their 
political  chief,  and  had  no  second  leader  who  approached  him 
in  their  affections. 

To  give  public  political  results,  is  therefore  to  give  nearly  all 
of  his  political  history  which  is  of  any  great  importance.  We 
have  no  occasion  to  record  cabinet  or  caucus  consultations 
where  all  agreed.  The  public  history  of  Congress  includes  all 
that  is  important  in  its  private  history.  This  leader's  and  that 
leader's  individual  opinions  and  actions  need  not  be  stated 
where  they  were  alike  and  tended  to  a  common  result.  It  is 
not  necessary  elaborately  to  trace  out  the  separate  strands  of 
historic  narration,  where  they  are  found  to  be  substantially  the 
«ame  in  material  and  texture. 


656  EXECUTIVE   APPOINTMENTS    AND    KEMOVALS.        [CHAP.  XIII. 

The  first  important  point  to  be  settled  in  President  Jefferson's 
Administration  was  the  trianner  of  exercising  the  executive 
power  of  making  official  appointments  and  removals.  As  there 
had  been  no  previous  political  change  in  the  Administration,  the 
question  in  political  aspects  was  a  new  one.  The  incumbents 
were  generally  Federalists.  We  have  already  mentioned  Mr. 
Jefferson's  conversational  remark  that  he  found  but  one  of  the 
army  officers,  appointed  by  his  predecessor,  a  Republican.  The 
exclusion,  in  civil  offices,  had  been  nearly  as  rigorous.  The  later 
appointees  had  been  not  only  Federalists,  but  in  most  in 
stances  of  the  most  virulent  class  of  partisans.  Instances  were 
not  wanting  where  they  had  left  other  good  positions  to  take 
these  appointments  after  Mr.  Jefferson's  election  was  known. 
There  appears  to  have  been  a  prevailing  idea  (as  we  have  shown 
existed  in  regard  to  cabinet  appointments),  that  executive  ap 
pointees  virtually  held  on  a  good  behavior  tenure.  To  concede 
this  and  to  leave  all  the  public  officers  of  the  new  government 
to  wield  their  united  official  power  and  influence  against  it, 
would  seem  to  involve  a  most  absurd  contradiction  in  the  theory 
and  practice  of  politics. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  views  of  the  circumstances  and  his  conclu 
sions  are  set  forth  very  fully  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Rush  of  March 
24th,  1801.  It  embodies  the  substance  of  many  other  letters  of 
the  same  period,  and  the  determinations  which  were  substan 
tially  carried  into  practice. 

tl  With  regard  to  appointments,  I  have  so  much  confidence  in  the  justice  and  good 
sense  of  the  Federalists,  that  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  concur  in  the  fairness  of  the 
position,  that  after  they  have  been  in  the  exclusive  possession  of  all  offices  from  the 
very  first  origin  of  party  among  us,  to  the  3d  of  March,  at  9  o'clock  in  the  night, 
no  Republican  ever  admitted,  and  this  doctrine  newly  avowed,  it  is  now  perfectly  just 
that  the  Republicans  should  come  in  for  the  vacancies  which  may  fall  in,  until  some 
thing  like  an  equilibrium  in  office  be  restored.  But  the  great  stumbling  block  will 
be  removals,  which  though  made  on  those  just  principles  only  on  which  my  prede 
cessor  ought  to  have  removed  the  same  persons,  will  nevertheless  be  ascribed  to 
removal  on  party  principles.  1st.  I  will  expunge  the  effects  of  Mr.  A.'s  indecent 
conduct,  in  crowding  nominations  after  he  knew  they  were  not  for  himself,  till  9 
o'clock  of  the  night,  at  12  o'clock  of  which  he  was  to  go  out  of  office.  So  far  as 
they  are  during  pleasure,  I  shall  not  consider  the  persons  named,  even  as  candidates 
for  the  office,  nor  pay  the  respect  of  notifying  them  that  I  consider  what  was  done 
as  a  nullity.  '2d.  Some  removals  must  be  made  for  misconduct.  One  of  these  is  of 
the  marshal  in  vbur  city,  who  being  an  officer  of  justice,  intrusted  with  the  function 
of  choosing  impartial  judges  for  the  trial  of  his  fellow  citizens,  placed  at  the  awfu.' 


CHAP.  Xm.]       EXECUTIVE    APPOINTMENTS    AND    .REMOVALS.  657 

tribunal  of  God  and  their  country,  selected  judges  who  either  avowed,  or  were  known 
to  him  to  be  predetermined  to  condemn  ;  and  if  the  lives  of  the  unfortunate  persona 
were  not  cut  short  by  the  sword  of  the  law,  it  was  not  for  the  want  of  his  good-will. 
In  another  State  I  have  to  perform  the  same  act  of  justice  on  the  dearest  connection 
of  my  dearest  friend,  for  similar  conduct,  in  a  case  not  capital.  The  same  practice 
of  packing  juries,  and  prosecuting  their  fellow  citizens  with  the  bitterness  of  party 
hatred,  will  probablv  involve  several  other  marshals  and  attorneys.  Out  of  this 
line  I  see  but  very  few  instances  where  past  misconduct  has  been  in  a  degree  to  call 
for  notice.  Of  the  thousands  of  officers  therefore,  in  the  United  States,  a  very  few 
individuals  only,  probably  not  twenty,  will  be  removed  ;  and  these  only  for  doing 
what  they  ought  not  to  have  done.  Two  or  three  instances  indeed  where  Mi1.  A. 
removed  men  because  they  would  not  sign  addresses  etc.,  to  him,  will  be  rectified — 
the  persons  restored  The  whole  world  will  say  this  is  just.  I  know  that  in  stop 
ping  thus  short  in  the  career  of  removal,  I  shall  give  great  otfence  to  many  of  my 
friends.  That  torrent  has  been  pressing  me  heavily,  and  will  require  all  my  force  to 
bear  up  against  it,  but  my  maxim  is  fiat  justicia  mat  coelitm.  After  the  first  unfavor 
able  impressions  of  doing  too  much  in  the  opinion  of  some,  and  too  little  in  that  of 
others,  shall  be  got  over,  I  should  hope  a  steady  line  of  conciliation  very  practicable, 
and  that,  without  yielding  a  single  Republican  principle." 

As  hinted  in  this  letter,  the  President's  moderate  line  of 
conduct  did  not  meet  the  views  of  some  of  his  supporters.  They 
claimed  that  where  equal  qualiti cations  could  be  found,  rotation 
— a  change  of  incumbents  without  official  cause  and  solely  on 
the  ground  that  no  one  set  of  men  are  entitled  to  monopolize  the 
offices  and  honors  of  a  popular  government — was  more  just  than 
the  opposite  rule.  They  also  truly  averred  that  no  man  holding 
important  office  could,  even  if  he  made  the  effort,  divest  himself 
of  an  influence  derived  from  his  official  position;  and  conse 
quently,  that  if  political  struggles  involve  principles,  to  leave 
opponents  in  office  is  to  give  an  advantage  to  principles  of  which 
we  disapprove. 

These  theoretical  truths,  not  carried  far  enough  to  lose  sight 
of  personal  qualification  or  to  sink  politics  into  a  mere  scramble 
for  place,  are  now  generally  recognized  as  sound.  But  Mr. 
Jefferson's  course  was  unquestionably  far  more  appropriate  to 
the  precise  circumstances  under  which  he  acted.  If  the  aim 
was  to  promote  principles,  it  certainly  was  not  expedient  sud 
denly  to  establish  a  new  rule  for  which  public  opinion  was  not 
prepared — which  would  be  considered  unjust  and  improper  by 
the  moderate  men  among  the  Republicans  themselves — and 
which  would  confirm  their  opponents  in  the  impression  that  they 
were  as  extreme,  prescriptive  and  violent  in  their  party  action — 
VOL.  IT. — 49 


658  EXECUTIVE    APPOINTMENTS    AND    REMOVALS.       [CHAP.  XIII. 

to  sum  it  all  up  in  a  favorite  phrase  of  the  day,  as  "  Jacobini 
cal,"  as  they  had  been  represented. 

The  President,  instead  of  overlooking  the  prosperity  of  the 
principles  of  his  own  side  in  the  course  he  adopted,  was 
really  making  a  great  and  dexterous  move  to  annihilate  the 
opposition.  His  theory  was,  that  the  body  of  the  people  in 
both  parties  were  essentially  republicans — that  the  Federalists 
had  been  misled  by  chiefs  who  had  concealed  their  secret  aims 
and  taken  advantage  of  exciting  circumstances,  local  and  other 
prejudices,  and  class  interests,  to  substitute  fictitious  issues  for 
the  real  and  the  main  one.  His  object  was  to  break  up  this 
artificial  connection — to  separate  the  republican  Federalists  from 
their  leaders.  Such  a  separation  had  been  visibly  commenced 
by  the  recent  election  events.  The  popular  body  of  the  Federal 
ists,  who  were  not  hemmed  in  by  too  many  interests  adverse  to 
change,  and  were  locally  leavened  by  an  admixture  of  Repub 
lican  population,  generally  looked  with  deep  disgust  and  dis 
satisfaction  on  the  conduct  of  their  leaders.  It  led  them  not 
only  to  believe  they  had  given  their  confidence  to  indiscreet 
guides,  but*  strongly  to  suspect  that  many  of  the  latter  really 
entertained  the  dangerous  principles  and  designs  imputed  to 
them  by  their  Republican  adversaries.  They  were,  therefore, 
in  a  frame  of  mind  to  look  with  favor  on  the  new  Adminis 
tration. 

Should  that  Administration  take  a  moderate  and  prudent 
general  course,  and  do  nothing  specially  to  alarm  or  offend  the 
body  of  the  Federalists,  there  was  every  probability  they  would 
become  permanently  embodied  with  the  Republicans.  This 
would  obliterate  those  odious  and  dangerous  party  distinctions 
which  rest  on  geographical  or  class  interests,  and  substitute 
distinctions  of  principle.  It  would  result  not  merely  in  establish 
ing  a  vibrating  ascendency  of  Republican  doctrines,  but  in  giving 
it  solidity  and  permanence.  This  was  a  great  stake  to  play  for. 
It  could  not  be  won  if  the  Federalists  were  again  driven  toge 
ther  by  proscription.  It  required  a  sacrifice  which  would  not 
meet  the  views  of  some  shorter-sighted  friends.  It  would  teach 
a  band  of  sharp,  keen,  hungry  political  adventurers,  who  had 
fought  the  recent  battle  merely  as  official  Outs  against  Ins,  to 
slily  whisper  henceforth  to  each  other,  "  Our  President  lacks 
— it  would  have  been  otherwise  had  Burr  succeeded." 


nr.vr.  xin.]  JTEW  HAVEN  COLLECTORSHIP.  C59 

But,  stemming  a  fiercer  tide  of  internal  opposition  than  even  he 
could  have  anticipated  when  he  wrote  Dr.  Rush,  the  President 
determinedly  persisted  in  his  course.  And  he  won  the  stake  he 
played  for. 

He  established  a  party  which  permanently  fixed  the  charac 
ter  of  our  institutions  and  the  destiny  of  our  country  ;  which 
might,  after  his  day,  break  into  fragments  more  or  less  demo 
cratic  in  their  doctrines,  but  none  of  which  would  confess  any 
sympathy  with  the  ultra-Federalists.  He  banished  from  con 
trolling  positions  in  political  life,  or  from  political  life  altogether, 
every  member  of  that  imperious  monarchical  and  half  monar 
chical  faction,  which  had  hitherto  done  so  much  to  shape  the 
measures  of  our  country — that  is,  those  of  them  who  did  not 
abandon  their  earlier  creeds,  and  openly  join  and  profess  the 
principles  of  the  Republican  party. 

The  President's  course,  however,  in  regard  to  official 
removals  by  no  means  satisfied  or  silenced  the  genuine  Federal 
ists.  Their  presses  described  him  as  a  monster  of  proscription. 
Because  President  Washington  had  not  removed  his  own 
appointees,  and  because  President  Adams  had  not  removed  the 
incumbents  of  his  own  party  he  found  in  office,  Mr.  Jefferson's 
course  was  pronounced  as  unprecedented  as  it  was  illiberal ;  and 
it  was  insisted  that  IIP  every  removal  he  made,  except  for  good 
official  cause  (and  that  was  admitted  to  exist  in  no  instance),  he, 
contrary  to  the  spirit  if  not  the  letter  of  the  law,  violated  an 
equitable  right  vested  in  the  incumbent. 

We  will  anticipate,  by  way  of  illustration,  a  case  which 
attracted  much  notice  in  the  summer  of  1801.  Among  the  ap-* 
pointments  made  by  Mr.  Adams  after  the  result  of  the  Presiden 
tial  election  was  fully  known — we  think  the  day  after  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  actual  election  in  the  House — was  that  of  Elizur  Goodrich 
to  the  collectorship  of  New  Haven.  This  gentleman  was  a 
member  of  Congress,  a  warm  Federal  partisan,  and  resigned  the 
residue  of  his  term  for  a  snug,  and  what  he  and  his  friends  seem 
to  have  anticipated  would  prove  a  permanent,  place. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  he  was  well  qualified  for  the 
office  personally  and  discharged  its  duties  satisfactorily.  But 
he  came  within  the  class  whose  appointments  Mr.  Jefferson  had 
determined  to  treat  as  a  nullity  ;  and  there  was  a  double  reason 
for  it  seemingly  in  his  case,  because  he  had  abandoned  a  high 


660  NEW  HAVEN    COLLECTOESHIP.  [CHAP.  XIIL 

elective  office  to  forestall,  as  it  were,  a  Republican  appointment. 
Pie  was  removed,  or  rather  his  appointment  was  treated  as  a 
nullity;  and  Judge  Samuel  Bishop,  of  New  Haven,  was  appointed 
collector. 

Thereupon,  Elias  Shipman  and  others,  acting  as  a  committee 
of  the  merchants  of  the  city,  addressed  the  President  one  of 
those  "memorials"  which  are  not  expected  to  produce  any 
effect  upon  the  action  of  the  Executive,  but  which  afford  a  con 
venient  method  to  read  a  lecture  to  the  Chief  Magistrate  and 
give  the  world  a  specimen  of  the  argumentative  powers,  wit, 
etc.,  of  ambitious  individuals,  whose  lights  are  unfortunately 
under  the  bushel  of  private  life.  They  complained  that  Bishop 
was  unfitted  for  the  place  by  his  age;  alluded  to  the  President's 
avowal  of  toleration  in  his  inaugural  address ;  and  lamented 
"  that  a  change  in  the  Administration  must  produce  a  change  in 
the  subordinate  officers." 

This  proved  an  unlucky  adventure  for  the  party  represented 
by  the  memorialists.  It  gave  the  President  an  opportunity  to 
place  his  real  grounds  of  action,  in  this  and  all  other  cases  of 
removal,  distinctly  before  the  public,  and  to  exhibit  therefore,  in 
marked  contrast,  his  "  toleration"  and  that  of  his  Federal  prede 
cessor.  The  attack  on  the  qualifications  of  Bishop  was  answered 
in  a  way  that  drew  out  a  storm  of  deserved  ridicule  on  the 
memorialists.1  The  last  paragraph,  after  lamenting  that  the 
previous  total  exclusion  of  Republicans  from  office  called  for 
"prompter  corrections"  than  the  dying  out  or  resignations  of 
incumbents,  closed  with  words  which  have  been  made  abund 
antly  familiar  to  all  American  ears :  "  I  shall  correct  the  proce 
dure  ;  but  that  done,  return  with  joy  to  that  state  of  things, 


i  Mr.  Jefferson  said :  "  He  [Bishop]  is  said  to  be  the  town  clerk,  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
mayor  of  the  city  of  New  Haven,  an  office  held  at  the  will  of  the  Legislature,  chief  judge 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  New  Haven  county,  a  court  of  high  criminal  and 
civil  jurisdiction,  wherein  most  causes  are  decided  without  the  right  of  appeal  or  review, 
and  sole  judge  of  the  Court  of  Probates,  wherein  he  singly  decides  all  questions  of  wills, 
settlement  of  estates,  testate  and  intestate,  appoints  guardians,  settles  their  accounts, 
and  in  fact  has  under  his  jurisdiction  and  care  all  the  property  real  and  personal  of  per 
sons  dying.  The  two  last  offices,  in  the  annual  gift  of  the  Legislature,  were  given  to  him 
in  May  last.  Is  it  possible  that  the  man  to  whom  the  Legislature  of  Connecticut  has  so 
recently  committed  trusts  of  such  difficulty  and  magnitude,  is  '  unfit  to  be  the  Collector 
of  the  district  of  New  Haven/  though  acknowledged  in  the  same  writing  to  have 
obtained  all  this  confidence  '  by  a  long  life  of  usefulness?'  It  is  objected,  indeed,  in  the 
remonstrance,  that  he  is  seventy-seven  years  of  age  ;  but  at  a  much  more  advanced  age, 
4>ur  Franklin  was  the  ornament  of  human  nature.  He  may  not  be  able  to  perform  hi 
person  all  the  details  o;  hw  office,  but  if  he  gives  us  the  benefit  of  his  understanding, 
his  integrity,  his  watch :u  ness,  and  takes  care  that  all  the  details  are  well  performed  by 
himself  or  his  necessary  assistants,  all  public  purposes  will  be  answered  " 


CHA.P.  XIII.J  GENERAL   KNOT'S    LETTER,   AND    REPLY.  6C1 

when  the  only  questions  concerning  a  candidate  shall  be — Is  he 
honest  ?  Is  he  capable  ?  Is  he  faithful  to  the  Constitution  ?" ' 

As  an  evidence  of  the  sincerity  of  the  New  Haven  memorial, 
Mr.  Jefferson  mentioned  in  a  previous  letter  to  the  Attorney 
General  that  the  Federal  majority  in  the  Connecticut  Legisla 
ture  had,  during  the  late  session  of  that  body,  exhibited  more 
intolerance  than  usual  in  excluding  Republicans  from  office. 

The  general  tone  of  the  Federalists  of  that  State  towards  the 
national  Administration,  and  the  extent  to  which  their  modera 
tion  and  propriety  plead  for  special  "  toleration,"  will  further  be 
conjectured  from  the  fact  that  on  the  7th  of  July,  1801,  the 
following  remarks  were  made  in  an  oration  before  the  Connecti 
cut  Society  of  Cincinnati,  by  a  prominent  Federal  politician 
of  that  State,  Mr.  Theodore  L)  wight : 

*'  We  have  now  reached  the  consummation  of  Democratic  blessedness.  We 
have  a  country  governed  by  blockheads  and  knaves ;  the  ties  of  marriage,  with  all 
its  felicities,  are  severed  and  destroyed  ;  our  wives  and  daughters  are  thrown  into 
the  stews ;  our  children  are  cast  into  the  world  from  the  breast  forgotten  ;  filial 
piety  is  extinguished,  and  our  sirnames,  the  only  mark  of  distinction  among  fami 
lies,  are  abolished.  Can  the  imagination  paint  anything  more  dreadful  this  side 
hell?  Some  parts  of  the  subject  are  indeed  fit  only  for  horrid  contemplation."3 

And  political  tradition  does  not  record  that  the  assembled 
elite'  of  Connecticut  received  this  morceau  from  the  future 
Secretary  of  the  Hartford  Convention  with  any  indications  of 
disrelish. 

General  Knox  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  former  Federal 
leaders  who  handsomely  signified  their  adhesion  to  the  princi 
ples  laid  down  in  the  President's  inaugural  address.  Two  or 
three  paragraphs  of  the  reply  of  the  latter  are  interesting,  not 
so  much  in  themselves,  as  from  the  consideration  to  whom  they 
are  addressed.  After  repeating  the  same  views  in  substance 
just  expressed  to  Rush  and  some  other  correspondents,  he  takes 
occasion  to  say : 

"  I  was  always  satisfied  that  the  great  body  of  those  called  Federalists  were  real 
republicans  as  well  as  Federalists.  I  know,  indeed,  there  are  Monarchists  among 

1  The  letter  will  be  found  entire  in  Ms  Works,  addressed  to  Elias  Shipman,  etc.  July 
12th,  1R01. 

3  We  have  no  authorized  version  of  the  speech  before  us.  We  have  taken  the  extract 
from  some  forgotten  Republican  reply ;  but  we  suppose  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  ita 
genuineness.  We  have  emasculated  it  of  sundry  staring  capitals,  not  knowing  whether 
tliey  thus  appeared  in  the  a.uthor's  version  of  his  speech. 


662  POLITICAL   NEPOTISM.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

us.  One  character  of  these  is  in  theory  only,  and  perfectly  acquiescent  in  our  form 
of  government  as  it  is,  and  not  entertaining  a  thought  of  destroying  it  merely  on 
their  theoretical  opinions.  A  second  class,  at  the  head  of  which  is  our  quoudam 
colleague,1  are  ardent  for  introduction  of  monarchy,  eager  for  armies,  making  more 
noise  for  a  great  naval  establishment  than  better  patriots,  who  wish  it  on  a  rational 
scale  only,  commensurate  to  our  wants  and  our  means.  This  last  class  ought  to  be 
tolerated,  but  not  trusted.  Believing  that  (excepting  the  ardent  Monarchists)  all 
our  citizens  agreed  in  ancient  Whig  principles,  I  thought  it  advisable  to  define 

and  declare  them,  and  let  them  see  the  ground  on  which  we  could  rally 

1  mention  these  things  that  the  grounds  and  extent  of  the  removals  may  be  under 
stood,  and  may  not  disturb  the  tendency  to  union.  Indeed  that  union  is  already 
effected,  from  New  York  southwardly,  almost  completely.  In  the  New  England 
States  it  will  be  slower  than  elsewhere,  from  particular  circumstances  better  known 
to  yourself  than  me.  But  we  will  go  on  attending  with  the  utmost  solicitude  to 
their  interests,  doing  them  impartial  justice,  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  in  time 
do  justice  to  us.  I  have  opened  myself  frankly,  because  I  wish  to  be  understood  by 
those  who  mean  well,  and  are  disposed  to  be  just  towards  me,  as  you  are,  and 
because  I  know  you  will  use  it  for  good  purposes  only,  and  for  none  unfriendly 
to  me." 

We  have  the  President's  first  and  never  afterwards  altered 
attitude  on  the  subject  of  appointing  his  own  relatives  to  office, 
in  a  letter  (March  27th)  to  George  Jefferson,  an  intelligent  and 
highly  respectable  kinsman,  who  had  transacted  much  business 
for  him,  and  greatly  to  his  satisfaction : 

"  DEAR  SIR  : 

"I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  yours  of  March  4th,  and  to  express  to 
you  the  delight  with  which  I  found  the  just,  disinterested,  and  honorable  point  of 
view  in  which  you  saw  the  proposition  it  covered.  The  resolution  you  so  properly 
approved  had  long  been  formed  in  my  mind.  The  public  will  never  be  made  to 
believe  that  an  appointment  of  a  relative  is  made  on  the  ground  of  merit  alone, 
uninfluenced  by  family  views;  nor  can  they  ever  see  with  approbation  offices,  the  , 
disposal  of  which  they  intrust  to  their  Presidents  for  public  purposes,  divided  out  as 
family  property.  Mr.  Adams  degraded  himself  infinitely  by  his  conduct  on  this  sub. 
ject,  as  General  Washington  had  done  himself  the  greatest  honor.  With  two  such 
examples  to  proceed  by,  I  should  be  doubly  inexcusable  to  err.  It  is  true  that  this 
places  the  relations  of  the  President  in  a  worse  situation  than  if  he  were  a  stranger, 
but  the  public  good,  which  cannot  be  effected  if  its  confidence  be  lost,  requires  thia 
sacrifice.  Perhaps,  too,  it  is  compensated  by  sharing  in  the  public  esteem.  I 
could  not  be  satisfied  till  I  assured  you  of  the  increased  esteem  with  which  this 
transaction  fills  me  for  you.  Accept  my  affectionate  expressions  of  it." 

On  the  29th,  Mr.  Jefferson  addressed  a  letter  to  tJie  vener 
able  Samuel  Adams,  couched  in  the  warmest  language  of 
reverence  and  esteem.  Indeed,  some  of  the  expressions  would 

1  This  of  course  refers  to  Hamilton. 


CHAP.  XIII.  J  DOMESTIC    AFFAIRS.  663 

seem  to  exceed  the  bounds  of  strict  good  taste,  unless  we  should 
remember  the  grateful  enthusiasm  of  the  recent  victor  in 
addressing  the  Spartan-tempered  patriarch  of  the  Massachusetts 
democracy — unless  we  should  remember  that  it  was  addressed 
to  one  a  good  deal  the  senior  of  the  writer — unless  we  should 
remember  it  was  addressed  by  one  who  had  favors  to  bestow 
and  none  to  ask,  to  a  retired  and  superannuated  old  man.1 

On  the  same  day,  he  wrote  Mr.  Gerry  urging  him  (under  the 
form  of  telling  him  what  he  was  destined  to  do)  to  take  the  lead 
of  the  New  England  Republicans.  And  he  warmly  lashed  the 
New  England  printers  and  clergy  for  their  continued  assaults  on 
himself. 

On  the  1st  of  April  the  President  set  out  for  home,  to  make 
a  short  stay  and  complete  his  arrangements  for  a  removal  to 
Washington. 

Nothing  had  occurred  at  Monticello  very  worthy  of  note 
since  his  previous  visit.  We  will  emulate  the  precision  of  the 
account-book  by  mentioning  that  his  crop  of  tobacco  for  the  pre 
ceding  year,  taking  out  overseers'  shares,  was,  on  his  Monticello 
estate,  10,0-28  Ibs. ;  on  his  Poplar  Forest  estate,  32,495  Ibs.  This 
was  all  the  surplus  agricultural  produce  of  the  year. 

The  house  was  still  in  progress,  and  the  expenditure  on  it 
from  March  4th,  1801,  to  March  4th,  1802,  was  precisely 
$2,076  29. 

To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  BERMUDA  HUNDRED. 

MONTICELLO,  April  ftt\  1891. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA: 

I  wrote  to  Mr.  Eppes  on  the  8th  inst.  by  post,  to  inform  him  I  should  on  the 
12th  send  off  a  messenger  to  the  Hundred  for  the  horses  he  may  have  bought  for 
me.  Davy  Bowles  will  accordingly  set  out  to-morrow,  and  will  be  the  bearer  of 
this.  He  leaves  us  all  well  and  wanting  nothing  but  your  and  Mr.  Eppes'  company 
to  make  us  completely  happy.  Let  me  know  by  his  return  when  you  expect  to  be 
here,  that  I  may  accommodate  to  that  my  orders  as  to  executing  the  interior  work 
of  the  different  parts  of  the  house.  John  being  at  work  under  Lilly,  Goliah  is  our 
gardener,  and  with  his  veteran  aids  will  be  directed  to  make  what  preparation  he 
can  for  you.  It  is  probable  I  shall  come  home  myself  about  the  last  week  of  July 
or  first  of  August,  to  stay  two  months  during  the  sickly  season  in  autumn  every 
year.  These  terms  I  shall  hope  to  pass  with  you  here,  and  that  either  in  spring  or 
fall  you  will  be  able  to  pass  some  time  with  me  in  Washington.  Had  it  been  possi 
ble,  I  would  have  made  a  tour  now  on  my  return  to  see  you.  But  I  am  tied  to  a 

*  Samuel  Adams  was  born  Sept.  27th,  1722<  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  University 
three  years  before  Mr.  Jefferson  was  born. 


6fc>4  LETTERS    TO    MRS.    EPPES.  [CHAP.    XIII. 

day  for  my  return  to  Washington  to  assemble  our  new  Administration  and  begin 
our  work  systematically.  I  hope,  when  you  come  up,  you  will  make  very  short 
stages,  drive  slow  and  safely,  which  may  well  be  done  if  you  do  not  permit  your 
selves  to  be  hurried.  Surely  the  sooner  you  come  the  better.  The  servants  will  be 
here  under  your  commands,  and  such  supplies  as  the  house  affords.  Before  that 
time  our  bacon  will  be  here  from  Bedford.  Continue  to  love  me,  my  dear  Maria, 
as  affectionately  as  I  do  you.  I  have  no  object  so  near  to  my  heart  as  yours  and 
your  sister's  happiness.  Present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Eppes,  and  be  assured 
yourself  of  my  unchangeable  and  tenderest  attachment  to  you. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPFS,  BERMUDA  HUNDRED. 

WASHINGTON,  May  28, 1801. 

An  immense  accumulation  of  business,  my  dear  Maria,  has  prevented  my  writing 
to  you  since  my  arrival  at  this  place.  But  it  has  not  prevented  my  having  you  in 
my  mind  daily  and  hourly,  and  feeling  much  anxiety  to  hear  from  you,  and  to  know 
that  Mr.  Eppes  and  yourself  are  in  good  health.  I  am  in  hopes  you  will  riot  stay 
longer  than  harvest  where  you  are,  as  the  unhealthv  season  advances  rapidly  after 
that.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Madison  stayed  with  me  about  three  weeks  till  they  could  get 
ready  a  house  to  receive  them.  This  has  given  me  an  opportunity  of  making  some 
acquaintance  with  the  ladies  here.  We  shall  certainly  have  a  very  agreeable  and 
worthy  society.  It  would  make  them  as  well  as  myself  very  happy  could  I  always 
have  yourself  or  your  sister  here.  But  this  desire,  however  deeply  felt  by  me,  must 
give  way  to  the  private  concerns  of  Mr.  Eppes.  I  count  that  in  autumn  both  your 
self  with  your  sister,  with  Mr.  Eppes  and  Mr  Randolph,  will  pass  some  time  with 
me.  But  this  shall  be  arranged  at  Monticeiio,  where  I  shall  be  about  the  end  of 
July  or  beginning  of  August.  Ask  the  favor  of  Mr.  Eppes  to  inform  me  as  soon  as 
he  can  learn  himself,  the  age  and  blood  of  the  several  horses  he  was  so  kind  as  to 
purchase  for  me.  Present  him  my  affectionate  attachment,  as  also  to  the  family  at 
Eppiugton,  when  you  have  an  opportunity.  Remember  that  our  letters  are  to  be 
answered  immediately  on  their  receipt,  by  which  means  we  shall  mutually  hear  from 
each  other  about  every  three  weeks.  Accept  assurances  of  my  constant  and  tender 
love. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

The  horses  here  mentioned  were  four  for  the  President's  car 
riage,  'and  to  fall  back  into  the  vein  of  precision,  they  cost  six 
teen  hundred  dollars  ;'  and  at  present  prices  would  fetch  twice 
that  sum.  Mr.  Eppes's  taste  in  horse  flesh  was  exquisite;  and 
when  Joseph  Daugherty  the  coachman  drew  his  reins  over  the 
four  flashing  bays,  finer  ones  it  was  conceded  were  never  seen 
on  "Pennsylvania  Avenue."  But  Joseph  enjoyed  that  luxury 
rather  rarely.  Mr.  Jefferson,  though  about  as  partial  to  and 
about  as  particular  concerning  the  qualities  and  pedigrees  of  hie 


CHAP.  XIII.]  BARBART    AGGRESSIONS.  665 

iiorses  as  thirty  years  earlier,1  could  not  get  over  his  preference 
for  the  saddle — and  perhaps  a  little  aversion  to  the  parade  of  a 
state  coach.  Accordingly  the  nohle  Wildair  (the  saddle  horse 
which  Mr.  Davis  says  he  saw  Mr.  Jefferson  dismount  from  and 
i;  hitch  to  the  palisades  "  when  he  went  to  be  inaugurated)  was 
in  daily  requisition,  while  Joseph  Daugherty's  charge  had  little 
to  do  when  there  was  not  company  at  the  "  White  House  "  ready 
to  give  them  employment.  The  phaeton  or  the  one  horse  chair 
were  also  usually  employed  on  journeys  home. 

Mr.  Jefferson  left  Monticello  on  the  26th  of  April,  arid  reach- 
Washington  three  days  afterward.  Not  long  after  his  return, 
he  dispatched  Commodore  Dale  with  three  frigates  and  a  sloop 
of  war  (tour  of  the  six  national  vessels  retained  in  commission)  to 
the  Mediterranean,  to  check  and  if  need  be  punish  the  aggressions 
of  the  Barbary  Powers.  This  expedition  was  fitted  out  under  the 
eye  and  direction  of  General  Samuel  Smith,  the  acting  but  un 
commissioned  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

The  late  Administration  had  expended  not  far  from  two  mil 
lions  of  dollars  in  presents  to  these  pirates.  In  this  it  had  but  fol 
lowed  the  degrading  custom  of  the  first  European  powers  ;  but 
it  had  not  procured  immunity  from  insult,  and  from  increased 
demands.  When  Bainbridge  carried  out  the  annual  tribute 
towards  the  clo^e  of  1800,  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  having  the  George 
Washington  under  the  guns  of  the  castle,  literally  compelled  the 
American  commander  to  carry  an  Ambassador  and  some  pre- 

1  Perhaps  we  may  already  have  mentioned  that  through  life  he  liked  to  witness  a 
good  race.  His  inquiry  about  pedigrees  was  characteristic.  No  genuine  son  of  any 
of  ''the  old  thirteen"  south  of  the  Potomac,  ever  carried  his  ideas  of  "  Republican  equal 
ity"  into  horse  flesh!  Nathaniel  Macon  was  the  austerest  of  advocates  for  public  econ 
omy  an.l  simplicity.  A  late  President  of  the  United  States  informed  us  that  while  in 
office  he  and  several  members  of  his  Cabinet  paid  a  visit  to  the  North  Carolina  patriarch. 
He  was  quartered  on  one  of  his  plantations,  in  half  a  dozen  log  houses,  one  of  which 
served  for  kitchen,  another  for  dining  room,  an  1  so  on.  Pine  linen,  old  wine,  silver  and 
cut  glass  however  profusely  abounded.  The  first  day  wore  off  briskly.  Early  the  next 
morning  the  President  and  his  secretaries  were  invited  to  a  horseback  ride  over  the 
grounds.  When  they  stepped  out  to  mount,  our  informant  was  struck  with  dismay. 
There  stood  a  dozen  grooms  stripping  the  requisite  number  of  race  horses — whose  flery 
eyes,  dilated  nostrils,  impatient  champing,  and  light  sinewy  forms,  apparently  capable 
of  mounting  into  the  air,  augured  anything  but  a  quiet  morning's  airing  to  sedate  middle 
agrd  gentleman  who  had  never  ridden  a  steeple-chase  or  made  experiments  in  flying. 
Macon  insisted  the  well  broke  blood  horse  was  as  kind  as  he  was  spirited,  and  all  took  a 
parting  look  of  the  ground  and  mounted.  The  animals  vindicat  ;d  their  master's  eulogium, 
and  no  accidents  occurred.  As  they  swept  along  in  the  exhilarating  morning  air,  with 
the  sensation  of  being  poised  on  aerial  springs,  the  patriarch  u  held  forth  "  on  his  horses. 
One  was  an  "  Archy,"  another  a  "Wildair,"  another  something  else  :  but  each  had  a 
pedigree  as  long  and  aristocratic  as  a  German  baron  of  sixteen  quarterings.  Their  ex 
ploits  and  their  ancestors'  exploits  were  proudly  recounted.  Each  in  his  opinion  wa$ 
worth  a  plantation.  Mr.  Macon's  amused  guests  were  "  almost  persuaded  "  before  their 
return,  to  turn  horse  amateurs  ! 


FLEET    SENT   TO    MEDITERRANEAN.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

sents  to  his  superior  the  Sultan  at  Constantinople.  Bainbridge 
improved  his  situation  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  Capudan 
Pasha,  and  on  his  return  carried  a  firman  which  would  protect 
him  from  further  insults  ;  but  his  blood  boiled  with  the  indignity 
which  he  and  his  country  had  received. 

The  Bashaw  of  Tripoli,  Jussuf  Cararnalli,  finding  he  had  not 
secured  quite  as  favorable  terms  from  the  United  States  as  Al 
giers,  began  on  some  shabby  pretences  or  rather  on  the  open 
avowal  that  he  had  not  been  bribed  highly  enough,  to  threaten 
war — that  is  to  say  an  unrestrained  piracy  and  a  seizure  of 
Americans  for  slavery  or  ransom — unless  within  six  months  he 
should  receive  a  satisfactory  present  in  money. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  we  have  had  occasion  to  see,  had  always  been 
in  favor  of  putting  an  end  to  the  miserable  system  of  buying  pre 
carious  and  unreliable  peace  at  a  far  greater  ultimate  cost  than 
that  of  war;  and  had  his  propositions,  when  minister  to  France, 
been  carried  out,  the  Barbary  dens  of  piracy  would  not  have 
been  left  a  half  century  longer  to  make,  in  every  land  of  Chris 
tendom,  the  kinsmen  of  those  who  went  "down  to  the  sea  in 
ships,"  tremble  at  the  mention  of  the  corsair  flag.  The  President 
was  now  in  a  posture  to  act  on  his  early  ideas  ;  and  Dale,  though 
he  bore  an  amicable  message  to  the  Bashaw,  was  instructed  to 
act  promptly  on  the  offensive,  if  it  should  be  demanded  by  the 
rights  or  dignity  of  his  country.  He  sailed  from  Hampton  Roads 
with  the  following  vessels  :  the  President,  44,  Captain  J.  Barron  ; 
Philadelphia,  38,  Captain  S.  Barron  ;  Essex,  32,  Captain  Bain- 
bridge,  and  Enterprise,  12,  Lieutenant-commandant  Sterrett.. 

In  answering  a  congratulatory  address  of  the  foreign  born 
residents  of  Beaver  county,  Pennsylvania  (May  2d),  the  Presi 
dent  thus  disclosed  his  ideas  of  the  proper  and  just  policy  of 
our  Government  towards  this  class  of  citizens  : 

"  Born  in  other  countries,  yet  believing  you  could  be  happy  in  this,  our  laws  ac 
knowledge,  as  they  should  do,  your  right  to  join  us  in  society,  conforming,  as  I 
doubt  not  you  will  do,  to  our  established  rules.  That  these  rules  shall  be  as  equal  as 
prudential  considerations  will  admit,  will  certainly  be  the  aim  of  our  legislatures, 
general  and  particular.  To  unequal  privileges  among  members  of  the  same  society 
the  spirit  of  our  nation  is,  with  one  accord,  adverse.  If  the  unexampled  state  of  the 
world  has  in  any  instance  occasioned  among  us  temporary  departures  from  the  sys 
tem  of  equal  rule,  the  restoration  of  tranquillity  will  doubtless  produce  reconsider 
ation  ;  and  your  own  knowledge  of  the  liberal  conduct  heretofore  observed  tow- 
ards  strangers  settling  among  us  will  warrant  the  belief  that  what  is  right  will  be  done." 


C1IA!'.  XIII.]  FORMS   AND   MAXIMS    ADOPTED.  GG7 

He  wrote  Gideon  Granger,  May  3d,  exchanging  congratula 
tions  on  the  result  of  the  recent  election  in  Rhode  Island,  which 
had  given  the  Republicans  both  the  Congressional  delegates  and 
the  General  Assembly.  He  expressed  the  hope  that  it  was  the 
beginning  of  "  the  resurrection  of  the  genuine  spirit  of  New 
England,"  and  predicted  that  Vermont  would  follow  next  "  be 
cause  least,  after  Rhode  Island,  under  the  yoke  of  hierocracy." 

On  the  14th  of  May,  in  answer  to  inquiries  from  Mr.  Macon, 
the  President  declared  the  following  as  established  points  and 
maxims  of  his  Administration  : 

"  Levees  are  done  away.1 

"  The  first  communication  to  the  next  Congress  will  be,  like  all  subsequent  ones, 
by  message,  to  which  no  answer  will  be  expected. 

u  The  diplomatic  establishment  in  Europe  will  be  reduced  to  three  ministers. 

"  The  compensations  to  collectors  depends  on  you  [Congress],  and  not  on  me. 

"  The  army  is  undergoing  a  chaste  reformation. 

'•  The  navy  will  be  reduced  to  the  legal  establishment  by  the  last  of  this  month. 

"  Agencies  in  every  department  will  be  revised. 

"  We  s'.ull  push  you  to  the  uttermost  in  economizing. 

"A  very  early  recommendation  had  been  given  to  the  Postmaster  General  to 

1  Among  Mr.  Jefferson's  papers  was  found  one  indorsed  in  his  handwriting :  "  This 
rough  paper  contains  what  was  agreed  upon" — meaning,  undoubtedly,  what  was  agreed 
upon  by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet: 

"ETIQUETTE. 

"  I.  In  order  to  bring  the  members  of  society  together  in  the  first  instance,  the  cus 
tom  of  the  country  has  established  that  residents  shall  pay  the  first  visit  to  strangers, 
and,  among  strangers,  first  comers  to  later  comers,  foreign  and  domestic  ;  the  character 
of  stranger  ceasing  after  the  first  visits.  To  this  rule  there  is  a  single  exception.  Foreign 
ministers,  from  the  necessity  of  making  themselves  known,  pay  the  first  visit  to  the  min 
isters  of  the  nation,  which  is  returned. 

"  II.  When  brought  together  in  society,  all  are  perfectly  equal,  whether  foreign  or 
domestic,  titled  or  untitled,  in  or  out  of  office. 

"All  other  observances  are  but  exemplifications  of  these  two  principles. 

"  I.  1st.  The  families  of  foreign  ministers,  arriving  at  the  seat  of  government,  receive 
the  first  visit  from  those  of  the  national  ministers,  as  from  all  other  residents. 

U2d.  Members  of  the  Legislature  and  of  the  Judiciary,  independent  of  their  offices, 
have  a  right  as  strangers  to  receive  the  first  visit. 

"  II.  1st.  No  title  being  admitted  here,  those  of  foreigners  give  no  precedence. 

"  2«1.  Difference  of  grade  among  the  diplomatic  members,  gives  no  precedence. 

"3d.  At  public  ceremonies,  to  which  the  government  invites  the  presence  of  foreign 
ministers  and  their  families,  a  convenient  seat  or  station  will  be  provided  for  them,  with 
any  other  strangers  invited  and  the  families  of  the  national  ministers,  each  taking  place 
as  they  arrive,  and  without  any  precedence. 

"  4th.  To  maintain  the  principle  of  equality,  or  of  pch  mele.  and  prevent  the  growth 
of  precedence  out  of  courtesy,  the  members  of  the  Executive  will  practice  at  their  own 
houses,  and  recommend  an  adherence  to  the  ancient  usage  of  the  country,  of  gentlemen 
in  mass  giving  precedence  to  the  ladies  in  mass,  in  passing  from  one  apartment  where 
they  are  assembled  into  another." 

The  President  had  two  public  days  for  the  reception  of  company,  the  first  of  January 
and  the  fourth  of  July— when  his  doors  were  thrown  open  to  all  who  chose  to  enter 
them.  At  other  times,  all  who  chose  were  permitted  to  call  upon  him  on  business  or  a* 
a  matter  of  courtesy. 


•608  FORMS    AND    MAXIMS    ADOPTED.  [CHAP.  XHI. 

employ  no  printer,  foreigner,  or  revolutionary  tory  in  any  of  his  offices.     This  de 
partment  is  still  untouched. 

"  The  arrival  of  Mr.  Gallatin  yesterday,  completed  the  organization  of  our  Ad 
ministration." 

A  circumstance  is  remembered,  attending  the  abolition  of 
levees,  which  provokes  a  smile.  Some  persons  in  Washington, 
principally  ladies  we  believe,  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  abolition  was  inexpedient ;  and  they  made  up  their  minds 
to  muster  in  force  at  the  Presidential  Mansion  at  the  usual  time. 
They  accordingly  did  so.  The  President  was  out  riding  on 
horseback,  but  soon  returned.  Learning  the  extraordinary 
number  of  ladies  that  had  called,  and  at  once  guessing  the  mo 
tive  of  the  visit,  he  went  immediately,  hat  in  hand,  spurs  on, 
and  soiled  with  dust,  into  their  midst.  lie  expressed  himself 
overjoyed  at  such  a  happy  coincidence.  Never  had  he  been 
seen  so  cordial  or  attentive.  He  allowed  no  one  to  go  without 
urging  her  longer  stay.  The  fair  visitors  finally  departed, 
laughing  heartily  at  each  other  and  the  result  of  their  experi 
ment.  They  never  repeated  it. 

On  the  llth  of  July,  he  settled  the  etiquette  of  correspon 
dence  beween  the  General  Government  and  the  Governors  of 
States,  by  adopting  "  the  practice  in  General  Washington's  Ad 
ministration,"  which  he  thought  "  most  friendly  to  business,  and 
was  absolutely  equal  " — namely,  that  the  President,  or  heads  of 
departments,  should  indiscriminately  write  to  Governors.  He 
thought,  if  a  letter  wras  on  a  general  subject,  there  was  no  rea 
son  why  the  President  might  not  write;  but  if  it  went  into  de 
tails,  only  known  to  the  head  of  the  department,  it  was  better 
that  he  should  write  directly.  He  thought  if  each  party  neg 
lected  etiquette,  convenience  would  dictate  the  proper  course. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  BERMUDA  HUNDRED. 

WASHINGTON,  June  24,  1801. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

According  to  contract,  immediately  on  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Eppes's  letter  of 
the  12th,  I  wrote  him  mine  of  the  17th;  and  having  this  moment  received  yours  of 
June  18th,  I  hasten  to  reply  to  that  also.  I  am  very  anxious  you  should  hasten 
your  departure  for  Monticello,  but  go  a  snail's  pace  when  you  set  out.  I  shall  cer 
tainly  be  with  you  the  last  week  of  July  or  first  week  of  August.  I  have  a  letter 
from  your  sister  this  morning.  All  are  well.  They  have  had  all  their 


CHAP.  XIII.]  LETTERS    TO    MKS.  EPPES.  669 

almost,  broken  by  a  hail-storm,  and  are  unable  to  procure  glass,  so  that  they  are  liv 
ing  almost  out  of  doors.  The  whole  neighborhood  suffered  equally.  Two  sky 
lights  at  Monticello,  which  had  been  left  uncovered,  were  entirely  broken  up.  No 
other  windows  there  were  broke.  I  give  reason  to  expect  that  both  yourself  and 
your  sister  will  come  here  in  the  fall.  I  hope  it  myself,  and  our  society  here  is  anx 
ious  for  it.  I  promise  them  that  one  of  you  will  hereafter  pass  the  spring  here,  and 
the  other  the  fall ;  saving  your  consent  to  it.  All  this  must  be  arranged  when  we 
meet.  I  am  here  interrupted,  so,  with  my  affectionate  regards  to  the  family  at  Ep- 
ington,  and  Mr.  Eppes,  and  tenderest  love  to  yourself,  I  must  bid  you  adieu. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES. 

WASHINGTON,  July  16th,  1861, 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

I  received  yesterday  Mr.  Eppes's  letter  of  the  12th,  informing  me  that  you 
had  got  safely  to  Eppingion,  and  would  set  out  to-morrow  at  furthest  for  Monticello 
This  letter  therefore,  will,  I  hope,  find  you  there.  I  now  write  to  Mr.  Craven  to 
furnish  you  all  the  supplies  of  the  table  which  his  farm  affords.  Mr.  Lilly  1  had  be 
fore  received  orders  to  do  the  same.  Liquors  have  been  forwarded  and  have  ar 
rived  with  some  loss.  I  insist  that  you  command  and  use  everything  as  if  I  were 
with  you,  and  shall  be  very  uneasy  if  you  do  not.  A  supply  of  groceries  has  been 
lying  here  some  time  waiting  for  a  conveyance.  It  will  probably  be  three  weeks 
from  this  time  before  they  can  be  at  Monticello.  In  the  meantime,  take  what  is 
wanting  from  any  of  the  stores  with  which  I  deal,  on  my  account.  I  have  recom 
mended  to  your  sister  to  send  at  once  for  Mrs.  Marks."  Remus  and  my  chair,  with 
Phill  as  usual,  can  go  for  her.  I  shall  join  you  between  the  second  and  seventh — 
more  probably  not  till  the  seventh.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Madison  leave  this  about  a  week 
hence.  I  am  looking  forward  with  great  impatience  to  the  moment  when  we  can 
ill  be  joined  at  Monticello,  and  hope  we  shall  never  again  know  so  long  a  separa 
tion.  I  recommend  to  your  sister  to  go  over  at  once  to  Monticello,  which  I  hope 
she  will  do.  It  will  be  safer  for  her  and  more  comfortable  for  both.  Present  me 
affectionately  to  Mr.  Eppes,  and  be  assured  of  my  constant  and  tenderest  love. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

A  remark  in  one  of  the  preceding  letters,  reminds  us  to  say 
tli at.  Mr.  Jefferson's  correspondence  with  his  oldest  daughter, 
Mrs.  Randolph,  was  as  uninterrupted  as  ever.  But  we  have 
not  the  letters  to  her  of  this  period 

Washington  at  this  time  was  considered  quite  unhealthy, 
even  for  acclimated  Virginians,  for  something  upwards  of  two 

1  Overseer  at  Monticello. 

a  A  sister  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  whose  husband  had  sunk  inio  limited  circumstances.  She 
resided  in  the  lower  or  unhealthy  country.  For  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years,  Mr. 
Jefferson  annually  sent  for  her  in  the  unhealthy  season,  and  she  passed  three  months  or 
.nore  at  Monticello. 


670  LETTER   TO    MR.  LIVINGSTON.  [CHAB.  XIIL 

months  of  autumn.     Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  Attorney  General  Lin 
coln  (who  had  already  gone  north),  July  llth  : 

"  Mr.  Madison  has  had  a  slight  bilious  attack.  I  am  advising  him  to  get  off  by 
the  middle  of  this  month.  We  who  have  stronger  constitutions  shall  stay  to  the  end 
of  it.  But  during  August  and  September,  we  also  must  take  refuge  in  climates  ren 
dered  safer  by  our  habits  and  confidence.  The  post  will  be  so  arranged  as  that  let 
ters  will  go  hence  to  Monticello,  and  the  answers  return  here  in  a  week." 

The  President  set  out  for  home  on  the  30th. 

He  wrote  the  Attorney-General,  August  26th,  noticing  the 
vehement  and  personal  attacks  kept  up  on  him  by  the  New 
England  printers  and  clergy,  conjecturing  that  it  was  in  part 
designed  to  u provoke  him  to  make  a  general  sweep  of  all  Fede 
ralists  out  of  office."  He  said  : 

"  Appearances  of  schismatizing  from  us  have  been  entirely  done  away.  I  own 
I  expected  it  [the  removals]  would  check  the  current  with  which  the  republican 
Federalists  were  returning  to  their  brethren,  the  Republicans.  I  extremely  la 
mented  this  effect ;  for  the  moment  which  should  convince  me  that  a  healing  of  the 
nation  into  one  is  impracticable,  would  be  the  last  moment  of  my  wishing  to  remain 
where  I  am.  (Of  the  monarchical  Federalists  I  have  no  expectations.  They  are  in 
curables,  to  be  taken  care  of  in  a  madhouse,  if  necessary,  and  on  motives  of  cha 
rity.)  I  am  much  pleased,  therefore,  with  your  information  that  the  republican 
Federalists  are  still  coming  into  the  desired  union." 

On  the  9th  of  September,  he  wrote  an  inofficial  letter  to 
Chancellor  Livingston,  on  the  point  of  departing  for  France,  to 
express  his  individual  views,  and  those  he  believed  to  be  most 
generally  adopted  in  the  United  States,  in  regard  to  the  very 
important  question  then  agitating  Europe,  whether  free  ships 
should  make  free  goods ;  and  which  was  not  broached  in  the 
Minister's  formal  instructions,  because  the  government  did  not 
consider  it  expedient  to  take  an  attitude  on  the  question  which 
might  involve  us  in  a  European  war.  It  did  not,  in  other  words, 
consider  the  establishment  of  the  doctrine  worth  a  war  at  that 
time.  Mr.  Jefferson  considered  the  right  of  taking  the  goods  of 
an  enemy  from  the  ship  of  a  friend,  to  be  the  law  of  nations  as 
established  in  practice,  and  the  contrary  doctrine  but  the  excep 
tion  founded  on  compact — though  he  regarded  the  last  as  the 
principle  really  dictated  by  the  law  of  nature,  and  by  national 
morality.  He  thought  that  inasmuch  as  it  was  admittedly 
wrong  to  entpr  the  territory  of  a  friend  to  seize  the  goods  of  an 


C1FAP.  Xni.]  ON    EIGHTS    OF    NEUTRALS.  671 

enemy,  the  same  rule  ought  to  apply  to  ships ;  because,  he  said, 
the  particular  portion  of  the  ocean  "which  happened  to  be 
occupied  by  the  vessel  of  any  nation,  in  the  course  of  its  voyage, 
was,  for  the  moment,  the  exclusive  property  of  that  nation,  and, 
with  the  vessel,  was  exempt  from  intrusion  by  any  other,  and 
from  its  jurisdiction,  as  much  as  if  it  were  lying  in  the  harbor 
of  its  sovereign" — and  "no  nation  ever  pretended  a  right  to 
govern  by  their  laws  the  ship  of  another  nation  navigating  the 
ocean."  This  conflicting  with  the  practice  of  seizing  what  was 
contraband  of  war,  he  asserted  that  such  seizure  was  "an  abu 
sive  practice,  not  founded  in  natural  right."  lie  said  the  "  doc 
trine  that  the  rights  of  nations  remaining  quietly  in  the  exercise 
of  moral  and  social  duties,  are  to  give  way  to  the  convenience 
of  those  who  prefer  plundering  and  murdering  one  another,  was 
a  monstrous  doctrine."  He  considered  the  distinction  of  con 
traband  fictitious,  and  that  all  things  or  none  that  may  aid 
and  comfort  an  enemy  in  any  degree  were  contraband.  He 
thought,  therefore,  that  neutrals  had  a  right  to  proceed  without 
molestation,  or  any  inquiry  as  to  their  cargoes.  He  said  this 
did  not  contravene  the  right  of  blockade,  because  the  space  be 
tween  the  blockading  vessels  was  either  the  property  of  their 
enemy  or  it  was  common  property,  assumed  and  possessed  for 
the  moment,  which  a  neutral  could  no  more  intrude  upon  than 
upon  a  line  of  battle  in  the  open  sea,  or  upon  lines  of  circumval- 
lation  on  land,  because  he  thereby  intruded  into  the  lawful  pos 
session  of  a  friend. 

This  sounds  very  fair ;  but  the  subject  presents  grave  diffi 
culties.  An  argument  which  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  no 
thing  shall  be  regarded  as  contraband,  has  for  its  practical  co 
rollary,  that  one  nation,  while  assuming  to  be  a  neutral,  and 
while  retaining  all  the  immunities  of  a  neutral,  may  really  in 
terfere  in  the  most  effective  way  between  belligerents,  by  car 
rying  warlike  munitions. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  from  the  President  to 
Mr.  Short  (October  3d),  give  his  views  on  the  propriety  of  con 
tinuing  the  same  individuals  in  diplomatic  positions  for  a  long 
period  of  years.  The  letter  becomes  more  interesting  when  we 
consider  how  far  its  contents  personally  affected  the  individual 
addressed,  and  that  this  individual  was  the  early  student,  secre- 


#72  ON    LENGTH    OF    DIPLOMATIC    TENURES.         [CHAP.  XT1I. 

tary,  and  particular  friend  of  the  writer,  and  enjoyed  his  fullest 
confidence  both  on  the  score  of  integrity  and  capacity  : 

DEAR  SIR, — 

*  *  *  *  *  «** 

I  trusted  to  Mr.  Dawson  to  give  you  a  full  explanation,  verbally,  on  a  subject 
which  I  find  he  has  but  slightly  mentioned  to  you.  I  shall  therefore  now  do  it. 
When  I  returned  from  France,  after  an  absence  of  six  or  seven  years,  I  was  aston 
ished  at  the  change  which  I  found  had  taken  place  in  the  United  States  in  that 
time.  No  more  like  the  same  people ;  their  notions,  their  habits  and  manners,  the 
course  of  their  commerce,  so  totally  changed,  that  I,  who  stood  in  those  of  1784, 
found  myself  not  at  all  qualified  to  speak  their  sentiments,  or  forward  their  views  in 
1790.  Very  soon,  therefore,  after  entering  on  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  I 
recommended  to  General  Washington  to  establish,  as  a  rule  of  practice,  that  no  per 
son  should  be  continued  on  foreign  mission  beyond  an  absence  of  six,  seven,  or 
eight  years.  He  approved  it.  On  the  only  subsequent  missions  which  took  place 
in  my  time,  the  persons  appointed  were  notified  that  they  could  not  be  continued 
beyond  that  period.  All  returned  within  it  except  Humphreys.  His  term  was  not 
quite  out  when  General  Washington  went  out  of  office.  The  succeeding  Administra- 
tration  had  no  rule  for  anything ;  so  he  continued.  Immediately  on  my  coming  to 
the  Administration,  I  wrote  to  him  myself,  reminded  him  of  the  rule  I  had  com 
municated  to  him  on  his  departure  ;  that  he  had  then  been  absent  about  eleven 
years,  and  consequently  must  return.  On  this  ground  solely  he  was  superseded. 
Under  these  circumstances,  your  appointment  was  impossible  after  an  absence  of 
seventeen  years.  Under  any  others,  I  should  never  fail  to  give  to  yourself  and  the 
world  proofs  of  my  friendship  for  you,  and  of  my  confidence  in  you.  Whenever 
you  shall  return,  you  will  be  sensible  in  a  greater,  of  what  I  was  in  a  smaller  degree, 
of  the  change  in  this  nation  from  what  it  was  when  we  both  left  it  in  1784.  We 
return  like  foreigners,  and,  like  them,  require  a  considerable  residence  here  to  be 
come  Americanized. 

There  is  no  point  in  which  an  American,  long  absent  from  his  country,  wanders 
so  widely  from  its  sentiments  as  on  the  subject  of  its  foreign  affairs.  We  have  a 
perfect  horror  at  everything  like  connecting  ourselves  with  the  politics  of  Europe. 
It  would  indeed  be  advantageous  to  us  to  have  neutral  rights  established  on  a  broad 
ground ;  but  no  dependence  can  be  placed  in  any  European  coalition  for  that.  They 
have  so  many  other  by-interests  of  greater  weight,  that  some  one  or  other  will 
always  be  bought  off  To  be  entangled  with  them  would  be  a  much  greater  evil 
than  a  temporary  acquiescence  in  the  false  principles  which  have  prevailed.  Peace 
is  our  most  important  interest,  and  a  recovery  from  debt.  We  feel  ourselves  strong, 
and  daily  growing  stronger.  The  census  just  now  concluded,  shows  we  have  added 
to  our  population  a  third  of  what  it  was  ten  years  ago.  This  will  be  a  duplication 
in  twenty-three  or  twenty-four  years.  If  we  can  delay  but  for  a  few  years  the  neces 
sity  of  vindicating  the  laws  of  nature  on  the  ocean,  we  shall  be  the  more  sure  of 
doing  it  with  effect.  The  day  is  within  my  time  as  well  as  yours,  when  we  may  say 
by  what  laws  other  nations  shall  treat  us  on  the  sea.  And  we  will  say  it.  In  the 
mean  time,  we  wish  to  let  every  treaty  we  have  drop  off  without  renewal.  We  call 
in  our  diplomatic  missions,  barely  keeping  up  those  to  the  most  important  nations. 
There  is  a  strong  disposition  in  our  countrymen  to  discontinue  even  these ;  and  very 


CHAP.  XIII.]  RULES    OF    OFFICIAL    INTERCOURSE.  673 

possibly  it  may  be  done.  Consuls  will  be  continued  as  usual.  The  interest  which 
European  nations  feel,  as  well  as  ourselves,  in  the  mutual  patronage  of  commercial 
intercourse,  is  a  sufficient  stimulus  on  both  sides  to  insure  that  patronage.  A.  treaty 
contrary  to  that  interest,  renders  war  necessary  to  get  rid  of  it. 

The  President  addressed  a  private  circular  to  the  heads  of 
departments  on  the  6th  of  November,  in  which  he  "  recom 
mended  "  a  restoration  of  the  rules  of  official  intercourse  between 
the  President  and  his  Cabinet,  practised  during  General  Wash 
ington's  Administration  ;  namely,  that  when  letters  of  business 
were  addressed  to  the  President,  he  should  refer  them  to  the 
proper  department  to  be  acted  on — if  they  were  addressed  to 
one  of  the  Secretaries,  and  required  no  answer,  they  should  be 
communicated  to  the  President  for  information  ;  if  an  answer 
was  required,  the  Secretary  should  communicate  the  letter  and 
his  proposed  answer,  which  the  President  would  return  without 
comment,  signifying  approval,  or  suggest  alterations,  or  reserve 
for  conference.  He  thus  sketched  the  fruits  of  these  rules 
during  the  first  Administration,  and  of  contrary  ones  during  the 
second  : 

By  this  means,  he  [General  Washington]  was  always  in  accurate  possession  of 
all  facts  and  proceedings  in  every  part  of  the  Union,  and  to  whatsoever  department 
they  related  ;  he  formed  a  central  point  for  the  different  branches  ;  preserved  an 
unity  of  object  and  action  among  them  ;  exercised  that  participation  in  the  sugges 
tion  of  affairs  which  his  office  made  incumbent  on  him  ;  and  met  himself  the  due 
responsibility  for  whatever  was  done.  During  Mr.  Adams's  Administration,  his  long 
and  habitual  absences  from  the  seat  of  government  rendered  this  kind  of  communi 
cation  impracticable,  removed  him  from  any  share  in  the  transaction  of  affairs,  and 
parcelled  out  the  government,  in  fact,  among  four  independent  heads,  drawing  some 
times  in  opposite  directions. 

On  the  20th  of  November,  the  President  replied  to  a  com 
plimentary  address  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Vermont, 
expressing  his  approbation  of  their  views,  and  "  joining  [them]  in 
addressing  Him  whose  king  lorn  ruleth  over  all,  to  direct  the 
administration  of  their  affairs  to  their  own  greatest  good.1' 

On  the  ^ith,  he  replied  to  a  letter  from  Governor  Monroe,  co 
vering  a  resolution  of  the  Virginia  Legislature  on  the  subject  of 
finding  and  purchasing  a  place  for  the  deportation  of  those  color 
ed  persons  who  had  been  engaged  in  conspiracy  and  insurgency 
in  1800.  He  pointed  out  the  obvious  considerations  which 
would  prevent  such  a  colony  from  being  planted  "  within  our 
limits  "  to  '•  become  a  part  of  our  Union" — and  the  reasons  likely 
VOL.  ii  — 43 


674  COLONIZING    INSURGENT   BLACKS.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

to  deter  the  British  Provinces  on  the  north,1  the  Spanish  ones  on 
the  south  and, west,  from  being  willing  to  receive  them.  In  the 
case  of  Spain,  even  if  the  Government  would  acquiesce  in  the 
arrangement,  and  the  Indian  possessors  sell  the  requisite  amount 
of  land,  he  started  the  following  very  notable  objection  : 

"  The  same  question  to  ourselves  would  recur  here  also,  as  did  in  the  first  case : 
should  we  be  willing  to  have  such. a  colony  in  contact  with  us?  However  our 
present  interests  may  restrain  us  within  our  own  limits,  it  is  impossible  not  to  look 
forward  to  distant  times,  when  our  rapid  multiplication  will  expand  itself  beyond 
those  limits,  and  cover  the  whole  northern,  if  not  the  southern  continent,  with  a 
people  speaking  the  same  language,  governed  in  similar  forms,  and  by  similar  laws; 
nor  can  we  contemplate  with  satisfaction  either  blot  or  mixture  on  that  surface." 

After  declaring  that  on  whatever  place  the  constituted 
authorities  of  Virginia  fixed  their  attention,  he  would  have  the 
dispositions  of  its  government  sounded,  he  added  : 

"  The  West  Indies  oifer  a  more  probable  and  practicable  retreat  for  them.  Inhab 
ited  already  by  a  people  of  their  own  race  and  color;  climates  congenial  with  their 
natural  constitution  ;  insulated  from  the  other  descriptions  of  men ;  nature  seems  to 
have  formed  these  islands  to  become  the  receptacle  of  the  blacks  transplanted  into 
this  hemisphere.  Whether  we  could  obtain  from  the  European  sovereigns  of  those 
islands  leave  to  send  thither  the  persons  under  consideration,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  I 
think  it  more  probable  than  the  former  propositions,  because  of  their  being  already 
inhabited  more  or  less  by  the  same  race.  The  most  promising  portion  of  them  ia 
the  island  of  St  Domingo,  where  the  blacks  are  established  into  a  sovereignty  de 
facto,  and  have  organized  themselves  under  regular  laws  and  government.  I  should 
conjecture  that  their  present  ruler  might  be  willing,  on  many  considerations,  to  re 
ceive  over  that  description  which  would  be  exiled  for  acts  deemed  criminal  by  us, 
but  meritorious,  perhaps,  by  him.  The  possibility  that  these  exiles  might  stimulate 
and  conduct  vindictive  or  predatory  descents  on  our  coasts,  and  faciliate  concert 
with  their  brethren  remaining  here,  looks  to  a  state  of  things  between  that  island 
and  us  not  probable  on  a  contemplation  of»ur  relative  strength,  and  of  the  dispro 
portion  daily  growing ;  and  it  is  overweighed  by  the  humanity  of  the  measures 
proposed,  and  the  advantages  of  disembarrassing  ourselves  of  such  dangerous 
characters.  Africa  would  offer  a  last  and  undoubted  resort,  if  all  others  more  de 
sirable  should  fail  us." 

To  the  Reverend  Isaac  Story,  who  had  inclosed  him  some 
speculations  on  the  subject  of  a  transmigration  of  souls  from  one 
body  to  another,  the  President  wrote,  December  5th : 

"  The  laws  of  nature  have  withheld  from  us  the  means  of  physical  knowledge  of 
the  country  of  spirits,  and  revelation  has,  for  reasons  unknown  to  us,  chosen  to 

1  He  doubted  too  whether  the  race  of  blacks  would  continue  to  exist  long  in  so  rigor 
ous  a  climate. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  LETTERS    TO   MRS.  EPPES.  6T5 

leave  us  in  the  dark  as  we  were.  When  I  was  young,  I  was  fond  of  the  specula 
tions  which  seemed  to  promise  some  insight  into  that  hidden  country  ;  but  observ 
ing  at  length  that  they  left  me  in  the  same  ignorance  in  which  they  had  found  me, 
I  have  for  very  many  years  ceased  to  read  or  think  concerning  them,  and  have 
reposed  my  head  on  that  pillow  of  ignorance  which  a  benevolent  Creator  has  made 
so  soft  for  us,  knowing  how  much  we  should  be  forced  to  use  it.  I  have  thought  it 
better,  by  nourishing  the  good  passions  and  controlling  the  bad,  to  merit  an  inher 
itance  in  a  state  of  being  of  which  I  can  know  so  little,  and  to  trust  for  the  future 
to  Him  who  has  been  so  good  for  the  past." 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  MONTICELLO. 

WASHINGTON,  Oct.  26, 1801. 

MY   EVER   DEAR    MARIA  : 

I  have  heard  nothing  of  you  since  Mr.  Eppes's  letter,  dated  the  day  sennight 
after  I  left  home.  The  Milton  mail  will  be  here  to-morrow  morning,  when  I  shall 
hope  to  receive  something.  In  the  meantime  this  letter  must  go  hence  this  even 
ing.  I  trust  it  will  still  find  you  at  Monticello,  and  that  possibly  Mr.  Eppes  may 
have  concluded  to  take  a  journey  to  Bedford,  and  still  farther  prolonged  your  stay. 
I  am  anxious  to  hear  from  you,  lest  you  should  have  suffered  in  the  same  way  now 
as  on  a  former  similar  occasion.  Should  anything  of  that  kind  take  place,  and  the 
remedy  which  succeeded  before  fail  now,  I  know  nobody  to  whom  I  would  so  soon 
apply  as  Mrs.  Suddarth.  A  little  experience  is  worth  a  great  deal  of  reading,  and 
she  has  had  great  experience,  and  a  sound  judgment  to  observe  on  it.  I  shall  be 
glad  to  hear  at  the  same  time  that  the  little  boy  is  well.  If  Mr.  Eppes  undertakes 
what  I  have  proposed  to  him  at  Pantops  and  Poplar  Forest  the  next  year,  I  should 
think  it  indispensable  that  he  should  make  Monticello  his  headquarters.  You  can 
be  furnished  with  all  plantation  articles  for  the  family  from  Mr.  Craven,  who  will  be 
glad  to  pay  his  rent  in  that  way.  It  would  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  find  you 
fixed  there  in  April.  Perhaps  it  might  induce  me  to  take  flying  trips  by  stealth,  to 
have  the  enjoyment  of  family  society  for  a  few  days  undisturbed.  Nothing  can 
repay  me  the  loss  of  that  society,  the  only  one  founded  in  affection  and  bosom 
confidence.  I  have  here  company  enough,  part  of  which  is  very  friendly,  part  well 
enough  disposed,  part  secretly  hostile,  and  a  constant  succession  of  strangers.  But 
this  only  serves  to  get  rid  of  life,  not  to  enjoy  it ;  it  is  in  the  love  of  one's  family 
only  that  heartfelt  happiness  is  known.  I  feel  it  when  we  are  all  together  and 
alone  beyond  what  can  be  imagined.  Present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Eppes.  Mr. 
Randolph,  and  my  dear  Martha,  and  be  assured  yourself  of  my  tenderest  love. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


To  MARIA  JEFFERSON  EPPES,  EPPINOTON. 

WASHINGTON,  Dec.  14, 1801. 
MY  DEAR  MARIA  : 

I  received  in  due  time  yours  and  Mr.  Eppes's  letters  of  Nov.  6,  and  his  of 
Nov.  26.  This  last  informed  me  you  would  stay  at  Eppington  two  or  three  weeks. 
Having  bad  occasion  to  write  during  that  time  to  Mr.  F.  Eppes  without  knowing  at 


676  STATE   ELECTIONS    OF   1801.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

Uie  moment  that  you  were  there,  you  would  of  course  know  that  I  am  well.  This, 
with  the  unceasing  press  of  business,  has  prevented  my  writing  to  you.  Presuming 
this  will  still  find  you  at  Eppington,  I  direct  it  to  Colesville  Mr.  Eppes's  letter 
having  informed  me  that  little  Francis1  was  still  in  the  height  of  his  whooping- 
cough  and  that  you  had  had  a  sore  breast,  I  am  very  anxious  to  hear  from  you. 
The  family  at  Edgehill  have  got  out  of  all  danger.  Ellen  and  Cornelia  have  been 
in  most  imminent  danger.  I  hear  of  no  death  at  Monticello  except  old  Tom 
Shackleford.  My  stonemasons  have  done  scarcely  anything  there.  Congress  is 
just  setting  in  on  business.  We  have  a  very  commanding  majority  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  a  safe  majority  in  the  Senate.  I  believe,  therefore,  all 
things  will  go  on  smoothly,  except  a  little  ill-temper,  to  be  expected  from  the 
minority,  who  are  bitterly  mortified.  I  hope  there  is  a  letter  on  the  road  informing 
me  how  you  all  are.  I  perceive  that  it  will  be  merely  accidental  when  I  can  steal  a 
moment  to  write  to  you ;  however,  that  is  of  no  consequence,  my  health  being 
always  so  firm  as  to  leave  you  without  doubt  on  that  subject.  But  it  is  not  so  with 
yourself  and  little  one.  I  shall  not  be  easy,  therefore,  if  either  yourself  or  Mr. 
Eppes  do  not,  once  a  week  or  fortnight,  write  the  three  words  "  all  are  well."  That 
you  may  be  so  now,  and  so  continue,  is  the  subject  of  my  perpetual  anxiety,  as  my 
affections  are  constantly  brooding  over  you.  Heaven  bless  you,  my  dear  daughter. 
Present  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  Eppes  and  my  friends  at  Eppington  if  you  are 
there. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 

P.S. — After  signing  my  name,  I  was  called  to  receive  Dr.  Walker,  who  delivers 
me  a  letter  from  Mr.  Eppes,  informing  me  of  your  state  011  the  7th  instant,  which  is 
not  calculated  to  remove  anxiety. 

• 

"  Congress  was  to  meet  on  the  7th  of  December.  The  Repub 
licans  were  greatly  in  the  ascendency  in  that  body.  They  had 
made  large  accessions  in  the  middle  States,  and  had  carried 
those  of  the  South  and  West  almost  in  a  body.  In  Virginia, 
for  example,  but  a  single  opposition  member  had  been  elected. 

The  State  elections  of  1801  extended  the  victory  of  the  same 
party  still  further.  Two  New  England  States  went  over  to 
them,  and  the  others  were  wavering.  Out  of  New  England  not 
a  governor  nor  a  legislature  was  left  to  the  Federalists,  except 
in  Delaware.  In  several  of  the  great  States,  they  were  reduced 
to  such  hopeless  insignificance,  that  their  opponents  no  longer 
noticed  them  as  a 'separate  political  organization  ;  and  they  had 
ample  time,  and  were  not  long  in  finding  the  inclination,  to 
split  into  hostile  factions  among  themselves.  These,  however, 
confined  their  quarrels  to  State  questions.  So  far  as  the  admi 
nistration  of  the  General  Government  was  concerned,  it  was  too 
prosperous  and  powerful — too  much  connected  with  the  warm 

1  Francis  Eppes,  now  of  Talahassie,  Florida. 


."/HAP.  XIII.]  MEETING    OF   CONGRESS.  677 

affections  of  the  people — to  be  assailed  by  any  faction  claiming 
to  be  Republican.  On  the  contrary,  where  these  divisions  took 
place,  each  side  usually  made  a  merit  of  being  warmer  friends 
of  the  President  than  their  antagonists. 

Congress  convened  at  the  appointed  time.  Among  the  most 
distinguished  former  Republican  senators,  yet  remaining,  were 
S.  T.  Mason  and  W.  C.  Nicholas  of  Virginia,  and  Baldwin  of 
Georgia;  of  new  members,  John  Breckenridge  of  Kentucky, 
Governor  James  Jackson  of  Georgia,  General  Thomas  Sumpter 
and  John  E.  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  General  John  Arm 
strong  of  New  York,  and  George  Logan  of  Pennsylvania. 

As  the  latter,  of  French  mission  memory,  stood  up  on  the 
21st  day  of  December  and  "affirmed,"  according  to  the  manner 
of  his  sect,  to  support  the  Constitution,  we  doubt  whether  any 
high  principled  man  in  the  Senate  failed  to  rejoice  in  the  vindi 
cation  both  of  principle  and  personal  motives  which  his  appear 
ance  there  presented.  It  was  the  type  of  a  new  government 
era. 

Armstrong  of  New  York  soon  resigned,  and  De  Witt  Clinton 
was  appointed  his  successor,  February  9th,  1802.  In  the  latter, 
^merged  on  the  national  horizon  an  intellectual  luminary  of  the 
iirst  magnitude.  He  was  to  remain  there,  howevor,  but  for.  a 
short  period,  preferring  to  make  his  native  State  the  scene  of 
his  principal  efforts  and  of  his  fame.  . 

The  most  distinguished  opposition  senators  were  old  mem 
bers.  They  were  Governeur  Morris  of  New  York,  Tracy  and 
Hillhouse  of  Connecticut,  Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  Mason  of 
Massachusetts,  and,  perhaps  we  should  add,  Ross  of  Penn 
sylvania. 

Some  of  the  most  prominent  Administration  members  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  were  Macon  of  North  Carolina ; 
Giles,  Randolph,  Clopton  and  Cabell  of  Virginia;  Varnum  and 
Eustis  of  Massachusetts;  Smith  and  Nicholson  of  Maryland; 
Leib,  Gregg  and  Smilie  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Dr.  Mitchell  (cele 
brated  in  the  scientific  world),  Van  Ness  and  Van  Cortlandt  of 
New  York  ;  and  Milledge  of  Georgia.  Virginia  had  lost  a  most 
capable  and  sound  representative  in  the  removal  of  John  Nicho 
las  to  Geneva  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Among  the  prominent 
Federal  members  were  Bayard  of  Delaware ;  Griswold,  Dana, 
Goddard,  and  John  Cotton  Smith  of  Connecticut;  Van 


6T8  STATE    CEREMONIALS    ABOLISHED.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

laer  of  New  York ;  Rutledge,  Lowndes  and  linger  of  South 
Carolina;  Dennis  of  Maryland  ;  and  Stanley  of  North  Carolina. 
In  both  houses  the  superiority  of  talent  was  decidedly  on  the 
side  of  the  Administration. 

Mr.  Macon  was  chosen  speaker  over  Bayard  ;  and  Beckley, 
the  former  Republican  incumbent,  ejected  by  the  Federalists,  was 
chosen  clerk,  by  fifty-three  votes  to  twenty-six  for  the  opposition 
candidates. 

The  President  did  not,  according  to  the  previous  custom, 
open  Congress  with  a  formal  speech  ;  but  transmitted  a  written 
message  to  the  president  of  the  Senate  (December  8th)  with  the 
following  communication  : 


"  Sir, — The  circumstances  under  which  we  find  ourselves  at  this  place  rendering 
inconvenient  the  mode  heretofore  practised  of  making,  by  personal  address,  the 
first  communications  between  the  legislative  and  executive  branches,  I  have  adopt 
ed  that  by  message,  as  used  on  all  subsequent  occasions  through  the  session.  In 
doing  this,  I  have  had  principal  regard  to  the  convenience  of  the  legislature,  to  the 
economy  of  their  time,  to  their  relief  from  the' embarrassment  of  immediate  answers 
on  subjects  not  yet  fully  before  them,  and  to  the  benefits  thence  resulting  to  the 
public  affairs.  Trusting  that  a  procedure,  founded  on  these  motives,  will  meet  their 
approbation,  I  beg  leave  through  you,  sir,  to  communicate  the  inclosed  copy  with 
the  documents  accompanying  it,  to  the  honorable  the  Senate,  and  pray  you 
to  accept  for  yourself  and  them,  the  homage  of  my  high  regard  and  consid 
eration." 


Thus  the  pageant  of  the  "  King's  speech  "  as  it  had  been 
called — the  stately  cavalcade  attending  the  President  to  the  cap 
ital,  and  in  due  time  the  procession  of  Congress  back  to  the 
President  with  their  "  addresses,"  were  forever  swept  away.  The 
levees  and  some  other  ceremonials  borrowed  from  the  customs 
of  England  were  already  gone.  The  days  of  state  ceremonials 
had  passed. 

The  Republicans  rejoiced  in  this  as  if  some  substantive 
particles  of  royalty  had  been  obliterated.  The  Federalists 
mourned  as  if  important  props  of  social  and  civil  order  had 
been  torn  away.  Both  probably  attached  undue  consequence  to 
the  subject.  Such  forms  are  only  important  as  they  indicate  na 
tional  feeling.  Both  sides  should  have  known  that  a  little  tinsel 
and  parade  could  neither  make  nor  guide  the  great  currents  of 
national  sentiment ;  and  that  the  shadow  would  necessarily  con 
form  to  the  substance.  The  same  political  and  social  traditions 


CHAP.  XIII.]  THEIK   DEGREE    OF   CONSEQUENCE.  679 

which  for  ages  had  taught  that  the  many  were  made  to  be  con 
trolled  by  the  few — that  powdered  wigs  and  gold  buckles,  if  they 
did  not  prove  intelligence  and  wisdom  in  the  individual,  indicat 
ed  it  in  the  class,  had  also  taught  that  pomp  and  pageantry  were 
necessary  to  impress  the  popular  mind  and  command  the  popular 
reverence.  But  when  this  whole  system  fell,  what  was  either 
the  further  use  or  the  further  danger  of  its  trappings  ?  They 
could  not  restore  ancien  regime,  nor  could  they  control  un- 
wigged  and  unpowdered  democracy.  They  had  lost  their  ap 
propriateness,  their  signification,  their  motive;  and  they  required 
no  violent  effort  for  their  displacement.  They  had  fallen  of 
themselves,  and  were  as  foreign  to  the  new  order  of  things,  as 
are  the  fancifully  ornamented  costumes  of  ancestors  found  in 
old  wardrobes — which  were  brave  and  becoming  in  their  day, 
but  which  would  provoke  unbounded  merriment  from  the  spec 
tators  if  worn  now. 

The  forms  abolished  by  Jefferson  in  1801,  were  natural  pro 
ducts  of  the  transition  state  from  monarchy  to  democracy.  Our 
political  ideas  were  English.  We  could  not  change  them  in 
stantly,  nor  perhaps  was  it  expedient.  That  political  growth  is 
safest  and  most  permanent  which  proceeds  with  moderation — 
which  is  the  result  of  reflection  rather  than  of  suddenly  roused 
impulses — which  feels  its  way  and  tests  its  structures  before  risk 
ing  all  on  them.  The  example  of  another  people  rushing  head 
long  and  without  preparation  into  diametrically  opposite  sys 
tems  from  its  actual  ones,  was  before  the  eyes  of  the  American 
people,  and  it  did  not  solicit  imitation.  Under  no  circumstances 
could  our  population  have  then  imitated  the  excesses  of  Repub 
lican  France.  Ethnical  effects  must  have  ethnical  causes.  We 
had  not  for  ages  been  trampled  on  and  brutalized  by  an  all-per 
vading  oppression,  as  licentious  as  it  was  selfish  and  savage; 
and  it  did  not  need  that  the  existing  social  and  political  fabric- 
be  exterminated,  to  permit  a  healthy  civilization  to  commence 
on  its  ruins.  The  idea  that  our  simple  and  virtuous  forefathers 
were  in  danger  of  following  the  example  of  Parisian  mobs,  was 
the  chimera  of  a  party  which  could  not  break  away  from  Eng 
lish  ideas,  of  (to  borrow  an  expressive  cant  phrase  of  our  times) 
the  "old  fogyism"  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Still,  every 
where,  and  under  all  circumstances,  "  hasten  slowly"  is  a  wise 
maxim  in  changing  the  ancient  institutions  of  society. 


680  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE.  [CHAP.  xm. 

The  stately  ceremonials  of  Washington's  Administration  were 
appropriate  to  the  times.  And  we  confess  that  they  seem  to  us 
not  unbefitting  the  man.  This  was  our  heroic  epoch — the  half 
mythical  epoch  of  natron-founders.  We  cannot  like  the  ancients 
translate  the  latter  to  demigods.  But  it  seems  to  us  very  harm 
less  that  they  should  drift  down  the  tide  of  tradition,  associated 
in  the  national  memory  with  scenic  accompaniments  which  in 
the  distance  appear  grand  and  high.  We  never  expect  to  see 
Washington  painted  on  the  canvas  in  pantaloons  and  a  round 
hat.  We  should  as  soon  think  of  quarrelling  with  the  costume 
as  with  the  manners  of  the  first  Presidency.  But  let  us  return 
to  our  interrupted  narrative. 

President  Jefferson's  first  annual  message  commenced  with 
an  expression  of  his  "sincere  gratification"  that  he  was  enabled 
to  announce  "  on  grounds  of  reasonable  certainty"  that  peace 
was  restored  to  "sister  nations;"  and  he  declared  that  "whilst 
we  devoutly  returned  thanks  to  the  beneficent  Being  who  had 
been  pleased  to  breathe  into  them  the  spirit  of  conciliation  and 
forgiveness,  we  were  bound  with  peculiar  gratitude,. to  be  thank 
ful  to  Him  that  our  own  peace  had  been  preserved  through  so 
perilous  a  season,  and  ourselves  permitted  quietly  to  cultivate 
the  earth,  and  to  practise  and  improve  those  arts  which  tended 
to  increase  our  comforts." 

He  mentioned  that  a  spirit  of  arnity  prevailed  among  our  In 
dian  neighbors,  arid  that  they  seemed  making  an  advance  in  the 
arts  and  ideas  of  civilization. 

lie  said  but  "one  exception"  existed  to  our  friendly  foreign 
relations,  and  we  will  give  the  passage  as  a  continuation  of  the 
history  of  Commodore  Dale's  expedition  to  the  Mediterranean  : 

•'  To  this  state  of  general  peace  with  which  we  have  been  blessed,  one  only  ex 
ception  exists.  Tripoli,  the  least  considerable  of  the  Barbary  States,  had  come  for 
ward  with  demands  unfounded  either  in  right  or  in  compact,  and  had  permitted  it 
self  to  denounce  war,  on  our  failure  to  comply  before  a  given  day.  The  style  of 
the  demand  admitted  but  one  answer.  I  sent  a  small  squadron  of  frigates  into  the 
Mediterranean,  with  assurances  to  that  power  of  our  sincere  desire  10  remain  in 
peace,  but  with  orders  to  protect  our  commerce  against  the  threatened  attack.  The 
measure  was  seasonable  and  salutary.  The  Bey  had  already  declared  war  in  form. 
His  cruisers  were  out.  Two  had  arrived  at  Gibraltar.  Our  commerce  in  the  Medi 
terranean  was  blockaded,  and  that  of  the  Atlantic  in  peril.  The  arrival  of  our 
squadron  dispelled  the  danger.  One  of  the  Tripoli  tan  cruisers  having  fallen  in  with 
and  engaged  the  small  schooner  Enterprise,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Sterrett, 
which  had  gone  as  a  tender  to  our  larger  vessels,  was  captured,  after  a  heavy  slaugb 


CHAP,  xiir.]  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE.  681 

ter  of  her  men,  without  the  loss  of  a  single  one  on  our  part.  The  bravery  exhi 
bited  by  our  citizens  on  that  element,  will,  I  trust,  be  a  testimony  to  the  world  that 
it  is  not  the  want  of  that  virtue  which  makes  us  seek  their  peace,  but  a  conscien 
tious  desire  to  direct  the  energies  of  our  nation  to  the  multiplication  of  the  human 
race,  and  not  its  destruction.1  Unauthorized  by  the  Constitution,  without  the  sanc 
tion  of  Congress,  to  go  beyond  the  line  of  defence,  the  vessel  being  disabled  from 
committing  further  hostilities  was  liberated  with  its  crew.  The  legislature  will 
doubtless  consider  whether,  by  authorizing  measures  of  offence  also,  they  will  place 
our  force  on  an  equal  footing  with  its  adversaries.  I  communicate  all  material 
information  on  this  subject,  that  in  the  exercise  of  the  important  function  confided 
by  the  Constitution  to  the  legislature  exclusively,  their  judgment  may  form  itself  on 
a  knowledge  and  consideration  of  every  circumstance  of  weight." 

The  President  called  attention  to  the  new  census,  and  con 
gratulated  Congress  on  the  rapid  increase  of  our  population, 
"  not  with  a  view  to  the  injuries  it  may  enable  us  to  do  to  others 
at  some  future  day,  but  to  the  settlement  of  the  extensive 
country  still  remaining  vacant  within  our  limits,  to  the  multi 
plications  of  men  susceptible  of  happiness,  educated  in  the 
love  of  order,  habituated  to  self-government,  and  valuing  its 
blessings  above  all  price." 

He  recommended  the  abolition  of  all  internal  taxes,  includ 
ing  the  postage  on  newspapers,  "  to  facilitate  the  progress  of 
information."  He  thought  the  revenues  arising  from  imposts 
would  be  sufficient  to  support  Government,  pay  the  interest  on 
the  public  debts,  and  discharge  the  principal  sooner  than  the 
laws  or  public  expectation  had  contemplated,  unless  war  or 
other  untoward  events  should  change  the  existing  aspect  of 
things. 

But  he  stated  that  this  idea  of  a  reduction  of  burdens  was 
based  on  the  expectation  that  a  sensible  and  salutary  retrench 
ment  would  take  place  in  habitual  expenditures  in  the  civil 
government,  and  in  the  army  and  navy.  He  thought  civil 
officers  had  been  multiplied  unnecessarily,  and  "sometimes 
even  injuriously  to  the  service  they  were  intended  to  promote." 
He  promised  to  lay  a  list  of  the  superfluous  ones  before  Con 
gress.  He  had  begun,  he  said,  the  reduction  of  those  he 
ponsidered  unnecessary,  which  were  dependent  on  executive 
discretion,  among  which  were  a  portion  of  the  diplomatic  ser 
vice,  inspectors  of  intern,  i  revenue,  and  various  agencies 
created  by  Executive  authority.  He  promised,  if  Congress 

This  phrase  gave  much  diversion  to  the  wits,  and  especially  to  Colonel  Burr. 


082  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE.  [CHAI.  xm. 

should  see  fit  to  pass  the  roll  of  public  offices  "  in  review,  and 
try  all  of  its  parts  by  the  test  of  public  utility,  they  might  be 
assured  of  every  aid  and  light  which  Executive  information 
could  yield." 

He  recommended  new  barriers  against  the  dissipation  of  the 
public  money,  by  appropriating  only  specific  sums  to  specific 
purposes ;  by  disallowing  claims  varying  from  the  appropria 
tion  in  object  or  transcending  it  in  amount;  by  fc<  reducing  the 
undefined  field  of  contingencies,  and  thereby  circumscribing 
discretionary  powers  over  money ;"  by  bringing  back  to  a  single 
department  all  accountabilities  for  money. 

On  the  subject  of  a  reduction  of  the  army,  and  the  reliance 
of  the  country  in  case  of  invasion,  the  Message  contained  the 
following  paragraph  : 

"  A  statement  has  been  formed  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  on  mature  considera 
tion,  of  all  the  posts  and  stations  where  garrisons  will  be  expedient,  and  of  the 
number  of  men  requisite  for  each  garrison.  The  whole  amount  is  considerably  short 
of  the  present  military  establishment.  For  the  surplus  no  particular  use  can  be 
pointed  out.  For  defence  against  invasion  their  number  is  as  nothing  ;  nor  is  it 
conceived  needful  or  safe  that  a  standing  army  should  be  kept  up  in  time  of  peace 
for  that  purpose.  Uncertain  as  we  must  ever  be  of  the  particular  point  in  our  cir 
cumference  where  an  enemy  may  choose  to  invade  us,  the  only  force  which  can  be 
ready  at  every  point,  and  competent  to  oppose  them,  is  the  body  of  neighboring 
citizens  as  formed  into  a  militia.  On  these,  collected  from  the  parts  most  conveni 
ent,  in  numbers  proportioned  to  the  invading  foe,  it  is  best  to  rely,  not  only  to  meet 
the  first  attack,  but  if  it  threatens  to  be  permanent,  to  maintain  the  defence  until 
regulars  may  be  engaged  to  relieve  them.  These  considerations  render  it  import 
ant  that  we  should  at  every  session  continue  to  amend  the  defects  which  from  time 
to  time  show  themselves  in  the  laws  for  regulating  the  militia,  until  they  are  suffi 
ciently  perfect.  Xor  should  we  now  at  any  time  separate,  until  we  can  say  we 
have  done  everything  for  the  militia  which  we  would  do  were  an  enemy  at  our 
door." 

In  regard  to  the  Navy,  he  thought  a  small  force  would  pro 
bably  continue  to  be  wanted  in  the  Mediterranean.  He  recom 
mended  that  appropriations,  beyond  that  object,  be  employed  in 
providing  articles  which  could  be  kept  without  waste  or  con 
sumption,  and  be  in  readiness  when  any  exigence  called  for 
their  use. 

He  suggested  that  there*  was  some  doubt  whether  the 
authority  given  by  Congress  for  procuring  and  establishing 
sites  for  naval  purposes  had  been  perfectly  understood.  He 
had  suspended  or  slackened  the  expenditures,  to  enable  Con- 


CHAP,  xm.]  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE.  683 

gress  to  determine  whether  as  many  navy  yards  were  necessary 
as  had  been  contemplated.  He  had  permitted  that  at  Washing 
ton  to  go  on,  and  had  directed  the  frigates  ordered  laid  up  to  be 
laid  up  there,  that  they  might  be  under  the  eye  of  the  Execu 
tive  and  legislature. 

In  regard  to  the  fortification  of  harbors,  considerations  of 
great  difficulty  had  presented  themselves.  While  some  of  those 
fortifications  were  on  a  scale  sufficiently  proportioned  "  to  the 
advantages  of  their  position,  to  the  efficacy  of  their  protection, 
and  the  importance  of  the  points  within  it,"  others  were  so 
extensive,  and  it  would  cost  so  much  to  construct  and  subse 
quently  to  garrison  them,  that  it  became  questionable  what  was 
best  now  to  be  done.  He  made  no  specific  recommendation  on 
the  subject. 

The  next  paragraph  is  as  follows : 

"  Agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce  and  navigation,  the  four  pillars  of  our 
prosperity,  are  the  most  thriving  when  left  most  free  to  individual  enterprise.  Pro 
tection  from  casual  embarrassments,  however,  may  sometimes  be  seasonably  inter 
posed.  If  in  the  course  of  your  observations  or  inquiries  they  should  appear  to 
need  any  aid  within  the  limits  of  our  constitutional  powers,  your  sense  of  their 
importance  is  a  sufficient  assurance  they  will  occupy  your  attention.  We  cannot, 
indeed,  but  all  feel  an  anxious  solicitude  for  the  difficulties  under  which  our  carry 
ing  trade  will  soon  be  placed.  How  far  it  can  be  relieved  otherwise  than  by  time 
is  a  subject  of  important  consideration." 

He  said  the  judiciary  system  of  the  United  States,  "and 
especially  that  portion  of  it  recently  erected,"  would,  of  course, 
present  itself  to  the  contemplation  of  Congress;  and  to  enable 
them  to  judge  "  of  the  proportion  which  the  institution  bore  to 
the  business  it  had  to  perform,"  he  had  caused  an  exact  state 
ment  to  be  procured  of  all  the  causes  decided  or  depending  in 
the  court  up  to  the  period  when  the  additional  ones  were  created  ; 
and  he  laid  this  before  Congress. 

He  suggested  whether  the  institution  of  juries  had  been  suffi 
ciently  extended  in  the  United  States  courts,  in  cases  involving 
the  security  of  persons  and  property;  and  whether  the  impar 
tial  selection  of  the  present  ones  was  sufficiently  secured  in  those 
States  where  they  were  named  by  a  marshal  depending  on 
Executive  will,  or  designated  by  the  courts,  or  by  officers  depend 
ent  upon  them. 

He  thus  spoke  of  the  naturalization  laws  passed  during  Mr. 


684:  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE.  [CHAP.  xin. 

Adams's  Administration,  which  prescribed  a  residence  of  four 
teen  years  before  an  alien  could  obtain  the  rights  of  citizenship  : 

"  I  cannot  omit  recommending  a  revisal  of  the  laws  on  the  subject  of  naturali 
zation.  Considering  the  ordinary  chances  of  human  life,  a  denial  of  citizenship 
under  a  residence  of  fourteen  years  is  a  denial  to  a  great  proportion  of  those  who 
ask  it,  and  controls  a  policy  pursued  from  their  first  settlement  by  many  of  these 
States,  and  still  believed  -of  consequence  to  their  prosperity.  And  shall  we  refuse 
the  unhappy  fugitives  from  distress  that  hospitality  which  the  savages  of  the  wilder 
ness  extended  to  our  fathers,  arriving  in  this  land?  Shall  oppressed  humanity  find 
no  asylum  on  this  globe  ?  The  Constitution,  indeed,  has  wisely  provided  that,  for 
admission  to  certain  offices  of  important  trust,  a  residence  shall  be  required  suffi 
cient  to  develop  character  and  design.  But  might  not  the  general  character  and 
capabilities  of  a  citizen  be  safely  communicated  to  every  one  manifesting  a  bondf.de 
purpose  of  embarking  his  life  and  fortunes  permanently  with  us?  with  restrictions, 
perhaps,  to  guard  against  the  fraudulent  usurpation  of  our  flag — an  abuse  which 
bring?  so  much  embarrassment  and  loss  on  the  genuine  citizen,  and  so  much  danger 
to  the  nation  of  being  involved  in  war,  that  no  endeavor  should  be  spared  to  detect 
and  suppress  it." 

The  message,  brief  compared  with  those  of  the  present  day, 
closed  with  a  promise  to  carry  the  judgment  of  the  legislature 
into  faithful  execution — with  an  indirect  exhortation  to  tempe 
rate  discussion  and  conciliation — and  with  the  expression  of  a 
firm  conviction  that  the  American  people  would  cordially  con 
cur  in  efforts  which  had  for  their  object  "  to  preserve  the  Gene 
ral  and  State  Governments  in  their  constitutional  form  and 
equilibrium  ;  to  maintain  peace  abroad,  and  order  and  obedi 
ence  to  the  laws  at  home;  to  establish  principles  and  practices 
of  administration  favorable  to  the  security  of  liberty  and  pro 
perty ;  and  to  reduce  expenses  to  what  is  necessary  for  the 
useful  purposes  of  government." 

This  message,  it  will  be  observed,  suggests  topics  of  action — 
general  measures — but  does  not  abound  in  specific  recommends 
tions.  The  same  feature  marks  all  his  subsequent  messages 
lie  does  not  appear  to  have  thought  that  the  duty  enjoined  by 
the  Constitution  to  recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Congress 
"such  measures  as  he  should  judge  necessary  and  expedient," 
extended  to  the  details  of  bills,  and  his  opinions  of  the  latter,  if 
expressed,  were  inofh'cially  expressed.  The  message  is  certainly 
modest  towards  the  representatives  of  the  people;1  but,  on  the 

1  Tlis  indirect  exhortation  to  "  prudence  and  temperance  of  discussion  "  has  always, 
we  confess,  however,  seemed  to  us  out  of  taste.  It  would  be  difficult  to  say  why 


CHAP,  xm.]          HAMILTON'S  ATTACK  ON  MESSAGE.  085 

other  hand,  it  makes  no  ad  captandum  appeals  to  popular  senti 
ment,  and  none  of  the  apprehended  official  abnegations  to 
coordinate  branches  of  the  Government. 

The  Federal  press  attacked  the  message  with  great  severity. 
General  Hamilton,  though  smarting  under  a  peculiarly  painful 
domestic  bereavement,  felt  himself  called  upon  to  resume  his 
pen,  and  in  eighteen  numbers,  called  "  the  Examination,"  and 
signed  Lucius  Crassus  *  (continuing  from  December  17th  to 
April  8th)  he  manifested  the  same  prodigality  of  sarcasms,  of 
insulting  imputations,  and  of  rancorous  invective,  that  distin 
guished  his  attacks  on  Mr.  Jefferson  ten  years  earlier,  when 
they  were  members  of  the  same  Cabinet. 

As  examples  of  the  ultra- Federal  feeling — of  the  feelings  of 
those  who  yet  adhered  to  that  party — these  papers  are  to  be 
regarded  as  more  authoritative  than  the  bulk  of  the  fugitive 
and  casual  newspaper  criticisms  of  the  day.  They  will,  there 
fore,  be  taken  as  such  examples,  in  getting  at  the  party  history 
of  the  period.  But  our  notice  of  them  will  be  slight,  and 
without  particular  aim  at  connection. 

Lucius  Crassus  began  with  a  sneer  at  the  President's  trans 
mitting  a  message  instead  of  delivering  a  speech  to  Congress. 
Then  followed  the  habitual  sneer  at  democratic  theories.  "It," 
(the  message)  says  this  writer,  "  conforms,  as  far  as  would  be 
tolerated  at  this  early  stage  of  our  progress  in  political  perfec 
tion,  to  the  bewitching  tenets  of  that  illuminated  doctrine  which 
promises  man,  ere  long,  an  emancipation  from  the  burdens 
and  restraints  of  government;  giving  a  foretaste  of  that  pure 
felicity  which  the  apostles  of  this  doctrine  have  predicted." 
After  a  long  argument  (some  of  the  grounds  of  which  are  very 
strongly  taken)  to  prove  the  impropriety  of  the  position  that 
though  Tripoli  had  declared  and  made  war,  yet  there  was  not 
power,  for  the  want  of  the  sanction  of  Congress,  to  treat  her 
cruisers  and  crews  as  if  taken  in  war,  Lucius  Crassus  adds : 
"Who  could  restrain  the  laugh  of  derision  at  positions  so  pre 
posterous,  were  it  not  for  the  reflection  that,  in  the  first  magis 
trate  of  our  country,  they  cast  a  blemish  on  our  national 
character?" 

The  second  article  is  devoted  to  the  President's  proposal  to 

such  a  recommendation,  can  with  more  propriety  be  directed  by  the  Executive  to 
Congress,  than  from  thte  latter  body  to  the  Executive.     Indeed,  looking  at  the  thinp 
apart  from  custom,  the  last  would  strike  us  as  by  far  the  most  appropriate. 
1  See  Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vii.,  pp.  744-835. 


C86  HAMILTON'S  ATTACK  ON  MESSAGE.          [CHAP.  xm. 

abolish  internal  taxes,  and  ascribeb  that  proposal  to  "  a  defi 
ciency  of  intellect,  and  to  an  ignorance  of  our  financial 
arrangements  greater  than  could  have  been  suspected  ;"  or  to 
"  the  culpable  desire  of  gaining  or  securing  popularity  at  an 
immediate  expense  of  public  utility,  equivalent,  on  a  pecuniary 
scale,  to  a  million  of  dollars  annually."  Two  more  articles  look 
at  the  further  effects  of  such  abolition,  and  abound  in  further 
flings  at  the  President's  capacity  and  good  faith. 

The  fifth  and  sixth  articles  are  devoted  to  the  President's 
remarks  on  the  judiciary  system.  Lucius  Crassus  is  in  doubt 
whether  they  are  to  be  attributed  to  *'  the  rage  for  change," 
|  "deep-rooted  animosity  against  the  former  Administrations,"  or 
"  for  the  sake  of  gaining  popular  favor  by  a  profuse  display  of 
extraordinary  zeal  for  economy."  The  furnishing  of  the  num 
ber  of  cases  hitherto  decided  and  depending  in  the  Supreme 
Court  as  a  criterion  of  the  necessity  of  the  new  judiciary  act,  is 
pronounced  "  no  bad  thermometer  of  the  capacity  of  our  Chief 
Magistrate  for  government,"  and  such  an  allowance  of  weight 
to  "  secondary"  rather  than  to  "  primary  considerations,"  a  sure 
"symptom  of  a  pigmy  mind."  After  closing  his  argument,  the 
writer  exclaims :  "  Delectable  indeed  must  be  the  work  of  dis 
organization  to  a  mind  which  can  thus  rashly  advance  in  its 
prosecution !  Infatuated  must  that  people  be  who  do  not  open 
their  eyes  to  projects  so  intemperate — so  mischievous!  Who 
does  not  see  what  is  the  ultimate  object?  Delenda  est  Carthago. 
Ill-fated  Constitution,  which  Americans  fondly  hoped  would 
continue  for  ages,  the  guardian  of  public  liberty,  the  source  of 
national  prosperity." 

The  seventh  and  eighth  articles  are  devoted  "  to  the  next 
most  exceptionable  feature  in  the  message,"  the  views  expressed 
in  regard  to  naturalization.  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia  are 
quoted  for  opposite  sentiments.  It  is  intimated  that  if  gratitude 
can  excuse  inconsistency  in  "  the  man  of  the  people,"  there  is  a 
plea  for  the  President — as  "  it  is  certain  that  had  the  late  elec 
tion  been  decided  entirely  by  native  citizens,"  he  would  not 
have  been  elected.  The  article  closes  with  a  warning  appeal 
against  a  precipitate  communication  of  the  privileges  of  citizen 
ship  to  foreigners.1  It  states  that  a  foreigner  wields  the  sceptre 

1  The  article,  if  we  properly  understand  it,  would  seem  td^sume  throughout  that 
the  President  had  recommended  the  abolition  of  all  preliminary  conditions  of  naturaliza 
tion  except  present  residence. 


CHAP,  xiii.]          HAMILTON'S  ATTACK  ON  MESSAGE.  687 

of  France,  having  "erected  a  despotism  on  the  ruins  of  her 
former  government."  It  states  that  a  foreigner  "  rules  the 
councils  of  our  own  ill-fated,  unhappy  country,"  and  "  stimu 
lates  persecution  on  the  heads  of  its  citizens  for  daring  to  main 
tain  an  opinion,  and  for  daring  to  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage." 
"  Where,"  exclaims  Lucius  Crassus,  "  the  indignant  spirit  which, 
in  defence  of  principle,  hazarded  a  revolution  to  attain  that, 
independence  now  insidiously  attacked?" 

Who  the  foreigner  is,  here  pointed  to  as  ruling  our  councils, 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  determine.  It  might  be  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury — but  it  would  be  something  new  to  have  Gallatin 
accused  of  either  controlling  the  Administration  or  playing  the 
part  of  a  persecutor  on  so  extensive  a  scale.  In  respect  to  citi 
zenship,  he  certainly  emigrated  to  the  United  States  somewhat 
later  than  the  author  of  the  articles  under  examination.1 

Having  disposed  of  the  leading  points  of  the  message,  Lucius 
Crassus  said : 

"  This  is  more  than  the  moderate  opponents  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  elevation  ever 
feared  from  his  Administration ;  much  more  than  the  most  wrong  headed  of  his  own 
sect  dared  to  hope ;  infinitely  more  than  any  one  who  had  read  the  fair  professions 
of  his  inaugural  speech  could  have  suspected.  Reflecting  men  must  be  dismayed  at 
the  prospect  before  us.  If  such  rapid  strides  have  been  hazarded  in  the  very 
gristle  of  his  Administration,  whnt  may  be  expected  when  it  shall  arrive  at  man 
hood?  In  vain  was  the  collected  wisdom  of  America  convened  at  Philadelphia. 
In  vain  were  the  anxious  labors  of  a  Washington  bestowed.  Their  works  are 
regarded  as  nothing  better  than  empty  bubbles,  destined  to  be  blown  away  by  the 
mere  breath  of  a  disciple  of  Turgot,  of  a  pupil  of  Condorcet." 

The  writer  proceeded  into  details,  showing  that  the  Presi 
dent  was  actually  right  in  nothing.  His  statement  of  an  "  undue 
multiplication  of  offices  and  officers  was  substantially  a  misre 
presentation."  The  diminution  of  the  diplomatic  service  was 
an  egregious  error.  The  recommendation  to  "  multiply  barriers 
against  the  dissipation  of  the  public  money  by  appropriating 
specific  sums,  to  every  specific  purpose,  susceptible  of  defini 
tion,"  etc.,  gave  "  additional  proof  of  a  deliberate  design  in  the 
present  Chief  Magistrate  to  arraign  the  former  Administrations." 
That  recommendation  "insinuated"  a  departure  from  correct 

1  President  John  Adams,  in  giving  his  reasons  for  his  disinclination  to  appoint  Hamil 
ton  a  major-general  in  1798,  mentioned,  among  others,  that  he  was  &  foreigner,  and  that, 
"  he  believed,  he  had  not  resided  longer,  at  least  not  much  longer,  in  North  America 
than  Albert  Gallatin." 


688  FIRST    STRUGGLE   OF   PARTIES.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

plans  heretofore — it  was  "intended"  to  convey  "censure." 
"  Such  were  the  endless  blessings  to  be  expected  from  the 
notable  schemes  of  a  philosophic  projector?  Strict  to  a  fault 
where  relaxation  was  necessary ;  lax  to  a  vice  where  strictness 
was  essential!"  The  author  then  returned  to  the  subject  of  the 
judiciary,  and  devoted  to  it  most  of  his  remaining  numbers. 
He  closed  by  saying  that  "  the  credit  of  great  abilities  was 
allowed  him  [the  President]  by  a  considerable  portion  of  those 
who  disapproved  his  principles ;  but  the  short  space  of  nine 
months  has  been  amply  sufficient  to  dispel  that  illusion ;  and 
even  some  of  his  most  partial  votaries  begin  to  suspect  that 
they  had  been  mistaken  in  the  object  of  their  idolatry." 

Lucius  Crassus's  pathetic  apostrophe  to  the  "  ill  fated  Con 
stitution,  which  Americans  fondly  hoped  would  continue  for 
ages,  the  guardian  of  public  liberty,  the  source  of  national 
prosperity,"  was  dated  January,  1802."  On  the  27th  of  Feb 
ruary,  1802,  General  Hamilton  wrote  to  Governeur  Morris: 

"  Mine  is  an  odd  destiny.  Perhaps  no  man  in  the  United  States  has  sacrificed 
or  done  more  for  the  present  Constitution  than  myself;  and,  contrary  to  all  my 
anticipations  of  its  fate,  as  you  know  from  the  very  beginning.  I  am  still  laboring 
to  prop  the  frail  and  worthless  fabric.  Yet  I  have  the  murmurs  of  its  friends  no 
less  than  the  curses  .of  its  foes  for  my  reward.  What  can  I  do  better  than  withdraw 
from  the  scene  ?  Every  day  proves  to  me  more  and  more,  this  American  world  was 
not  made  for  me." 

The  first  struggle  of  parties  in  Congress  under  President  Jef 
ferson's  Administration,  was  on  a  topic  which  presented  them  in 
purely  characterical  attitudes.  Newspaper  reporters  had  hith 
erto  been  admitted  to  the  floor  of  the  House  solely  at  the  will 
of  the  Speaker.  They  were  not  considered  privileged  to  re 
present  the  proceedings  with  any  of  that  independence  which 
custom  has  since  allowed.  The  Speaker  had  expelled  two 
merely  for  reporting  speeches  (in  one  case  his  own)  too  literally. 
In  the  Senate  they  had  only  been  allowed  a  place  in  the  upper 
gallery,  amidst  the  hum  of  spectators,  and  where,  at  best,  dis 
tance  would  prevent  them  from  hearing  much  that  was  said  on  the 
floor.  By  nearly  party  votes  both  houses  now  gave  reporters 
seats  on  their  floors,  on  the  same  tenure  they  have  since  held 
them.  The  Federalists  in  the  Senate  made  ineffectual  attenpte 

»  Italics  by  Lucius  Crassus.  9  See  Hamilton's  Works,  ^  ol.  vii.  p.  76G-  771. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  KEPEAL    OF   JUDICIARY   ACT.  689 

to  secure  a  preliminary  provision,  requiring  them  to  give  bonds, 
with  two  sufficient  sureties,  for  "  good  conduct ;"  and  failing  in 
this,  voted  unanimously  against  their  admission. 

The  important  business  of  the  session  was  opened  by  Brecken- 
ridge's  moving  (January  6th)  in  the  Senate  to  repeal  the  Judi 
ciary  Act  of  last  session.  On  the  8th,  he  led  off  in  an  able 
speech,  demonstrating  the  uselessness  and  impropriety  of  mak 
ing  such  a  great  and  expensive  addition  to  the  judiciary,  when 
it  was  not  even  colorably  demanded  by  the  business  before  the 
federal  courts,  and  at  a  period,  indeed,  when  that  business  was, 
owing  to  several  circumstances,  actually  on  the  decline. 

We  have  seen  that  Jefferson  specially  lamented  the  passage 
of  this  bill,  from  the  "  difficulty  of  undoing  what  was  done," 
where  appointments  "in  the  nature  of  freehold"  had  been  con 
ferred.  He  had,  however,  joined  with  the  Republicans  gene 
rally  in  the  ultimate  conclusion,  that  the  "difficulty"  was  not 
made  insuperable  by  the  Constitution  ;  and  that  as  much  as  mere 
apparent  encroachments  on  vested  rights  are  to  be  avoided,  and 
especially  as  much  as  all  respectable  men  should  shun  mak 
ing  judiciary  establishments  the  creatures  of  partisan  legislation, 
still  the  repeal  of  this  peculiarly  obnoxious  act  was  imperatively 
called  for  by  the  most  important  public  interests.  It  was  the 
Federalists  who  had  covered  a  purely  party  design — one 
avowed  to  be  such  in  their  private  correspondences — in  the  pas 
sage  of  this  law.  Totally  defeated  before  the  people,  they  had 
employed  the  last  moments  of  their  power  in  establishing  a  par 
tisan  "  engine  of  government,"  which  was  out  of  the  reach  of 
elective  remedies,  and  which  would  enable  them  through  the 
lives  of  one  set  of  judges  at  least,  to  embarrass,  retard,  and  often 
defeat,  not  merely  special  measures  of  the  other  and  elective 
branches  of  the  government,  but  the  whole  system  of  constitu 
tional  exposition,  which  the  American  people  had,  as  an  inde 
pendent  and  self-governing  nation,  deliberately  adopted.  It 
would  be  a  remarkable  idea,  that  a  party  trick,  aiming  at  such 
results,  could  be  covered  up  by  any  forms  which  rendered  it 
inviolable — that  a  constitution  could  be  overthrown  under  the 
pretence  of  guarding  the  letter  of  its  inviolability  ! 

But  waiving  the  intentions  of  the  men  whose  votes  passed 
the  Judiciary  Act — assuming  even  that  the  bill  was  a  good  one 
— no  principle  k   now  better  established  than  that  legislatures 
VOL.  IL— 41 


690  PRESIDENT'S  VIEWS  OF  REPEAL.  [CHAP.  xin. 

tnay  under  precisely  analogous  constitutional  conditions,  repeal 
judiciary  structures  and  legislate  judges  out  of  office,  where 
the  object  is, in  good  faith,  to  repeal,  and  not  to  get  rid  of  or  ex 
change  incumbents.  The  idea  that  a  judicial  tenure  is  so  invio 
lable  that  if  once  created  it  arrests  the  power  of  an  independent 
nation  in  anywise  to  alter  or  amend  (unless  by  addition)  one  of 
the  great  departments  of  its  civil  organization,  belongs  to  the 
legal  superstitions  of  a  past  age — though  considerate  men  will 
ever  approach  changes  involving  the  violation  of  such  tenures 
with  a  caution  and  dread  which  no  partisan  motives,  nothing 
short  of  permanent  and  paramount  considerations  of  public  ex 
pediency,'  can  possibly  overcome. 

Professor  Tucker  conjectures,  from  some  expressions  used  in 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Dickinson,  of  December  19th, 
that  he  did  not  then  contemplate  a  repeal  of  the  Judiciary  Act.1 
This  would  seem  to  imply  that  he  considered  the  repeal  uncon 
stitutional,  after  his  party  had  broken  ground  in  Congress ;  and 
that  he  changed  afterwards,  or  yielded  his  scruples  to  party  ex 
pediency.  If  this  hypothesis  is  correct,  why,  before  writing 
Dickinson,  had  the  President,  after  calling  the  attention  of  Con 
gress  to  the  reduction  of  useless  offices,  especially  calling  the 
attention  of  that  body  to  the  subject  in  connection  with  the 
"recently  erected"  portion  of  the  judiciary  (and  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  enabling  it  "to  judge  of  the  proportion  which  the 
institution  bore  to  the  business  it  had  to  perform,")  procured  and 
laid  before  it  "  an  exact  statement  of  all  the  cases  decided  since 
the  first  establishment  of  the  courts  ?"  This  unquestionably 
proves,  that  much  as  Mr.  Jefferson  dreaded  to  attack  even  what 
he  termed  "  a  fraudulent  use  of  the  Constitution,"  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  that  course,  and  had  suggested,  and  thereby  in 
effect  recommended  it  to  Congress.8  Whatever  of  praise  or  of 
censure  attaches  to  the  repeal,  he  is  fully  responsible  for  strik 
ing  the  first  official  blow  in  that  direction. 

»  He  said  in  this  letter  : 

"  My  great  anxiety  at  present  is,  to  avail  ourselves  of  our  ascendency  to  establish 
good  principles,  and  good  practices  ;  to  fortify  republicanism  behind  as  many  barriers 
as  possible,  that  the  outworks  may  give  time  to  rally  and  save  the  citadel  should  that  be 
again  in  danger.  On  their  part,  they  have  retired  into  the  judiciary  as  a  stronghold. 
There  the  remains  of  Federalism  are  to  be  preserved  and  fed  from  the  Treasury,  and  from 
that  battery  all  the  works  of  republicanism  are  to  be  beaten  down  and  erased.  By  a 
fraudulent  use  of  the  Constitution,  which  has  made  judges  irremovable,  they  have  multi 
plied  useless  judges  merely  to  strengthen  their  phalanx." 

3  We  could  furnish  several  other  equally  decisive  proofs,  were  it  necessary.  (See  Jef 
ferson  to  Rush,  Dec.  20th,  in  Congress  edition.)  The  letter  was  not  published  when  Pro 
fessor  Tucker  wrote. 


CHAP.  XIII.]  APPORTIONMENT   AND    AKMY   BILLS.  691 

The  repeal  was  resisted  to  desperation  by  the  Federalists,  led 
in  the  Senate  by  Morris,  and  in  the  House  by  Bayard.  Both  of 
these  gentlemen  exhibited  great  parliamentary  ability  and  per 
severance.  Vice-President  Burr  coquetted  with  the  Federalists,1 
but  had  not  the  power  if  he  had  the  will  effectually  to  aid  them.9 
The  bill  passed  the  Senate,  February  3d  (1802),  by  one  majority; 
and  the  House,  March  3d,  by  a  vote  of  fifty-nine  to  thirty-two. 

A  bill  was  subsequently  passed  (April  29th)  reducing  the 
terms  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  one  each  .year,  at  Washington, 
which  might  be  holden  by  four  of  the  justices.  Six  circuits 
were  established,  in  which  courts  were  to  be  held  twice  each 
year,  by  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  dis 
trict  judge.  It  contained  various  provisions  not  important  to  be 
detailed  here. 

A  new  apportionment  bill,  based  on  the  census  of  1800, 
passed  January  14th.  The  aggregate  population  of  the  United 
States  had  been  found  to  be  5,305,925.  The  ratio  of  Congres 
sional  representation  was  fixed  at  one  member  for  33,000.  This, 
oy  the  constitutional  rule  of  computation  in  reference  to  States, 
.vould  make  the  House  of  Representatives  consist  of  one  hun 
dred  and  forty-one  members,  and  they  were  distributed  among 
the  States  as  follows  :  to  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  five  ;  Mas 
sachusetts,  seventeen  ;  Vermont,  four ;  Rhode  Island,  two  ;  Con 
necticut,  seven  ;  New  York,  seventeen;  New  Jersey,  six;  Penn 
sylvania,  eighteen  ;  Delaware,  one ;  Maryland,  nine  ;  Virginia, 
twenty-two ;  North  Carolina,  twelve  ;  South  Carolina,  eight ; 
Georgia,  four;  Kentucky,  six;  Tennessee,  three. 

An  act  fixing  the  military  Peace  Establishment  of  the  United 
States,  provided  that  after  the  first  of  June  following  it  should 
consist  of  one  artillery  and  two  infantry  regiments,  comprising, 
in  all,  not  far  from  three  thousand  men,  under  the  command 
of  one  brigadier-general.  The  appropriation  for  the  navy  was 
very  moderate,  only  sufficient  to  keep  the  present  force  in  com 
plete  equipment,  to  provide  for  the' continuance  of  hostilities 
with  Tripoli,  and  to  make  some  limited  additions  to  the  mate 
rials  for  the  large  ships  in  the  progress  of  construction. 


»  See  Hamilton  to  Morris,  March  4,  1802  ;  same  to  same,  April  6th ;  Bayard  to  Ham 
ilton,  April  12th  ;  Hamilton  to  King,  June  3d — all  in  6th  vol.  of  Hamilton's  Works.  See 
also  Morris  to  R.  R.  Livingston,  March  20th.  Morris's  Works,  vol.  iii.,  p.  166. 

3  Burr  had  no  doubts  on  the  constitutionality  of  the  repeal,  but  some  of  its  "  equity 
tend  expediency  /"  (See  Burr  to  Allston,  Feb.  2d.  Davis's  Memoirs  of  Burr,  vol.  ii.,  p.  171.; 


692  OFFICES TAXES NATURALIZATION,    ETC.         [CHAP.  XIII. 

A  diminution  of  officers  and  a  vigorous  system  of  retrench 
ment  were  extended  through  all  the  civil  departments.  The  sal 
aries  of  collectors,  naval  officers,  surveyors,  etc.,  were  placed  at 
fixed  and  reasonable  limits. 

The  internal  taxes  on  stills,  and  on  domestic  distilled  spi 
rits,  refined  sugars,  licenses  to  retailers,  sales  at  auction,  car 
riages  for  the  conveyance  of  persons,  stamped  vellum,  parch 
ment,  paper,  etc.,  were  abolished  after  the  first  of  June  ;  and 
the  army  of  officers  employed  in  their  collection  discontinued. 
These  taxes,  which  had  caused  so  much  excitement,  and  even 
an  "  insurrection,"  yielded  a  revenue  of  scarcely  a  million  of 
dollars,  and  about  four  tenths  of  it  had  been  consumed  in  the 
expenses  of  collection ! 

The  naturalization  laws  were  restored  to  their  former  foot 
ing — reducing  ,  the  term  of  necessary  previous  residence  in 
the  United  States  from  fourteen  to  five  years,  and  requiring  but 
a  three  years  previous  oath  of  intention.  This  bill  passed  by 
nearly  a  party  vote,  though  Morris  of  New  York,  and  Ross  of 
Pennsylvania,  representing  large  foreign  born  constituencies, 
voted  for  it  in  the  Senate. 

A  law  was  passed,  making  provision  for  the  redemption  of 
the  whole  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States ;  and  (on  the 
suggestions  of  Gallatin)  greatly  simplifying  the  Treasury  arrange 
ments  necessary  to  that  end. 

A  law  passed  "  to  regulate  trade  and  intercourse  with  the 
Indian  tribes,  and  to  preserve  peace  on  the  frontiers,"  which 
contained  many  humane  and  stringent  provisions  for  the  protec 
tion  of  the  rights  and  interests  of  that  people. 

Other  enactments  of  great  utility  were  made.  The  impor 
tant  recommendations  of  the  President's  message  were  generally 
carried  out,  and  this  was  done  in  a  spirit  of  moderation  and  wis 
dom,  to  which  it  is  impossible  to  awTard  too  much  praise.  The 
transition  of  the  government  from  the  substance  and  spirit  of 
what  it  was  when  Federalism  was  at  its  full  height,  in  1798, 
and  1799  (before  that  spirit  was  dampened  by  the  approaching 
elections  of  1800),  and  what  it  was  at  the  adjournment  of  Con 
gress,  in  the  spring  of  1802,  was  almost  as  great  as  if  the  former 
had  been  demolished  by  revolution,  and  an  entirely  new  structure, 
differing  in  cardinal  features,  erected  on  its  ruins.  That  this 
should  have  been  accomplished  without  revolutionary  and  de- 


CHAl'.  XIII.]  THE   NOLO   EPISCOPARI    CARRIED   OUT.  693 

structive  legislation — without  partisan  retaliations — nay,  with 
arms  held  open  to  the  vanquished,  and  the  constant  proffer  of 
receiving  them  into  the  Republican  ranks  on  friendly  and  equal 
terms — is  one  of  the  most  important  spectacles,  if  not  lessons  of 
history.  Never  was  better  proof  whether  the  doctrines  and 
fruits  of  democracy  are  necessarily  those  of  licentious  disorgan 
ization  and  anarchical  violence. 

The  voluntary  renunciation  of  patronage  by  the  Executive  is 
a  feature  which  solicits  particular  attention.  John  Randolph, 
after  subsequent  years  of  bitter  hostility  to  the  President,  said, 
in  a  public  speech  (in  1828) : 

"  Sir,  I  have  never  seen  but  one  Administration,  which,  seriously  and  in  good 
faith,  was  disposed  to  give  up  its  patronage,  and  was  willing  to  go  farther  than 
Congress,  or  even  the  people  themselves,  so  far  as  Congress  represents  their  feel 
ings,  desired  ;  and  that  was  the  first  Administration  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  He,  sir, 
was  the  only  man  I  knew,  or  ever  heard  of,  who  really,  truly,  and  honestly,  not  only 
said  *  nolo  cpiscopari^  but  actually  refused  the  mitre." 

Yet  do  we  find  that  the  bands  of  civil  government  were  weak 
ened  by  the  abolition  of  the  army  of  officials  which  took  place? 
Has  it  ever  been  complained  that  the  laws  were  more  feebly  exe 
cuted,  or  the  restraints  of  order  weakened?  Was  there  a  multipli 
cation  of  murmurs  against  needful  restraints,  of  insurrections,  and 
State  trials  ?  Were  any  vested  rights  infringed,  any  public  obli 
gations  repudiated,  any  portion  of  the  character  of  the  federal 
Government,  in  reference  to  either  internal  or  external  affairs, 
disgraced  ?  In  a  word,  was  there  a  particular  where  the  true 
and  solid  interests  of  society  suffered  by  the  inauguration  of  a 
system  which  relieved  it  of  such  a  mountain  of  governmental 
burdens  ? 

General  Hamilton  compared  the  American  people  to  the 
Cyclopean  monster,  who  fed  on  human  beings,  and  who  was 
deprived  of  his  sight,  while  asleep,  by  the  wise  Ulysses.1 

Sightless  Cyclops  was  now  in  the  ascendant  and  wise  Ulysses 
fled  !  The  "  freed  negro  "  experiment  of  Ames  was  on  full 
trial  in  the  substance  as  well  as  the  form  !  A  half  a  century  has 
rolled  away,  and  Cyclops  still  rules,  and  the  experiment  still 

1  Hamilton's  already  quoted  letter  to  King,  June  3d,  1802,  where,  it  will  be  recol 
lected,  he  quotes  the  658th  line  of  the  3d  book  of  the  ^Eneid,  omitting  the  two  first 
words,  and  applies  it  to  our  people. 


SIGHTLESS    CYCLOPS    IN   THE    ASCENDANT.          [6HAP.  XIII. 

goes  on !  Wise  Ulysses  is  an  old  man  who  seldom  ventures  into 
the  haunts  of  men.  He  is  banished  from  the  legislative  hall — 
and  rarely  sets  his  feeble  foot  in  the  mart.  But  he  grumbles 
among  elderly  ladies,  and  writes  books  of  "  History,"  pouring 
out  his  hate  as  openly  as  he  dares  on  his  overthrowers,  and 
telling  the  world  how  much  better  it  would  have  been  had  he 
been  allowed  to  think  and  act  for  it! 


END     OF     VOL    II. 


•  ^VT-f.-py 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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